Former US vp Kamala Harris on Monday sharply criticised US President Donald Trump’s determination to deploy the Nationwide Guard in her dwelling metropolis of Los Angeles, calling it a “harmful escalation meant to impress chaos.” Her remarks have triggered political backlash and reignited debate over federal intervention in native protests.In a press release shared on X, Harris condemned each the current Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and the Nationwide Guard deployment, accusing the Trump administration of utilizing worry as a political weapon. “Deploying the Nationwide Guard is a harmful escalation meant to impress chaos,” she wrote. “Along with the current ICE raids in Southern California and throughout our nation, it’s a part of the Trump Administration’s merciless, calculated agenda to unfold panic and division.”Protests erupted throughout Los Angeles over the weekend following a wave of immigration raids in Latino neighbourhoods. Demonstrators took to the streets, setting vehicles ablaze, blocking main roads, and clashing with police. In response, Trump despatched 2,000 Nationwide Guard troops, together with troopers from California’s 79th Infantry Brigade, to manage the unrest. His administration defended the transfer as essential to counter what he known as “insurrectionist mobs.”However Harris, the previous California lawyer normal, argued that the federal government’s method was not about public security. “This Administration’s actions should not about public security — they’re about stoking worry. Concern of a group demanding dignity and due course of.”Regardless of Harris’s declare that “demonstrations in defence of our immigrant neighbours have been overwhelmingly peaceable,” police used flash-bangs and smoke grenades to disperse crowds. Protesters focused ICE amenities, disrupted site visitors, and reportedly set hearth to at the least three self-driving Waymo automobiles.Harris voiced assist for demonstrators exercising their proper to protest, saying: “Protest is a strong instrument — important within the combat for justice… I proceed to assist the hundreds of thousands of Individuals who’re standing as much as shield our most basic rights and freedoms.”Nonetheless, her remarks have drawn criticism from conservative figures and officers who accuse her of downplaying the violence. Home Speaker Mike Johnson backed Trump, blaming California governor Gavin Newsom for shedding management and insisting the Guard was needed to revive order. Trump hinted at broader navy motion, even suggesting he might invoke the Rebellion Act.Newsom condemned the federal deployment, calling it a breach of state sovereignty. “We didn’t have an issue till Trump acquired concerned,” he wrote. “It is a severe breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions whereas pulling sources from the place they’re really wanted.”Harris framed the protests as a defence of immigrant rights. Nonetheless, a CBS Information ballot performed earlier than the unrest indicated {that a} slight majority of Individuals supported the crackdown on undocumented immigration.
