Guard

Before he arrived at USC, Micah Banuelos was already pretty accustomed to playing through pain. As a standout offensive and defensive lineman at Kennedy Catholic High in Washington, his shoulder would pop out of its socket during almost every game. So Banuelos would check out, have his shoulder popped back in and then reenter the game like nothing changed.

“Then,” his father, Roy Banuelos, says, “he never said anything about it after.”

But when that shoulder injury lingered past high school and into his freshman season, there was no ignoring it anymore. Just weeks into his first fall at USC, the staff suggested Banuelos get surgery.

It would be a while before Banuelos made his way back — and even longer still before he’d be competing for a real role on USC’s offensive line. The shoulder injury robbed him of the following spring, then a knee issue nixed his second season after just a few games. But at the start of his third fall at USC, Banuelos has finally entered the mix at guard, a position at which USC is perilously unproven.

If a federal judge doesn’t grant an injunction Monday to transfer lineman DJ Wingfield in his lawsuit against the NCAA, then Banuelos will be one of many vying for the opening he leaves behind up front. Banuelos has taken considerable snaps through camp with the first-team offensive line, while redshirt freshmen Hayden Treter and Makai Saina and walk-on Kaylon Miller have also factored into the competition.

It’s the first time that USC coach Lincoln Riley has really gotten an extended look at Banuelos, despite the fact that he’s entering his third season in L.A.

“He was probably somebody we knew the least about, just because he was hurt so much,” Riley said. “He’s getting a ton of reps right now, and so far, he’s just carrying on from that. He has a lot of power. He can really move people. He can really play behind his hips. There’s a lot to like about what he does, and if he stays healthy, he’s really going to turn into a good player.”

Riley had similar praise for Treter, who has also dealt with injuries since coming to USC. The coach called Treter “one of the highlights of camp.”

The Trojans entered the offseason in need of more consistency from their offensive line, especially with a relatively new starting quarterback in Jayden Maiava.

The competition at USC’s open guard spot remains one of the closest battles on the team with just over two weeks remaining until its season opener. Even Alani Noa, who started 12 of USC’s 13 games, hasn’t been assured of a starting spot.

That uncertainty up front might be nerve-racking to some. Riley and offensive coordinator Luke Huard insist they don’t see it that way.

Huard said he feels “really, really good” about the current state of the offensive line, while Riley said he feels “much better” now about the depth at the position than he did in spring.

“Some of that young depth coming along, we needed that to happen,” Riley said. “Their ascent is important not just for this year, but for the future.”

It’s just as critical at offensive tackle, too, where redshirt freshman Justin Tauanuu has made his own case to be a part of USC’s starting front. It’s possible that he slots in at right tackle, while Tobias Raymond, the projected starter there, kicks into guard to fill the void left by Wingfield.

But coaches and teammates like what they’ve seen out of Banuelos.

“You can tell when a guy just wants to be out there and treats every day like his last,” left tackle Elijah Paige said. “He’s putting it all out here.”

For a while, Banuelos could only wait for his shoulder — and then his knee — to heal. That part was excruciating, his father says, stuck in place as others made moves up the depth chart.

“He was pretty down,” Roy Banuelos said. “I would call him and just tell him, ‘It’s OK, man. You’ll get your time. It’ll come.’”

Now, with USC in desperate need of someone stepping up at guard, that time may finally have arrived.

“All he wanted to do was play football,” Roy Banuelos said. “So his attitude now — it’s night and day.”

President Trump’s decision to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington has California officials on high alert, with some worrying that he intends to activate federal forces in the Bay Area and Southern California, especially during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Trump said that his use of the National Guard to fight crime could expand to other cities, and suggested that local police have been unable to do the job.

Legal experts say it is highly unusual and troubling for forces to be deployed without a major crisis, such as civil unrest or a natural disaster. The Washington deployment is another example of Trump seeking to use the military for domestic endeavors, similar to his decision to send the National Guard to Los Angeles in June, amid an immigration crackdown that sparked protests, experts said.

Washington has long struggled with crime but has seen major reductions in recent years.

Officials in Oakland and Los Angeles — two cities the president mentioned by name — slammed Trump’s comments about crime in their cities. Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said in a statement that the president’s characterization wasn’t rooted in fact, but “based in fear-mongering in an attempt to score cheap political points.” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called it “performative” and a “stunt.”

Trump has said he would consider deploying the military to Los Angeles once again to protect the 2028 Olympic Games. This month, he signed an executive order that named him chair of a White House task force on the Los Angeles Games.

The White House has not said specifically what role Trump would play in security arrangements.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Imelda Padilla, who sits on the city panel overseeing the Games, acknowledged last week that the city is a “little nervous” about the federal government’s plans for securing the event.

Congress recently approved $1 billion for security and planning for the Games. A representative for the Department of Homeland Security declined to explain to The Times how the funds will be used.

Padilla said her concern was based on the unpredictable nature of the administration, as well as recent immigration raids that have used masked, heavily armed agents to round up people at Home Depot parking lots and car washes.

“Everything that we’re seeing with the raids was a real curveball to our city,” Padilla said during a Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum event. It dealt “a real curveball to [efforts] to focus on the things that folks care about, like homelessness, like transportation … economic development,” she said.

Bass, appearing on CNN this week, said that using the National Guard during the Olympics is “completely appropriate.” She said that the city expects a “federal response when we have over 200 countries here, meaning heads of state of over 200 countries. Of course you have the military involved. That is routine.”

But Bass made a distinction between L.A. Olympics security and the “political stunt” she said Trump pulled by bringing in the National Guard and the U.S. Marines after protests over the federal government’s immigration crackdown. That deployment faces ongoing legal challenges, with an appeals court ruling that Trump had the legal authority to send the National Guard.

