WASHINGTON

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass criticized the Trump administration Monday for using the city as a "test case" as it deploys National Guard troops and Marines in response to immigration protests.

“If you remember at the beginning of this administration, we were told that (immigration) raids would be to look for violent criminals, people who have warrants,” Bass told reporters.

“But I don’t know how you go from a drug dealer to a Home Depot, to people’s workplaces where they’re just trying to make a living,” she said.

"These are not the people that we were told were going to be detained, and it makes me feel like our city is actually a test case — a test case for what happens when the federal government moves in and takes the authority away from the state or away from local government.

"I don't think that our city should be used for an experiment to see what happens in the nation's second largest city," she added.

US President Donald Trump mobilized 4,000 National Guard troops to assist 700 Marines in response to the protests, which continued into Monday.

California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed the decision, saying it is not about public safety.

"It’s about stroking a dangerous President’s ego. This is Reckless. Pointless. And Disrespectful to our troops," he said on X.

Newsom said Trump is "trying to provoke chaos" by sending 4,000 soldiers onto American soil.

Earlier, he announced a lawsuit against Trump, saying that the president's deployment of the National Guard was "illegal" and violated state sovereignty.

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

The protests began last Friday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided local businesses and detained hundreds of people suspected of living in the US illegally.

The Trump administration said the ICE raids will continue as part of the president's plan to crack down on illegal immigration.