Peninsula leaders warn of militarization of immigration enforcement

PALO ALTO — In quick condemnation of President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles, Rep. Sam Liccardo, D-San Jose, gathered local leaders and immigrants’ rights activists outside Palo Alto City Hall on Sunday to denounce what he described as a “reckless misuse” of the military.

Tensions between California officials and the Trump administration are reaching a boiling point because of the federal government’s recent immigration enforcement actions. Border czar Tom Homan has threatened to arrest California officials who disrupt Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions.

Peninsula leaders are calling for protesters to remain nonviolent or risk a federal crackdown.

“This administration will look for any excuse to seize control from civilian authorities, and ultimately, to invoke the Insurrection Act and impose martial law,” Liccardo said. “For that, and many other reasons, we encourage all protesters: Do not take the bait.”

Pro-immigrant demonstrators rallied outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles following two days of clashes between protesters and federal immigration agents. Emotions had run high in the city leading up to the weekend after a series of ICE immigration enforcement operations led to more than 100 arrests.

Federal agents who set up a staging area near a Home Depot in the heavily-Latino neighborhood of Paramount in Southern California on Saturday were met by demonstrators, with some hurling rocks and chunks of cement at Border Patrol vehicles. Immigration agents shot tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls at the crowd of protesters during the conflict.

“This is psychological warfare on the immigrant community,” Ayudando Latinos A Soñar Executive Director Belinda Arriaga said. “People say it’s not happening here yet. But in our minds and in our homes, this is happening every day, every minute that they step out and are scared of what can happen to them.”

To quell the hostility, Trump invoked a legal provision on Saturday allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is a “rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”

Around 300 members of the National Guard arrived in Los Angeles early Sunday, part of the first cohort of the 2,000 Trump has ordered to be deployed. The order shocked local officials because the move was done without the request of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The deployment marks the first time since the Civil Rights movement that a president has deployed the National Guard without the consent of the state’s governor. President Lyndon B. Johnson used the National Guard in 1965 in Alabama to protect marchers led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

Trump told reporters that there were “violent people” in Los Angeles and “they’re not gonna get away with it,” as he prepared to board Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday.

“We’re gonna have troops everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country. We’re not going to let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden,” Trump said.

Trump said California officials who stand in the way of immigration authorities could face charges, adding to a barrage of escalating threats by Trump administration officials against California leaders.

Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, who is the assistant for public affairs, accused California’s politicians and protesters of “defending heinous illegal alien criminals at the expense of Americans’ safety.”

“Instead of rioting, they should be thanking ICE officers every single day who wake up and make our communities safer,” McLaughlin added.

Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo, warned of the implications of using the military on American citizens. He described the decision in bleak terms.

“These are not American values. They’re the first steps in the authoritarian playbook,” Mullin said. “Donald Trump, Stephen Miller and Pete Hegseth would love nothing more than to see violence break out on our streets, which would give them the excuse they desperately want to send the United States military into American cities.”

Some Bay Area leaders outside the Palo Alto City Hall were cynical about the timing of the conflict, as the Trump administration and congressional Republicans attempted to pass a controversial budget bill. Recent events in Los Angeles, San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller said, were a “distraction” from the president’s legislative goals.

“The president has decided to stage a dangerous sideshow for TV cameras,” Mueller said. “(The administration’s) trying to pass a budget bill that is so bad, even Elon Musk publicly engaged in a verbal war with the president this week.”

For a presidential administration that has pushed the limits of law, with numerous cases being heard before the Supreme Court this year alone, Liccardo said use of the military to enter Los Angeles was an “unprecedented” violation of the president’s authority.

“What I’m really concerned about is the presidential decision to say we’re going to push aside local law enforcement,” Liccardo said. “The insertion of national guardsmen, and, as (Sec. of Defense) Pete Hegseth suggested, other branches of the military into our cities — that is unprecedented and unwarranted.”

The Associated Press and other news services contributed to this story.