“I believed then, and I believe now that Los Angeles was a test case, and I think D.C. is a test case as well,” Bass said. “To say, well, we can take over your city whenever we want, and I’m the commander in chief, and I can use the troops whenever we want.”

On Monday, Trump tied his action to what has been a familiar theme to him: perceived urban decay.

“You look at Chicago, how bad it is, you look at Los Angeles, how bad it is. We have other cities that are very bad. New York has a problem. And then you have, of course, Baltimore and Oakland. We don’t even mention that anymore —they’re so far gone,” he said. “We’re not going to let it happen. We’re not going to lose our cities over this.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said officers and agents deployed across the District of Columbia have so far made 23 arrests for offenses including homicide, possession with intent to distribute narcotics, lewd acts, reckless driving, fare evasion and not having permits. Six illegal handguns were seized, she said.

Citing crime as a reason to deploy National Guard troops without the support of a state governor is highly unprecedented, experts said. The National Guard has been deployed to Southern California before, notably during the 1992 L.A. riots and the civil unrest after George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis in 2020.

“It would be awful because he would be clearly violating his legal authorities and he’d be sued again by the governor and undoubtedly, by the mayors of L.A. and Oakland,” said William Banks, a law professor at Syracuse University. “The citizens in those cities would be up in arms. They would be aghast that there are soldiers patrolling their streets.”

The District of Columbia does not have control over its National Guard, which gives the president wide latitude to deploy those troops. In California and other states, the head of the National Guard is the governor and there are legal limits on how federal troops can be used.

The Posse Comitatus Act, passed in 1878 after the end of Reconstruction, largely bars federal troops from being used in civilian law enforcement. The law reflects a tradition dating to the Revolutionary War era that sees military interference in American life as a threat to liberty and democracy.

“We have such a strong tradition that we don’t use the military for domestic law enforcement, and it’s a characteristic of authoritarian countries to see the military be used in that way,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley Law School and a constitutional law expert. “That’s never been so in the United States, and many are concerned about the way in which President Trump is acting the way authoritarian rulers do.”

Whether the troops deployed to Los Angeles in June amid the federal immigration raids were used for domestic law enforcement in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act is central in the trial underway this week in federal court in San Francisco.

If Trump were to send troops to California, Banks said, the only legal lever he could pull would be to declare an insurrection and invoke the Insurrection Act.

Unlike in D.C., Trump wouldn’t be able to federalize police departments in other parts of the country. There are circumstances where the federal government has put departments under consent decrees — a reform tool for agencies that have engaged in unlawful practices — but in those cases the government alleged specific civil rights violations, said Ed Obayashi, a Northern California sheriff’s deputy and legal counsel on policing.

“You are not going to be able to come in and take over because you say crime is rising in a particular place,” he said.

Oakland Councilman Ken Houston, a third-generation resident who was elected in 2024, said his city doesn’t need the federal government’s help with public safety.

Oakland has struggled with crime for years, but Houston cited progress. Violent crimes, including homicide, aggravated assault, rape and robbery are down 29% so far this year from the same period in 2024. Property crimes including burglary, motor vehicle theft and larceny also are trending down, according to city data.

“He’s going by old numbers and he’s making a point,” Houston said of Trump. “Oakland does not need the National Guard.”

Times staff writer Noah Goldberg contributed to this report.

Minutes after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth trumpeted plans to “flood” Washington with National Guard members, a senior U.S. military official took the stand in federal court in California to defend the controversial deployment of troops to Los Angeles.

The move during protests this summer has since become the model for President Trump’s increasing use of the military to police American streets.

But the trial, which opened Monday in San Francisco, turns on the argument by California that troops called up by Trump have been illegally engaged in civilian law enforcement.

“The military in Southern California are so tied in with ICE and other law enforcement agencies that they are practically indistinguishable,” California Deputy Atty. Gen. Meghan Strong told the court Tuesday.

“Los Angeles is just the beginning,” the deputy attorney general said. “President Trump has hinted at sending troops even farther, naming Baltimore and even Oakland here in the Bay Area as his next potential targets.”

Senior U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer said in court that Hegseth’s statements Monday could tip the scales in favor of the state, which must show the law is likely to be violated again so long as troops remain.

But the White House hasn’t let the pending case stall its agenda. Nor have Trump officials been fazed by a judge’s order restricting so-called roving patrols used by federal agents to indiscriminately sweep up suspected immigrants.

After Border Patrol agents last week sprang from a Penske moving truck and snatched up workers at a Westlake Home Depot — appearing to openly defy the court’s order — some attorneys warned the rule of law is crumbling in plain sight.

“It is just breathtaking,” said Mark Rosenbaum of Public Counsel, part of the coalition challenging the use of racial profiling by immigration enforcement. “Somewhere there are founding fathers who are turning over in their graves.”

The chaotic immigration arrests that swept through Los Angeles this summer had all but ceased after the original July 11 order, which bars agents from snatching people off the streets without first establishing reasonable suspicion that they are in the U.S. illegally.

An Aug. 1 ruling in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals seemed to assure they could not resume again for weeks, if ever.

For the Department of Justice, the 9th Circuit loss was the latest blow in a protracted judicial beatdown, as many of the administration’s most aggressive moves have been held back by federal judges and tied up in appellate courts.

Trump “is losing consistently in the lower courts, almost nine times out of 10,” said Eric J. Segall, a professor at Georgia State University College of Law.

In the last two weeks alone, the 9th Circuit also found Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship unconstitutional and signaled it would probably rule in favor of a group of University of California researchers hoping to claw back funding from Trump’s war on diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

Elsewhere in the U.S., the D.C. Circuit Court appeared poised to block Trump’s tariffs, while a federal judge in Miami temporarily stopped construction at the migrant detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has noted that his Department of Justice had sued the administration nearly 40 times.

But even the breakneck pace of current litigation is glacial compared with the actions of immigration agents and federalized troops.

Federal officials have publicly relished big-footing California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who have repeatedly warned the city is being used as a “petri dish” for executive force.

On Monday, the White House seemed to vindicate them by sending the National Guard to Washington.

Speaking for more than half an hour, Trump rattled off a list of American cities he characterized as under siege.

Asked whether he would deploy troops to those cities as well, the president said, “We’re just gonna see what happens.”

“We’re going to look at New York. And if we need to, we’re going to do the same thing in Chicago,” he said. “Hopefully, L.A. is watching.”

This image taken from video shows U.S. Border Patrol agents jumping out of a Penske box truck during an immigration raid at a Home Depot in Los Angeles, on Aug. 6, 2025.

(FOX News/Matt Finn via AP)

The U.S. Department of Justice argues that the same power that allows the president to federalize troops and deploy them on American streets also creates a “Constitutional exception” to the Posse Comitatus Act, a 19th century law that bars troops from civilian police action.

California lawyers say no such exception exists.

“I’m looking at this case and trying to figure out, is there any limitation to the use of federal forces?” Judge Breyer said.

Even if they keep taking losses, Trump administration officials “don’t have much to lose” by picking fights, said Ilya Somin, law professor at George Mason University and a constitutional scholar at the Cato Institute.

“The base likes it,” Somin said of the Trump’s most controversial moves. “If they lose, they can consider whether they defy the court.”

Other experts agreed.

“The bigger question is whether the courts can actually do anything to enforce the orders that they’re making,” said David J. Bier, an immigration expert at the Cato Institute. “There’s no indication to me that [Department of Homeland Security agents] are changing their behavior.”

Some scholars speculated the losses in lower courts might actually be a strategic sacrifice in the war to extend presidential power in the Supreme Court.

“It’s not a strategy whose primary ambition is to win,” said professor Mark Graber of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. “They are losing cases right and left in the district court, but consistently having district court orders stayed in the Supreme Court.”

Win or lose in the lower courts, the political allure of targeting California is potent, argued Segall, the law professor who studies the Supreme Court.

“There is an emotional hostility to California that people on the West Coast don’t understand,” Segall said. “California … is deemed a separate country almost.”

A favorable ruling in the Supreme Court could pave the way for deployments across the country, he and others warned.

“We don’t want the military on America’s streets, period, full stop,” Segall said. “I don’t think martial law is off the table.”

Pedro Vásquez Perdomo, a day laborer who is one of the plaintiffs in the Southern California case challenging racial profiling by immigration enforcement, has said the case is bigger than him.

He took to the podium outside the American Civil Liberties Union’s downtown offices Aug. 4, his voice trembling as he spoke about the temporary restraining order — upheld days earlier by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals — that stood between his fellow Angelenos and unchecked federal authority.

“I don’t want silence to be my story,” he said. “I want justice for me and for every other person whose humanity has been denied.”

Aug. 12 (UPI) — Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said Tuesday her district should become a state as National Guard troops arrived in the capital.

“It’s times like these when America needs to know that DC should be the 51st state,” Bowser said in an X post, which also contained a clip of her being interviewed on the “Breakfast Club” iHeartMedia radio program.

“We think this action kind of plays into his narrative on cities, about using force, about being tough on crime” Bowser said in regard to President Donald Trump‘s reasons for sending the national guard into the capital and placing city police under federal control.

Despite crime being generally down throughout the district, about 800 soldiers have been stationed in the district after being activated by the U.S. Army on Monday to assist with law enforcement, and Bowser has pledged to work “side by side” with the federal government as Trump’s directive rolls out.

Trump put forth a memorandum Monday titled “Restoring Law and Order in the District of Columbia,” in which he stated that “As President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the District of Columbia National Guard, it is my solemn duty to protect law-abiding citizens from the destructive forces of criminal activity.”

He then mentioned recent high-profile crimes as the impetus behind his decision to mobilize the District of Columbia National Guard and order them to “address the epidemic of crime in our Nation’s capital.”

Trump said in the directive that the mobilization will continue until he determines that “conditions of law and order have been restored in the District of Columbia.”

However, despite that open-ended statement, the troops have already been notified their deployment will last until Sept. 25.

According to the district’s Metropolitan Police Department crime statistics, the level of every categorized offense committed there has dropped since last year, except motor vehicle theft which has a flat change rate of 0%.

Mayor Muriel Bowser disputes Donald Trump’s emergency narrative, citing crime decline; critics call deployment a political power play.

Some of the 800 National Guard members deployed by US President Donald Trump have started arriving in the nation’s capital, ramping up after the White House ordered federal forces to take over the city’s police department and reduce crime in what the president called – without substantiation – a lawless city.

The influx on Tuesday came the morning after Trump announced he would be activating the guard members and taking over the department. He cited a crime emergency – but referred to the same crime that city officials stress is already falling noticeably.

The president holds the legal right to make such moves – to a point.

The law lets Trump control the police department for a month, but how aggressive the federal presence will be and how it could play out remained open questions as the city’s mayor and police chief went to the Justice Department to meet with the attorney general.

The meeting comes a day after Mayor Muriel Bowser said Trump’s freshly announced plan to take over the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and call in the National Guard was not a productive step. She calmly laid out the city’s case that crime has been dropping steadily and said Trump’s perceived state of emergency simply doesn’t match the numbers.

She also flatly stated that the capital city’s hands are tied and that her administration has little choice but to comply. “We could contest that,” she said of Trump’s definition of a crime emergency, “but his authority is pretty broad.”

Bowser made a reference to Trump’s “so-called emergency” and concluded: “I’m going to work every day to make sure it’s not a complete disaster.”

Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC, said Trump has accused Democrats of being “weak on crime”.

“He singled out Democrat-run cities like Oakland – which is outside San Francisco – New York, Baltimore, even Chicago,” she said. “Given the fact they’re run by Democrats … this is causing a little bit of concern.”

Democrats are calling the move “a power grab”.

“Even though they’re saying this is technically legal, it is a hostile takeover given that these powers have actually never been executed in modern history,” Halkett said.

Trump’s bumpy relationship with DC

While Trump invokes his plan by saying that “we’re going to take our capital back”, Bowser and the MPD maintain that violent crime overall in Washington has decreased to a 30-year low after a sharp rise in 2023.

Carjackings, for example, dropped about 50 percent in 2024 and are down again this year. More than half of those arrested, however, are juveniles, and the extent of those punishments is a point of contention for the Trump administration.

“The White House says crime may be down, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not a problem and that violent crime exists at levels that are far too high,” Halkett said.

Bowser, a Democrat, spent much of Trump’s first term in office openly sparring with the Republican president. She fended off his initial plans for a military parade through the streets and stood in public opposition when he called in a multi-agency flood of federal law enforcement to confront anti-police brutality protesters in the summer of 2020.

She later had the words “Black Lives Matter” painted in giant yellow letters on the street about a block from the White House.

In Trump’s second term, backed by Republican control of both houses of Congress, Bowser has walked a public tightrope for months, emphasising common ground with the Trump administration on issues such as the successful effort to bring the National Football League’s (NFL’s) Washington Commanders back to the District of Columbia.

She watched with open concern for the city streets as Trump finally got his military parade this summer. Her decision to dismantle Black Lives Matter Plaza earlier this year served as a neat metaphor for just how much the power dynamics between the two executives had evolved.

Now that fraught relationship enters uncharted territory as Trump has followed through on months of what many DC officials had quietly hoped were empty threats. The new standoff has cast Bowser in a sympathetic light, even among her longtime critics.

“It’s a power play and we’re an easy target,” said Clinique Chapman, CEO of the DC Justice Lab. A frequent critic of Bowser, whom she accuses of “over policing our youth” with the recent expansions of Washington’s youth curfew, Chapman said Trump’s latest move “is not about creating a safer DC; it’s just about power”.

United States President Donald Trump has announced that he is temporarily taking control of the Washington, DC, police department, while deploying 800 National Guard troops to the city.

Trump said his actions are needed to “rescue” the US capital from a surge in crime.

While violent crime spiked in Washington, DC, in 2023, data shows it has been falling quickly since then.

Here is what we know:

What has Trump announced?

During a 78-minute news conference, Trump announced that the federal government would take control of the District of Columbia (DC) Metropolitan Police Department to address surging crime.

“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse,” Trump said during the conference in which he was joined by US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who will oversee the city’s police force while it is under federal control.

“This is Liberation Day in DC, and we’re going to take our capital back. We’re taking it back,” Trump said.

“Under the authorities vested in me as the President of the United States, I’m officially invoking section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act… and placing the DC Metropolitan and Police Department under direct federal control,” he said.

He also announced the deployment of the National Guard.

“I’m deploying the National Guard to help reestablish law, order and public safety in Washington, DC, and they’re going to be allowed to do their job properly,” he said.

Trump also said that he intends to remove the capital’s homeless population, but did not provide details on how the plan would be carried out.

What is the Home Rule Act of 1973?

The Home Rule Act of 1973 is a US federal law that gave Washington, DC, a significant degree of self-government for the first time.

Washington, DC, is the seat of the federal government and the only US city that is not part of the 50 states. As a result, it has no voting representation in Congress.

For about a century, up until 1973, the city was run by three presidentially appointed commissioners. That was until then-President Richard Nixon signed the Home Rule Act, enabling district residents to elect a mayor and city council.

But the Home Rule Act also says the president can take control of the city’s police force if “special conditions of an emergency nature exist”.

This is something Trump threatened to do in 2020, amid nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd. The city’s police can be used for “federal purposes”.

The president can use the DC police force for 48 hours, or up to 30 days if he notifies Congress.

Trump said he plans to keep the federal takeover of the force going past the first 48 hours, and will officially inform the appropriate parties.

The mayor of Washington, DC, Muriel Bowser, is adamant that the city still has control: “Let me be clear. Chief Pamela Smith is the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, and its 3,100 members work under her direction.”

“Nothing about our organisational chart has changed,” Bowser said. “And nothing in the executive order would indicate otherwise.”

According to a report by the news outlet Politico, federal law enforcement officers will be tasked with protecting federal buildings and national monuments.

What do we know about the National Guard deployment?

According to a statement from the US Army, “between 100-200 soldiers will be supporting law enforcement at any given time”.

“Their duties will include an array of tasks from administrative, logistics and physical presence in support of law enforcement,” the army said.

The National Guard will operate under Title 32 status, meaning they remain under local control but are funded by the federal government. In this status, they are not bound by the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars US service members from engaging in law enforcement activities.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that the Guard would begin flowing into DC this week.

According to a report by CNN, deployed troops are not expected to openly carry rifles as they patrol the streets. Instead, they will probably keep their weapons nearby, for example, in their trucks, so they can access them if necessary for self-defence, the official said.

Hegseth said the Pentagon was “prepared to bring in other National Guard units – other specialised units”, but did not offer any further details.

When asked whether the military would assist with clearing homeless people from the city, Hegseth said that the soldiers would assist local law enforcement.

“Our job is to stand alongside law enforcement,” he said.

Why is Trump taking these measures?

In the executive order, Trump states that rising violence in the capital has become an emergency.

The “rising violence in the capital now urgently endangers public servants, citizens, and tourists, disrupts safe and secure transportation and the proper functioning of the Federal Government”, the order states.

“The magnitude of the violent crime crisis places the District of Columbia among the most violent jurisdictions in the United States.”

It also says that the attorney general shall regularly update the president “on the status of the special conditions of an emergency nature that exist in the District of Columbia”.

MAKE D.C. SAFE AGAIN 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/xJRIcgy4ld

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 11, 2025

According to reports, the move seems to have been triggered by an assault involving Edward Coristine, a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer and protege of Elon Musk, who previously led DOGE. Police say 10 teenagers attacked the 19-year-old and his partner early on August 3. Two 15-year-olds were later arrested and charged.

“If DC doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, days after the attack, with an image showing a shirtless Coristine with what appeared to be blood spattered on his face, body and trousers.

“Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of Violent Crime,” Trump added.

Is DC truly facing a crime emergency?

The mayor of Washington, DC, Bowser, questioned the effectiveness of deploying the National Guard to enforce local laws, saying that more funding for prosecutors would make a more meaningful difference.

At a news conference on Monday, the mayor said that Trump’s perception of the city was “shaped by his COVID-view experience during his first term”.

“It is true that those were more challenging times related to some issues. It is also true that we experienced a crime spike post-COVID, but we worked quickly to put laws in place and tactics that got violent offenders off our streets, and gave our police officers more tools,” she said.

According to Bowser, violent crime is now at a 30-year low in Washington, DC.

Washington, DC’s crime numbers have been questioned after authorities began investigating claims that some figures were changed to make the situation look better.

But Bowser has stood by the data and said that Trump’s picture of DC as lawless is wrong.

In January, the Department of Justice reported that violent crime in the nation’s capital fell 35 percent from 2023 to 2024.

Official crime statistics from the DC Metropolitan Police Department show that violent offences declined between 2023 and 2024, and preliminary 2025 data indicate the trend is continuing.

The data for this year shows that homicides have fallen by 12 percent, and assaults with dangerous weapons by 20 percent.

The FBI, however, reported that nationwide violent crime also fell, by an estimated 4.5 percent in 2024, compared with 2023.

US President Donald Trump said he is taking control of Washington, DC’s police force and deploying the National Guard, calling it “Liberation Day” for the US capital. He cited a need to combat “crime, bloodshed and bedlam”, despite data showing violent crime is at a 30-year low.

“I call that a war crime.” Anthony Aguilar told Al Jazeera about what he says were deadly and unprofessional practices he witnessed firsthand at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution sites in Gaza.

Nearly two months after President Trump took the extraordinary step of deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles to quell public unrest over immigration raids, the Pentagon on Wednesday announced that it was withdrawing more than a thousand troops.

The departure of about 1,350 members of the National Guard, ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, represents just the latest rollback of troops from L.A. this month since more than 5,000 National Guard members and Marines were deployed to the city in June.

Sean Parnell, chief spokesman for the Pentagon, said that approximately 250 California Guard members would remain in L.A. to protect federal agents and buildings.

“We greatly appreciate the support of the more than 5,000 Guardsmen and Marines who mobilized to Los Angeles to defend Federal functions against the rampant lawlessness occurring in the city,” Parnell said in a statement.

Mayor Karen Bass, who had dubbed the deployment an “armed occupation,” was quick to celebrate the troops’ departure.

“Another win for Los Angeles,” Bass said on X on Wednesday night. “We will continue this pressure until ALL troops are out of L.A.”

The troops’ presence in Los Angeles — and their role of protecting federal agents conducting immigration raids — was fiercely contested. President Trump said the troops were necessary to maintain order as the administration ramped up its immigration raids and protesters covered downtown buildings in graffiti, set Waymos on fire and clashed with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

But many of California’s key Democratic leaders said there was no need for federal troops in the city: Local law enforcement could handle the protesters, they said, and the presence of federal troops in highly militarized gear only inflamed tension in the region. They also argued that federal officials had deployed the troops illegally.

Just a day after the first convoys of National Guard troops rumbled into to L.A. on June 8, Gov. Gavin Newsom sued federal officials, saying that the deployment exceeded federal authority and violated the 10th Amendment in an “unprecedented usurpation” of state power. Newsom also complained that the deployment had diverted the California National Guard from critical duties such as combating wildfires and interrupting the drug trade at the U.S.-Mexico border and across California.

His office released a statement responding to the latest drawdown Thursday.

“President Trump is realizing that his political theater backfired. This militarization was always unnecessary and deeply unpopular,” the statement said. “The President must do the right thing to end this illegal militarization now because the economic and societal impacts are dire. The women and men of our military deserve more than to be used as props in the federal government’s propaganda machine.”

Over the weeks, as the L.A. protests subsided, the troops did not appear to have a clear role and many appeared to be bored. By July, a source within Newsom’s office with knowledge of the military operation told The Times that only about 3% of the troops were taking part in daily missions.

“There’s not much to do,” one Marine told The Times as he stood guard earlier this month outside the Wilshire Federal Building in Westwood.

The majority of National Guard members were left largely milling about the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos in an operation that the Pentagon had estimated would cost about $134 million.

On July 15, the Pentagon withdrew nearly 2,000 California National Guard soldiers from L.A. and on July 21 it withdrew 700 active-duty Marines.

A former security guard who worked at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation ‘aid distribution sites’ described to Israeli media abuses he witnessed firsthand, including the potentially lethal use of pepper spray and tear gas.

The Clippers had a need for a playmaker and ballhandler, and they were able to find that “natural fit” with Chris Paul.

Paul spent six seasons with the Clippers, a time when he had plenty of success leading them to relevancy and now he’s back to play his 21st season, which might be his last.

Paul, 40, a 12-time All-Star, agreed to a contract that will pay him $3.6 million next season.

“Chris was a natural fit,” Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, said over Zoom on Tuesday. “His roots with the organization are deep and meaningful. He obviously played a tremendous role in the upward trajectory of the franchise. He wanted to return to the Clippers and we wanted it the same, as long as it made sense with our current roster — and it does.”

Paul has spent his entire 20-year career as a starter in the NBA, playing in all 82 games last season with the San Antonio Spurs. He averaged 8.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 7.4 assists in 28 minutes per game while shooting 42.7% from the field.

Over the course of playing in 1,354 regular-season games, Paul has started in 1,314.

Frank said Paul will “slot into our roster as a reserve point guard,” a role the two of them discussed.

“So, we don’t take that lightly when you’re taking on a different role,” Frank said. “And so there were a lot of conversations. You put everything on the table and get everyone comfortable with it. But the fact that Chris wanted to come back, wanted to be at home, wanted to be with the Clippers, we obviously know what his skill set is, but we also wanted to make sure the role made perfect sense from both people’s perspective.

“And so I thought it was a very, very thorough process in terms of how we went about it, just to make sure that everyone knows exactly what we’re signing up for and we feel really, really good about it.”

Playing time also could be tricky at the guard spot with Paul now on board.

James Harden, who averaged 35.3 minutes per game last season, and Bradley Beal are the likely starters in the backcourt for Clippers coach Tyronn Lue. Then there is Kris Dunn, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Paul who could be in the rotation.

“We know that ballhandling was a little bit of an issue for us last year and we wanted to get … Chris was the best guy for the job as long as everyone understood exactly what the role was and we can all embrace it,” Frank said. “And so, we’ve been very, very honest and direct and we feel great that Chris is back.”

Frank said Harden played a big role in the team acquiring Beal. Frank was asked if Harden talked to Paul about returning to the Clippers. Harden and Paul played two seasons together in Houston, from 2017 to 2019, and there were reports that their relationship was strained.

Frank said, “They did.” when asked if Harden and Paul had talked.

“And when talking to James, talking to Kawhi [Leonard] — and we talked about what the role would be — both guys said CP would be the best guy for this role,” Frank said.

Paul and Beal have both worn No. 3 their entire careers. But Frank said Beal will let Paul wear No. 3 and decide later what his new number will be.

“So, it’s awesome that Brad made such a great gesture like that,” Frank said. “And so Chris will be No. 3.”

During his six seasons with the Clippers, from 2011 until 2017, Paul helped the franchise reach new heights. He joined Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan to form “Lob City.”

But it sounds as if this will be Paul’s last season in the NBA and it’ll be with the Clippers and it’ll allow him to play in front of his family that lives in the Los Angeles area.

“Well, I think there’s the nostalgic aspect,” Frank said. “But I think the No. 1 question that we always say, is how can he help impact winning? … And yeah, look, there’s the heartstrings part of it, of someone who was such a significant part of the Clippers’ rise to be able to bring it back. Whether this is his last year or not, that’s obviously Chris’ story in terms of what he feels and what he wants. But I think No. 1 is his ability to help impact winning.”

The Clippers went from “strongly, strongly considering” bringing Chris Paul back to the franchise to actually agreeing to a deal with the point guard on Monday, according to people familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly.

Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, told the media Saturday in a Zoom that Paul “obviously possesses some of the qualities we just referenced” and that led to the two sides agreeing to a veteran’s minimum deal of about $3.6 million.

Paul played joined the Clippers for the 2011-12 season and was with the team until 2017 as he teamed up with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan to form the core of the “Lob City” teams.

“What I’d say about Chris is he’s a great player,” Frank said during that Zoom meeting. “He’s a great Clipper.”

In what is likely his final season in the NBA, Paul will be entering his 21st campaign and will do so in Los Angeles, where his family lives.

Paul, 40, played in all 82 games last season with the San Antonio Spurs. He averaged 28.0 minutes per game, 8.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 7.4 assists and shot 42.7% from the field.

Over the course of his career, Paul averaged 17.0 points, 9.2 assists and shot 47% from the field and 37% from three-point range.

Paul, a 12-time NBA All-Star, was a teammate with James Harden during the 2017-18 season with the Houston Rockets.

With the addition of Paul, the Clippers now have five veteran guards. They signed Bradley Beal to a two-year, $11-million deal and they also have Harden, Kris Dunn and Bogdan Bogdanonic.

They were deployed by the Trump administration to combat “violent, insurrectionist mobs” in and around Los Angeles, but in recent days the only thing many U.S. Marines and California National Guard troops seemed to be fighting was tedium.

“There’s not much to do,” one Marine said as he stood guard outside the towering Wilshire Federal Building in Westwood this week.

The blazing protests that first met federal immigration raids in downtown Los Angeles were nowhere to be seen along Wilshire Boulevard or Veteran Avenue, so many troops passed the time chatting and joking over energy drinks. The Marine, who declined to give his name because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said his duties consisted mostly of approving access for federal workers and visitors to the Veterans Affairs office.

More than five weeks after Trump mobilized an extraordinary show of military force against the will of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, few National Guard troops and Marines have remained in public view, most retreating to local military bases in Orange County.

As an indication of the military’s dwindling role in immigration enforcement operations, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Tuesday ordered the release of 2,000 National Guard troops. Now, Bass, Newsom and others are demanding the complete removal of remaining troops — or about 2,000 California National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines.

“Thousands of members are still federalized in Los Angeles for no reason and unable to carry out their critical duties across the state,” Newsom said on X, accusing Trump of using California National Guard troops as “political pawns.”

“End this theater and send everyone home,” the governor said.

Bass said the troops’ primary mission in L.A. was to guard federal buildings that “frankly didn’t need to be guarded.”

“They had to leave their families, they had to leave their education, they had to leave their work,” Bass said at a news conference Tuesday. “We have had no problems for weeks, so why were they here?”

Steve Woolford, a resource counselor for GI Rights Hotline, a nonprofit group that provides free, confidential information to service members, said calls from troops had gone down dramatically over the last month.

“The most recent people I talked to sounded like they’re sitting around bored without much to do,” Woolford said. “And they’re happy with that: They aren’t asking to do more. At the same time, I don’t think people see a real purpose in what they’re doing at all.”

The majority of National Guard troops have been stationed at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, according to military officials and governor’s office officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Over the last few weeks, a massive tent city has risen at the Orange County base — about 25 miles southeast of downtown L.A. The tents, some of which stretch up to 50 yards long, provide living quarters, cafeteria space and other facilities. On a recent morning, National Guards troops — some dressed in full combat fatigues, others in T-shirts and shorts — could be seen exercising, milling about and playing a game of touch football.

A separate group of Marines and National Guard troops have remained at the Westwood federal building for an entire month. The federal building has been outfitted with sleeping and eating arrangements for troops, according to a Marine who spoke with The Times.

To be sure, some California National Guard troops embarked on tense missions with federal immigration agents on sweeps at farms, warehouses and public streets.

On July 7, Guard troops accompanied federal agents as they descended on MacArthur Park on horses and in armored vehicles in a heavily militarized show of force. It’s still unclear whether any arrests were made that day, but crowds quickly formed around the federal agents and military troops, screaming for them to “get the f— out!”

A few days later, Guard troops wearing riot face shields and clutching long, wooden batons faced off with hundreds of protesters in Ventura County as immigration agents arrested about 200 suspected undocumented immigrants at Glass House Farms, a large, licensed cannabis greenhouse in Camarillo.

But most of the deployed Guard troops and Marines do not appear to have been engaged in raids or even the federal building security in recent weeks.

An estimated 90% of the National Guard troops stationed in the L.A. area over the last few days have not been deployed on daily missions, according to a source within Newsom’s office who has knowledge of the military operation.

“For the most part … they’re sitting around,” the source said.

The source, who spoke on condition on anonymity because they were unauthorized to speak publicly on the deployment, said an estimated 3% of the 4,000 troops — about 120 soldiers — were taking part in daily missions, mostly consisting of security at federal buildings.

An additional couple hundred were standing by for “quick response force” missions — ready to mobilize within a few hours for an immigration raid or a crowd control operation. But even if all those troops were used each day, the source said, that still left about 88% of the 4,000 troops — or about three-quarters of the remaining 2,000 — underutilized.

The Pentagon and Task Force 51, the military’s designation for Los Angeles area troops, declined to answer questions about how many Guard troops and Marines were engaged in protecting federal buildings or accompanying immigration agents on daily missions. Nor did they comment on the claim from Newsom’s office that most troops were “sitting around.”

Guard soldiers and Marines were “primarily protecting fixed-site federal facilities and protecting federal law enforcement personnel while they conduct immigration enforcement activities, such as warrant services,” read a task force statement.

Federal officials have also declined to provide precise details on the cost of the deployment. Hegseth previously said that the mobilization of troops would cost $134 million, but it’s unclear whether that estimate is accurate.

Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a military research group, said there is little evidence that the military presence is necessary.

“The need for military forces in Los Angeles is low while the need for National Guard forces elsewhere in the state is rising,” Kavanagh said. “That they’re still deployed after so much time, when there doesn’t seem to be a need, suggests that this really is about setting precedent of having military forces involved in immigration enforcement and deployed in U.S. cities.”

Kori Schake, senior fellow and director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, agreed: “They have a real job to be training for — fighting and winning the nation’s wars — which this performative policing is a distraction from.”

The first convoys of Guard troops rumbled into L.A. on June 8, shortly after the Trump administration announced it would send 2,000 Guard members to the city to quell unrest as protesters graffitied buildings downtown, set Waymo driverless cars ablaze and clashed with ICE agents as they tried to conduct immigration raids.

As California leaders protested, and called the deployment unnecessary, the Trump administration doubled down. On June 10, 700 Marines from the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center about 150 miles west in Twentynine Palms arrived in L.A. A week later, the task force ballooned to 4,800 personnel when Hegseth added 2,000 more Guard troops.

Newsom condemned Trump for diverting members of the California National Guard as they geared up for wildfire season, noting that the unit assigned to combating wildfires was at just 40% of its regular staffing levels due to the deployment. The governor’s office also complained that about 150 California Guard soldiers were being pulled from the state’s Counterdrug Task Force, which focuses on interrupting drug trade at the U.S.-Mexico border and throughout California.

The Trump administration eventually approved a request to release 150 Guard members for state wildfire suppression.

The Guard has been deployed to Los Angeles before, but never against the will of the L.A. mayor and California governor.

In 1992, President George H.W. Bush mobilized the National Guard to L.A. after multiple days of riots following a jury’s acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of Black motorist Rodney King. About 6,000 troops were ultimately sent in, requested by California’s then-Gov. Pete Wilson and Mayor Tom Bradley, to guard trouble spots and gain control of neighborhoods after rioters attacked stores, torched buildings and, in some extreme cases, beat and killed residents. The Times dubbed it “the worst civil unrest in Los Angeles history.”

Nearly 30 years later, Guard troops were called in again during the 2020 protests following the murder of George Floyd. After downtown buildings were vandalized and graffitied and police cars were set aflame, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti asked Newsom to send in 1,000 National Guard troops to restore order and assist local law enforcement.

But last month, the federal government sent in the troops without local politicians’ support, setting in motion an intense legal showdown.

A day after National Guard troops hit the ground in L.A., Newsom and Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to end the “illegal and unnecessary takeover” of a California National Guard unit. They argued that the unwarranted commandeering of National Guard troops, without the consent or input of the governor, violated the U.S. Constitution and exceeded the president’s Title 10 authority.

