California governor sues US president over deployment of National Guard in protests

HAMILTON, Canada

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday announced a lawsuit against US President Donald Trump as tensions continue to rise in Los Angeles amid protests of federal immigration raids.

"We are suing Donald Trump. This is a manufactured crisis. He is creating fear and terror to take over a state militia and violate the U.S. constitution," Newsom wrote on X.

On Saturday, Trump signed a memo invoking his authority to deploy a minimum of 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles County after confrontations between immigration officials and protesters.

Newsom argued that the president's move threatens state sovereignty, and said: "The illegal order he signed could allow him to send the military into ANY STATE HE WISHES."

"Every governor – red or blue – should reject this outrageous overreach," he added, referring respectively to states led by Trump’s Republican Party or Newsom’s own Democratic Party.

"There’s a lot of hyperbole out there. This isn’t that," he said. "This is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism that threatens the foundation of our republic. We cannot let it stand."

The protests began Friday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained hundreds of people in Los Angeles suspected to be living in the US illegally.

The Trump administration said it will continue with its ICE raids despite the protests, as part of the president's immigration crackdown.

Critics of the raids say ICE is going after law-abiding undocumented migrants, a vital part of the community and the local economy, rather than the criminals that Trump pledged to deport while campaigning last year to return to the White House.