We’re on a knife’s edge moment — caught between promise and peril, precarity and possibility.
In case you missed it: Donald Trump has deployed up to 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles. This comes in direct defiance of local voices and elected leaders who made it clear they do not want this ICE-led crackdown. Protests erupted as people tried to shield their communities and loved ones. ICE escalated quickly—using tear gas and stun grenades.
No one requested the National Guard.
The violence began with ICE.
It escalated with ICE.
And any reporting that suggests otherwise is distorting the truth.
California Governor Gavin Newsom put it plainly:
“Trump is sending 2,000 troops into LA County—not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis.… He’s hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control. Stay calm. Never use violence. Stay peaceful.”
You don’t need to look far to see ICE’s brutality: on Friday, before the street footage now being shown, ICE agents assaulted SEIU-USWW President David Huerta as he stood up for migrant workers. He required hospitalization—and remains in federal custody.
SEIU is calling on allies:
Call the Senate: 1-833-312-1711
Join emergency actions on Monday
Use their digital toolkit
In street actions, it’s crucial the public sees clearly who is committing violence. That moral clarity matters. For those of us not on the streets, our role is to help the public get to the heart of the story: ICE is using violent means to achieve violent ends—and Trump is trying to escalate even further. They are the perpetrators of this immediate crisis.
Technically speaking: Trump did not invoke the Insurrection Act. Instead, he used an emergency procedure to call up the National Guard. This kind of deployment—without a governor’s consent—hasn’t happened since 1965. The legal implications are serious, hotly contested, and will eventually land in court. The Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits using U.S. troops for domestic law enforcement, still stands. (Much of what we’ve written on “What to do if the Insurrection Act is invoked” still applies.)
There are many smart organizers doing important work.There’s a vigil tonight at 7 PM at LA City Hall with Archbishop Gomez and other local groups. Bring a candle. Others right now are encouraging the National Guard to refuse unethical orders, and pushing local politicos and Congress to investigate ICE’s abuses — backed up by the community. Nationally, raids are ramping up and need activated responses.
Stepping back, I want to underline something: Trump is doing this because he is weak.
This isn’t strength. It’s fear, as all racism is rooted in fear. And it’s desperation, as he needs to appear to be a “strongman.”
Trump’s MAGA base has been splitting over his spending bill, his break-up with Musk, and the fall-out from his terrible policies. Consider State Senator Ileana Garcia, who said:
“This is not what we voted for. I have always supported Trump, through thick and thin. However, this [the broader ICE crackdowns] is unacceptable and inhumane.”
Remember that we’re no longer talking about the unexpected return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. Trump had sworn he’d never bring Kilmar back. It was supposed to be a show of brute strength. Instead, it’s a humiliating public retreat for him.
(That Kilmar returns to likely vastly inflated charges does allow Trump some degree of “saving face.” But his fundamental “I can get away with anything” was exposed.)
Why did Trump reverse course? We don’t have all the inside details. Maybe it was pressure from Republican senators, frustrated elite lawyers, or even El Salvador’s president. But this retreat proves Trump hasn’t fully consolidated power.
There’s also the known outside strategy that we’ve wielded: Town halls erupting. Growing protests. Surging petitions. Labor leaders from AFL-CIO’s Liz Shuler to Sean McGarvey of the Building Trades have spoken out forcefully.
So Trump is trying to distract us from the fact that he’s weak, that his base isn’t fully united, and that our movement has the power to disrupt his agenda. He’s trying to provoke violence in L.A. to rally his base and regain control.
They fear our togetherness because it cannot be broken. What they try to tear apart only deepens our bond. We will stand in solidarity with each other.
Warmly,
– Choose Democracy
Resources for National Guard
- Encrypted support form (for Guard/Active Duty resisting deployment): bit.ly/MilOptions
- Legal help: National Institute of Military Justice
- Know Your Rights (Military): bit.ly/militaryKYR
Resources for Demonstrators:
- Protestors Guide to Talking to National Guard: Instagram post