Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday evening criticized federal officials’ decision to deploy 2,000 members of the California National Guard to the Los Angeles area as “purposefully inflammatory.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deployed flash grenades and tear gas to disperse a protest at a Home Depot in Paramount, where people had gathered to protest a series of raids immigration officials had carried out around the city on Friday. SEIU California union president David Huerta, a frequent Newsom ally, was injured while protesting Friday and remained in federal custody over the weekend.
Federal officials’ decision to send in National Guardsmen was a dramatic escalation in a long-simmering fight between California officials and the Trump administration over the state’s immigration, climate and anti-discrimination policies. Earlier this week, Newsom suggested he would withhold federal taxes after Trump purportedly began looking into cutting off funding to the state…