On June 7, 2025, President Trump issued an order to mobilize 2,000 National Guard troops into the streets of Los Angeles, California, following protests of multiple federal immigration raids throughout the metropolitan area. In so doing, Trump trampled on the US Constitution, the rights of peaceful protesters, the constitutional authority of the state of California, and the rule of law. He is rightfully being condemned by Members of Congress, elected officials across California, and legal experts. But the condemnation is not enough. Trump’s action is a flagrant abuse of power and a High Crime for which he must be impeached and removed from public office.  

Last Friday, thousands of Californians exercised their constitutional rights to protest aggressive raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). While the vast majority of protesters were peaceful, a minority of protesters engaged in unlawful conduct. Both Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom were aware of the unrest and spoke in support of the peaceful protesters’ rights and against violence. Local law enforcement was already on the scene. 

 But on Saturday night, without Governor Newsom’s approval and, in fact, in direct defiance of Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass, Trump unlawfully ordered 2,000 California National Guard troops to be deployed to the Los Angeles area.  As Governor Newsom said in response to this order: “Trump is sending 2,000 National Guard troops into LA County—not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis. He’s hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control.”  

Trump’s order was plainly unlawful. He invoked 10 U.S.C. 12406, which allows for the federalization and mobilization of the National Guard only in limited circumstances—namely, when the United States is invaded or in danger of invasion, where “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion,” or “the President is unable with regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.” Moreover, the order must be “issued through the governors of the States.”  

To be clear: mobilizing troops against the Los Angeles protesters would have been illegal, unnecessary, and inflammatory even if Governor Newsom had agreed to it. But he did not. The order was not issued through Governor Newsom and indeed was made to usurp state and local authority.  

Laws like 10 U.S.C. 12406 are limited for a reason. Our civilians must be kept safe from military abuse. Our Founders—and many iterations of Congress—understood the danger of rebranding protesters as the enemy, of giving the military authority to quash civilian action. Indeed, the National Guard has not been mobilized without state sponsorship since the 1960s—when troops were deployed to protect civil rights protesters. That is a far cry from what Trump has done here.  

Trump has called the protest a “rebellion” and the protesters “insurrectionists.” They are not. The protesters, even those in the crowd who have caused property damage or broken local laws, did not storm the Capitol, attempt to kill and assault elected officials, try to block a peaceful transition of political power, or try to overthrow the government. Only Trump, as the insurrectionist-in-chief, and the January 6 insurrectionists have done that. Trump has pardoned those insurrectionists and called them patriots while charging his opponents with the insurrectionist designation with no factual or legal basis whatsoever.    

Governor Newsom is right. This is a crisis manufactured and escalated by Trump to provide himself false grounds to use military force against people who are not ceding to his authoritarian rule. The mobilization of troops against protesters in Los Angeles is impeachable, an egregious abuse of power on its own, and shows that Trump is escalating his assault on civil rights, states’ rights, and the rule of law in this country. He is running roughshod over his constitutional obligations. At this critical moment in history, Congress must fulfill its own obligation. To protect and defend our Constitution and our republic, it must impeach and remove Donald Trump from public office.