A U.S. district judge in San Francisco sided with the state, ruling June 12 that Trump broke the law when he deployed thousands of California National Guard troops to L.A. against the state’s will. The judge issued a temporary restraining order that would have returned control of the National Guard to California. But the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals paused that court order, allowing the troops to remain in L.A. while the case played out in federal court.

Kavanagh said she was disturbed to see Guard troops accompanying federal agents on immigration raids. Even if they had orders not to participate in law enforcement activities, confrontations could escalate quickly.

“There’s so many chances for things to spiral out of control,” she said. “While we haven’t seen any unintentional escalation yet, that doesn’t mean we won’t.”

When troops were first deployed to L.A., advocates for service members warned of low morale. The GI Rights Hotline received a flurry of calls voicing concern about immigration enforcement, Woolford said.

Some military personnel told the hotline that they did not want to support ICE or play any role in deporting people because they considered immigrants part of the community or had immigrants in their family, Woolford said. Others said they did not want to point guns at citizens. A few worried that the country was on the verge of turning into something like martial law, and said that they didn’t want to be on the side of being armed occupiers of their own country.

Many were shocked that the deployment orders were for 60 days.

“There’s no way they’re really going to keep us here that long, are they?” Woolford said he was asked.

But as the military brought in more contractors and set up giant tents with cots, Woolford said, callers to the hotline seemed more resigned to the idea that they would remain in L.A. a long time.

Asked about the pressures facing troops on their mission to Los Angeles, one Marine outside the Wilshire Federal Building summed it up this way:

“That’s just orders,” he said. “We do what we’re told — it’s the system.”

Times staff writer Jeanette Marantos contributed to this report.

The Trump administration said about half the troops deployed to help enforce immigration raids would leave the city.

United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered the withdrawal of 2,000 National Guard troops from Los Angeles, roughly half the federal troops deployed to the city, the Pentagon said.

President Donald Trump ordered some 4,000 National Guard and 700 Marines into Los Angeles in early June to help enforce federal immigration raids amid widespread protests.

According to Department of Homeland Security figures, cited by NBC Los Angeles, the raids have led to the arrest of 2,792 undocumented immigrants.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell on Tuesday confirmed the release of 2,000 California National Guardsmen “from the federal protection mission”. He claimed the move was because “the lawlessness in Los Angeles is subsiding”.

Mayor Karen Bass described the withdrawal as a “retreat”, crediting the success of peaceful protests and legal actions.

“This happened because the people of Los Angeles stood united and stood strong,” Bass said.

“We organised peaceful protests, we came together at rallies, we took the Trump administration to court. All of this led to today’s retreat,” the Democratic mayor said.

She referred to a lawsuit the city joined that led to an order from a federal judge barring immigration officers from detaining people based solely on their race or for speaking Spanish.

Federal troops deployed to Los Angeles are authorised to detain people who pose a threat to federal personnel or property, but only until police can arrest them.

Military officials are not allowed to carry out arrests themselves.

Responding to the withdrawal of some of the troops, California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, said that “thousands of members are still federalised in Los Angeles for no reason and unable to carry out their critical duties across the state”.

“End this theatre and send everyone home,” he added in a post on social media.

Despite legal challenges, a US appeals court has let Trump retain control of California’s National Guard, the first to be deployed by a US president against the wishes of a state governor since 1965.

Newsom’s office said in late June that California National Guard firefighting crews were “operating at just 40 percent capacity due to Trump’s illegal Guard deployment”, as fires were “popping up across the state” months after devastating fires tore through Los Angeles.

Originally a part of the Mexican empire, Los Angeles continues to have a large population of people with Central and South American origins. The Californian capital is also one of several so-called “sanctuary” cities in the US, offering protection from deportation to hundreds of thousands of undocumented people living there.

Trump has promised to deport millions of people in the country without documentation and has executed raids at work sites, including farms that were largely exempted from enforcement during his first term. The administration has faced dozens of lawsuits across the country challenging its tactics.

Trump has also increasingly turned to the military in his immigration crackdown.

In addition to sending troops to Los Angeles, thousands of active-duty troops have been deployed to the border with Mexico, and the Pentagon has created military zones in the border area.

The zones are intended to allow the Trump administration to use troops to detain migrants without invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act that empowers a president to deploy the US military to suppress events such as civil disorder.

A recent poll showed support for immigration in the US has increased since last year, while backing for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants has gone down.

July 16 (UPI) — The Trump administration has recalled 2,000 National Guard troops from Los Angeles, where they were deployed by President Donald Trump last month to quell anti-raid protests and to protect immigration law enforcement arresting migrants.

“Thanks to our troops who stepped up to answer the call, the lawlessness in Los Angeles is subsiding,” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement, The Hill and ABC News reported.

“As such, the secretary has ordered the release of 2,000 California National Guardsmen (79th IBCT) from the federal protection.”

Trump, who campaigned on mass deportations while using derogatory rhetoric and misinformation, has been conducting a crackdown on immigration since returning to the White House.

On June 6, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents began conducting raids in Los Angeles, sparking protests in the city.

In response, Trump deployed some 2,000 California National Guardsmen, later increasing the number to more than 4,000, as well as hundreds of U.S. Marines, attracting the anger of local politicians.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and a Trump critic, filed a lawsuit accusing the president of violating the Constitution by taking over the California National Guard, “which has needlessly escalated chaos and violence in the Los Angeles region,” his office said in a statement.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, celebrated the Pentagon move on Tuesday as being a result of the city’s protest against the deployment.

“This happened because the people of Los Angeles stood united and stood strong. We organized peaceful protests, we came together at rallies, we took the Trump administration to court — all of this led to today’s retreat,” she said in a statement.

“My message today to Angelenos is clear — I will never stop fighting for this city. We will not stop making our voices heard until this ends, not just here in LA, but throughout our country.”