California intensifies its conflict with the Trump Administration by filing a lawsuit over the presence of the National Guard.

California responds to Donald Trump’s provocations. Gavin Newsom, the governor of the most populated state in the United States, has stated that he will sue the Republican administration over the presence of the National Guard in Los Angeles. The White House mobilized 2,000 soldiers to arrive in the Californian city on Saturday, which has seen three days of protests against the federal government’s immigration raids. “The order that [Trump] signed not only applies to California but will allow him to enter ANY STATE to do the same,” Newsom said on social media. Just hours earlier, Trump sent a message promising to escalate things further: “Things look very bad in Los Angeles: !!!SEND IN THE TROOPS!!!”.

Newsom insists that the presence of the National Guard, which will be deployed for two months according to the memorandum signed by Trump, is unnecessary. The state government and local authorities contend that most protests against federal raids have been peaceful. The protest this Sunday, the largest since they began on Friday, drew thousands of people to downtown. There were moments of tension and several acts of vandalism. The day ended with 27 people arrested by the Los Angeles police, which has carried out the bulk of the dispersal and containment of the protesters.

For now, the presence of National Guard military is limited to monitoring a federal building where undocumented individuals detained by immigration police, ICE, are held. The guards are armed with batons, riot shields, and high-powered rifles. They have not clashed with the protesters, but their mere presence has heightened tensions in downtown Los Angeles.

“Currently, there is no need for the National Guard to be deployed in Los Angeles, and doing so illegally for such an extended period is a serious violation of sovereignty that seems intentionally designed to inflame the situation,” Newsom wrote in a letter to Pete Hegseth, Trump’s Secretary of Defense. He threatened on Saturday to send military personnel to Los Angeles if the situation is not controlled. Newsom called the threat “insanity.”

Federal and local authorities have also engaged in escalating verbal exchanges in recent hours. Tom Homan, the border czar of the Republican administration, was in Los Angeles over the weekend to send a stern message to the city’s residents. “We will continue conducting operations against immigrants every day, whether you like it or not,” he said defiantly. The official promised to arrest any official who interferes with federal operations, issuing direct threats to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Newsom.

“He thinks he’s tough; come on, he knows where I am. Let him come and arrest me to put an end to all this… I couldn’t care less,” Newsom said regarding Homan on Sunday night. “Maybe then he’ll stop bothering four-year-old girls who just want to go to school and get an education… These people just want to live their lives,” Newsom added.

The Democratic governor, who has not ruled out running for president in 2028, has received support from his party in this conflict with Washington. Kamala Harris, the former Democratic presidential candidate who lives in Los Angeles, has expressed her support. “Protest is a powerful and essential tool for justice. As local police, the mayor, and the governor have pointed out, the demonstrations in defense of our undocumented neighbors have been mostly peaceful,” Harris wrote in a statement. The former vice president of Joe Biden is currently evaluating whether to launch a campaign to succeed Newsom as governor.