Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem are two of the loudest voices in the room encouraging Donald Trump to militarize Los Angeles, a presidential aide has disclosed.
Both urged the president to federalize and deploy California Army National Guard troops and send U.S. Marines to Los Angeles in response to protests against federal immigration raids, even though local officials opposed the move.
“Stephen has been clear in all the meetings: More military, faster,” a Trump adviser told Axios.
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Miller has called for using the military to crack down on protesters who try to block federal agents from making immigration arrests, even though federal troops are generally barred from domestic policing.
He’s been backed by Noem, who is “practically bloodthirsty” in demanding tougher immigration enforcement, the adviser said. On Sunday, the homeland security secretary asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to instruct U.S. Marines to arrest rioters.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told Axios in a statement that Noem is “antithetical to bloodthirsty—she is trying to prevent bloodshed.” The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and DHS for comment.
Trump took the extraordinary step over the weekend of deploying 4,000 National Guard troops and hundreds of U.S. Marines to Los Angeles in defiance of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s warnings that sending in federal troops would only make things worse.
“This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers, and even our National Guard at risk,” Newsom said.
The governor has sued to block the deployments.
After five days of protests, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass enacted a partial curfew Tuesday night for downtown L.A. The reason, she said, was to “stop bad actors who are taking advantage of the president’s chaotic escalation.”
Rioters have set off fireworks at officers, lit cars on fire, and thrown pieces of concrete at police, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Video also shows the police using tear gas, flash-bangs, and non-lethal bullets to disperse crowds downtown.
City officials, however, have said that the people peacefully protesting during the day are not the same ones who are clashing with police at night. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said Sunday that Trump had called in the National Guard troops prematurely.
The president has long regretted not sending in the National Guard to quell the 2020 protests that broke out in major cities nationwide after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man.
At the time, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, convinced Trump not to invoke the Insurrection Act or deploy active-duty troops against the protesters.
A federal law known as the Posse Comitatus Act prohibits using federal troops for domestic policing, except when expressly authorized by the Constitution or an act of Congress, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.
The main exception to the rule is the Insurrection Act, a compilation of statutes that allows the U.S. president to use the military to quash an armed rebellion or other insurrection, according to Lawfare.
As of Wednesday, the president hadn’t invoked the Insurrection Act, which limits the federal troops’ mission to protecting federal property and personnel.
According to Axios, that hasn’t stopped Noem and Miller from calling for the military to do more, faster.
