At a Fort Bragg event, President Trump denounces LA demonstrators, blames state leaders, and defends expanded National Guard deployment amid ongoing immigration protests.
North Carolina [US], June 11: In a fiery address at Fort Bragg on Tuesday, President Donald Trump described the escalating protests in Los Angeles as a “full-blown assault on peace, public order, and national sovereignty,” according to Al Jazeera. The remarks came during a speech commemorating the 250th anniversary of the US Army, where Trump sharply criticized local California leadership and vowed tougher enforcement actions.
“These guys are professionals. These are not amateurs,” Trump said of the protestors, many of whom have been demonstrating against recent ICE raids in the city. He also announced his support for proposed legislation that would imprison individuals for up to one year if they burn the American flag, calling such acts unacceptable in the current climate.
Trump reserved particular scorn for California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, labeling them “incompetent” and accusing them of enabling unrest by allegedly supporting “troublemakers, agitators, and insurrectionists.”
“Their position is that the rioting will not stop unless ICE withdraws from Los Angeles and ceases the enforcement of federal immigration law,” Trump claimed. “So sad what they’ve done to our country.”
The protests, which erupted after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out sweeping raids across LA—resulting in the arrest of dozens of undocumented immigrants—have continued to draw widespread public attention and political condemnation.
On Monday, the Department of Defense confirmed that Trump had ordered an additional 2,000 National Guard troops to be deployed in Los Angeles to support ICE and other federal law enforcement officers. This surge comes on top of the 2,000 troops previously deployed on Saturday, reflecting the administration’s increasingly aggressive stance against the protests.
“At the order of the President, the Department of Defence is mobilising an additional 2,000 California National Guard to be called into federal service to support ICE and to enable federal law-enforcement officers to safely conduct their duties,” wrote Sean Parnell, Assistant to the Secretary of Defence for Public Affairs, in a post on X.
This significant troop movement coincides with mounting legal challenges. On the same day as Trump’s Fort Bragg remarks, California filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, seeking a judicial ruling that the President’s deployment orders are unconstitutional and infringe upon state sovereignty.
The legal battle adds a dramatic layer to what has become a deeply polarizing national issue, pitting federal authority against state governance amid ongoing unrest and immigrant rights demonstrations.
As the situation continues to unfold, both the legal and political consequences of the troop deployments—and the protests they aim to suppress—are likely to fuel heated national debate in the coming weeks.