BURSTSenate Democrats sought to pick apart the Trump administration’s legal rationale for sending National Guard troops and active Marines into Los Angeles this week in what they called a wildly out-of-proportion response to sometimes violent protests against President Trump’s escalating immigration sweeps.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) berated Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during an Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the Pentagon’s budget plans, saying the actions were undermining the readiness of America’s military.
“You are deploying the American military to police the American people; you are sending the National Guard into California without the governor's request sending the Marines not after foreign threats, but after American protesters; and now President Trump is promising heavy force against peaceful protesters at his DC military parade,” Murray said.
“Those sorts of actions and that sort of rhetoric from a President of the United States should stop every one of us cold," she continued. "Threatening to use our own troops on our own citizens at such scale is unprecedented, it is unconstitutional, and it is downright un-American.”
Hegseth repeatedly told senators that every move taken by the Pentagon was constitutional, stemming from the president’s authority, and that troops were in Los Angeles to protect federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers carrying out their duties in the city.
“It's about maintaining law and order on behalf of law enforcement agents who deserve to do their job without being attacked by mobs of people,” the Defense secretary told Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“And what your military is doing right now is laying concertina wire, guarding buildings, maintaining vehicles for other services," Reed replied. "This is not only, I think, illegal, but also a diminution of the readiness and the focus of the military."
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) tried to drill down on how broadly Trump’s orders to mobilize armed forces at anti-ICE protests could be applied across the country, noting that the initial order did not mention California specifically or any particular military units.
“It's just like, I get your justification. We disagree about the circumstances. I'm just trying to figure out, did you just potentially mobilize every guard everywhere, and every service member everywhere? I mean, create the framework for that, I understand you didn't," Schatz said during the hearing. "I'm saying, what does the document, do, in your opinion?”
Hegseth noted that orders had been issued for new batches of Troops since that initial order, but suggested it was meant to describe a nationwide authority.
“So, part of it is getting ahead of a problem,” he told Schatz. “So that if in other places, if there are other riots, in places where law enforcement officers are threatened, we would have the capability to surge National Guard there, if necessary."
"And thankfully, in most of those states, you'd have a governor that recognizes the need for it, supports it, and mobilizes it, him or herself," the Pentagon chief continued. "In California, unfortunately, the governor wants to play politics with it.”
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) later tried to pin down Hegseth on the precise constitutional statutes Trump was relying on to justify the troop deployments.
“The President made it clear that he relied on section 12406 of Title 10 with regard to the National Guard troops," Baldwin said. "I need to know the authority that he is relying upon in terms of active duty Marines being deployed to California."
Hegseth cited constitutional powers, which he said were outlined in Trump’s order, but said he’d have to follow up with specific statutes.
The president has also doubled down on his decision to deploy troops while calling out California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for not ensuring federal agents were protected.
"The INCOMPETENT Governor of California was unable to provide protection in a timely manner when our Ice Officers, GREAT Patriots they are, were attacked by an out of control mob of agitators, troublemakers, and/or insurrectionists," he wrote on Truth Social early Wednesday.
In a subsequent post, the president added, "If our troops didn’t go into Los Angeles, it would be burning to the ground right now, just like so much of their housing burned to the ground. The great people of Los Angeles are very lucky that I made the decision to go in and help!!!"
Newsom blasted Trump in a televised address on Tuesday night, warning his overreach would not remain isolated to California.
“This is about all of us. This is about you. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next," Newsom said. "Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived."