Trump thanked California National Guard before it arrived in L.A.

At 2 a.m. Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump posted to social media congratulating the work of California’s National Guard in response to immigration raid protests in Los Angeles. 

In fact, the guards only arrived in the city later that morning, according to several news reports.

“Thank you to the National Guard for a job well done!” Trump wrote at 2:41 a.m. ET.

Just after noon ET (9 a.m. PT), the U.S. Northern Command posted on X that 300 of the California National Guard 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) soldiers were positioned near federal properties at three locations in the greater Los Angeles area — far fewer than the 2,000 soldiers Trump vaunted he would deploy. 

The discrepancy has prompted reports from U.S. media outlets that Trump and his administration’s claims of protest violence have been overblown. 

MSNBC’s Jen Psaki hosted a segment on the contrast between what the federal government had been saying and what has really happened on the ground. 

“Trump is insisting that this massive escalation in force is completely necessary,” Psaki said, also noting that National Guard troops were only reported to have arrived in Los Angeles at 11 a.m. Sunday, more than eight hours after Trump’s posted thanking them.

Trump deployed California’s National Guard without getting consent from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, prompting the governor to later sue the federal government for its decision. 

When did the Los Angeles protests start? 

The protests in Los Angeles began Friday evening at federal detention centre in downtown Los Angeles where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had detained more than 40 people — including children — following raids across the city, according to ABC News. 

The Los Angeles Police Department said Friday on X that a “small group of violent individuals are throwing large pieces of concrete” and that it was deeming the gathering “unlawful.” 

Officers in riot gear were then seen throwing tear gas canisters to disperse some crowds. 

Protests, as well as the looting of a gas station in Paramount, Calif., continued that day and into Saturday — when Trump decided to federalize the National Guard. 

Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth applauded the decision on X Saturday, calling the protests a “huge national security risk.”

Newsom responded that federal government help in preventing violence at the protests was unnecessary and would only lead to escalation. 

What happened after the National Guard arrived?

Sunday afternoon the situation appeared to escalate case when, according to the Los Angeles Times, officers fired tear gas and less-lethal rounds at protesters outside a federal detention centre, where the guards were posted, though it’s unclear whether they were the ones to exercise force or local law enforcement.

Later that day, protesters streamed onto a highway, blocking traffic. But the Times reported clashes soon died down. 

Sunday evening, though, Trump called protesters “violent, insurrectionist mobs,” in a post on Truth Social. 

The Times wrote that “Trump administration officials have seized on the isolated incidents of violence to suggest wide parts of L.A. are out of control.”

Psaki highlighted that, meanwhile, an estimated 300 people have been detained in Los Angeles ICE raids since protests began Friday.

Californians say protests have largely been peaceful and led by people whose family members were taken into custody by immigration agents at their workplaces.

A retired teacher, Jose Gallegos, told USA Today he attended protests in Paramount on Saturday and was struck by a rubber bullet shot in rounds by law enforcement. 

“We don’t have guns. All we have is prayers and feathers,” he told the news outlet. 

Escalation beneficial for Trump: experts

Legal scholars and democracy watchers say it is politically advantageous for Trump to exaggerate the amount of violence tied to the immigration protests because it is one of the issues the president has broad support for. 

“I don’t think the prospect of calling out the National Guard is in any way sincerely motivated by a fear of a loss of public order,” said John Carey, a professor of government at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and the co-founder of Bright Line Watch, a group monitoring threats to American democracy.

“We have a long and proud tradition of military remaining neutral and removed from politics,” Carey said. “And this administration, I don’t think, is committed to that.”

According to Kim Lane Scheppele, a Princeton professor studying new autocracies, National Guards are a kind of protection for states against possible federal overreaches. 

They were created based on the Second Amendment, guaranteeing each state’s right to a militia. 

Their troops are roughly equivalent in number to federally-operated military units, such as the Marine Corps — 700 of which were also deployed to L.A. — Scheppele explained.

“You don’t want it to turn into civil war … but at least you’d have kind of evenly matched sides. It would allow the governors to be able to say no [to federal overreach], backed by a kind of military force,” the professor said. 

At issue is whether Title 10 of the U.S. Code — the legal mechanism Trump used to deploy the Guard — requires the president to consult with a state governor before federalizing their troops and whether the governor can refuse.