Trump Responds to ‘No Kings’ With Immigration Escalation

Following a weekend in which thousands of “No Kings” protests took place across the US, reportedly attended by an estimated five million people and calling for Donald Trump’s removal from office and an end to his immigration policies, the Republican responded by adding further fuel to the fire, ordering immigration enforcement agencies to pay special attention to cities whose leaders are Democratic. The escalation also came in the aftermath of a highly controversial military parade coinciding with Trump’s 79th birthday that was hampered by bad weather and which the Associated Press reported fell “far short” attendance projections.

Litigation over the militarization of Trump’s deportation sweeps will be a feature of the coming week. On Monday, ahead of oral arguments, Trump’s lawyers told a three-judge federal appeals panel that the president must keep control of California’s National Guard in part because local law enforcement “were unable or unwilling to effectively quell the violence” at Los Angeles protests. The argument has been repeatedly rejected by state and local officials as patently false, with government officials noting that protests there have been largely peaceful, that law enforcement didn’t need federal help when they weren’t, and that Trump’s use of soldiers is a “manufactured crisis.”