BURSTRep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) weighed in on the President Trump administration’s deployment of Marines and National Guard soldiers to Los Angeles in light of the ongoing protests against raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), saying during a brief interview that the president “wants the show.”
Gomez, who represents California's 34th Congressional District, which includes several Los Angeles neighborhoods, was asked Wednesday if he expects the administration to pull back the National Guard and the Marines if the curfew, which Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) imposed for a small part of the city Tuesday night, “seems to be working.”
“No, I think that Donald Trump is not doing it because there was ever an issue. He's doing it in order to have it on TV. He wants the show, of course, because that's — he likes to play the tough guy, but when it comes to taking on China, he always backs down,” Gomez said during an interview with NewsNation.
“When it comes to taking on the cartels, he backs down. So he wants to show that he's tough, and that's what it's always been about. It's about the show that people can see, even if it's limited,” the California Democrat told NewsNation’s Joe Khalil.
The administration has argued that Marines and the National Guard were deployed to help halt the protests after some protestors ransacked a federal building, while others set cars on fire.
Bass, who has been under criticism from Trump and his allies over her handling of the protests, said during a Tuesday press conference that the curfew was instituted in a part of downtown Los Angeles to “stop the vandalism, to stop the looting.” It started at 8 p.m. and end at 6 a.m. and is expected to last for several days.
“If you do not live or work in downtown L.A., avoid the area. Law enforcement will arrest individuals who break the curfew, and you will be prosecuted,” Bass said on Tuesday. Since then, law enforcement has arrested dozens of individuals.
Gomez also said on Wednesday that he is still hearing concerns from people in the Los Angeles area over the ICE raids.
“I think it's because originally, remember, he said he promised everyone that he would go after people who are undocumented or in this country illegally, but were criminals. But now he's not doing that,” Gomez said. “He's going after people who are showing up through their asylum cases at the ICE check ins at court, and they're getting arrested.”