Newsom Calls Threat to Use Marines 'Deranged'

National Guard members sent tear gas into a crowd of protesters outside a federal detention center in Los Angeles on Sunday, while President Trump and his aides escalated their threats to use force against demonstrators opposing immigration enforcement. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X that active-duty Marines stationed at nearby Camp Pendleton were on "high alert" and would be mobilized "if violence continues"—which experts said would violate the law and California Gov. Gavin Newsom called "deranged," the Washington Post reports. Although there were clashes in spots, police reported most of the city was calm. Developments include:

• Deployment: US Northern Command said 300 members of the California National Guard ordered in by Trump arrived in the morning, assigned to protect federal property and personnel. They were spotted unloading equipment at a federal building on Wilshire Boulevard and at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building, per the Post.

• Threat level: Trump pledged Sunday to "have troops everywhere" and to use them against even nonviolent demonstrators. "We are not going to let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden and his autopen," the president told reporters before leaving for Camp David to meet with advisers in the evening. Tom Homan, his border chief, did not rule out arresting Newsom or Mayor Karen Bass if they interfere with enforcement, per NBC News. There were reports of protesters spitting on officers, and Trump said anyone doing that will "get hit very hard." Spokesman Steven Cheung posted a video of that comment, adding, "They spit, we hit! THEY SPIT, WE HIT!!"
• Democratic response: In addition to Newsom's opposition, Democratic members of Congress spoke out. The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee denounced the deployment and Hegseth's decision to put Marines on high alert. "Such unilateral actions, taken without consultation with local leaders, risk escalating tensions rather than calming them," Sen. Jack Reed said, per the New York Times. The House member who represents Paramount, which has had clashes over the weekend, told CNN that while she agrees violent demonstrators should be arrested, that's not all that upsets Trump. "The president is sending the National Guard because he doesn't like the scenes," Rep. Nanette Barragan said, per the BBC. "He doesn't like the scenes of people peacefully protesting."

• Legal issues: Trump said Sunday he's not ready to invoke Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows presidents to use the military against citizens. Whether he'll do that, per CNN, "depends whether or not there is an insurrection," he said, though he posted that Los Angeles has been "invaded and occupied." Trump has long talked about sending the military against Americans, the Times points out, and aides talked him out of doing it during his first term. He did invoke Title 10 of the Code on Armed Services, an unusual move that permits limited intervention. Experts questioned the legality of the deployment; the Times takes a look at the legal debate here. The most recent time a president went around a governor to send in the military was in 1965, when Lyndon Johnson sent the Alabama National Guard to that state to protect civil rights demonstrators.

(More Los Angeles stories.)