FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, June 9, 2025
Press Contact: Sumeet Bal, Director of Communications, 917-647-1952, [email protected]

Public Advocates Demands Trump End Troop Deployment, Ice Raids on California Communities

Public Advocates strongly condemns President Trump’s deployment of 2,000 armed National Guard troops and 700 Marines against demonstrators and immigrant communities in Los Angeles. This dangerous escalation represents a boiling point in the Trump administration’s attacks on Californians that began in January while our state struggled to recover from devastating firestorms.

The federalization of a state’s National Guard and the mobilization of Marines are not a response to an actual crisis or a request for help from Governor Gavin Newsom or Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Instead, President Trump appears bent on manufacturing a militarized crisis in California to expedite his persecution of so-called “enemies from within” with an iron fist, regardless of the human toll.

We will not be fooled. Under the pretense of conducting law enforcement, the Trump administration is systematically disappearing people, including U.S. citizens, from our communities while violating their constitutional rights. Individuals have been held in basement detention facilities, denied access to legal counsel. Even members of Congress have been prevented from conducting oversight inspections. The injury and detention of SEIU California President David Huerta during Friday’s raids is a particularly egregious assault on those who seek to bear witness and stand in solidarity with workers in their communities. 

Public Advocates does not condone violence in any form, including Trump’s immigration policies that have created profound pain and anger. The protests in Los Angeles stem from a fundamental human instinct to protect neighbors and family members from continued harm. Isolated incidents of violence should be addressed by local authorities, not the military. Authoritarian tactics will only inflame tensions and further traumatize residents already suffering from family separation.

“The Trump administration’s use of the military against protesters defending their neighbors is both unconscionable and un-democratic,” said Guillermo Mayer, President and CEO of Public Advocates. “The presence of armed troops is upending people’s lives and placing entire communities in harm’s way. Our nation needs healing, not cruelty.”

“Every family has the right to feel safe in their community,” said Alina Ball, Chair of Public Advocates’ Board of Directors. “ICE raids and the militarization of our neighborhoods create trauma that extends far beyond those targeted—they terrorize entire communities and keep children from attending school and families from accessing employment and basic services. We cannot advance social equity in the face of such repression.”

In just six months, President Trump has waged a calculated campaign against California—targeting undocumented immigrants and transgender people, gutting the federal workforce, destabilizing our economy through reckless trade wars, and bullying elite institutions into submission. He has threatened to withhold billions in federal funds from California—a state that contributes $680 billion in federal taxes annually—while pushing legislation that will leave millions of Californians without health care and food assistance. Having repeatedly demonstrated disdain for the rule of law and an independent judiciary, he has now deployed troops on our streets. This is not governance, it is an assault on California’s vulnerable communities. It must stop now. 

We demand immediate action to:

• Immediately cease all ICE raids in Los Angeles and across California
• Immediately withdraw federalized National Guard and Marines from Los Angeles
• Protect constitutional rights to peaceful protest without military retaliation

Public Advocates applauds Governor Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta for their swift legal action challenging the deployment of the National Guard and calls on California’s congressional delegation, state leaders, and local officials to take immediate action protecting our communities from continued federal overreach. We will continue working with coalition partners and grassroots organizations statewide to monitor harmful federal actions and explore all legal avenues to protect California’s communities from this administration’s authoritarian tactics.

In this moment of uncertainty, we stand in solidarity with all communities under attack and will not remain silent in the face of injustice.

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Public Advocates Inc. is a nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization that challenges the systemic causes of poverty and racial discrimination by strengthening community voices in public policy and achieving tangible legal victories advancing education, housing, transportation equity, and climate justice.