The history of National Guard deployments in LA: What to know
The National Guard has been deployed to Los Angeles in the past in response to civil disorder and natural disasters.
The National Guard has been deployed to Los Angeles several times in response to civil disorder and natural disasters. In previous years, the National Guard was sent at the request of state and local officials.
In January, California Gov. Gavin Newsom approved a request from Los Angeles County to deploy the state National Guard to support law enforcement during the wildfires. Thousands of Guard members were sent to the region to assist in firefighting efforts and to help local law enforcement with checkpoints and patrols in the evacuation areas.
While Vice President J.D. Vance has referred to the protesters as "insurrectionists" and senior White House aide Stephen Miller described the protests as a "violent insurrection," President Donald Trump has not invoked the Insurrection Act.
Under the 1807 law, the president may have the legal authority to dispatch the military or federalize the Guard in states that cannot control insurrections under or are defying federal law.
In June 2020, Paste BN reported that Trump had considered invoking the Insurrection Act over protests in response to the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a former Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck on a street corner in May 2020. Protestors clashed with police across the country, including in Los Angeles, which prompted then-Mayor Eric Garcetti to ask Newsom for members of the Guard to be sent to the city.
At the time, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and others urged against deploying domestic troops to quell civil unrest.
In 1994, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake ‒ known as the Northridge earthquake – shook the San Fernando Valley, which is about 20 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The earthquake caused an estimated $20 billion in residential damages, according to the California Earthquake Authority. The Guard was sent as part of the disaster assistance operation.
The last time the Insurrection Act was invoked was in 1992 by former President George H.W. Bush, when the acquittal of the Los Angeles Police Department officers who beat Rodney King sparked civil unrest in Los Angeles, which left more than 60 people dead and 2,300 injured, according to the Bill of Rights Institute. Thousands of members of the Guard, the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps were deployed in the city.
In 1965, nearly 14,000 Guard troops were sent to Los Angeles amid the Watts riots at the request of the California lieutenant governor, according to Stanford University’s Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute.
Contributing: Reuters