A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
President Trump's immigration policies are at the root of the protests in Los Angeles over the weekend. All weekend long, crowds have been protesting immigration raids going on in the city.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
By Saturday, Trump claimed the protests were a, quote, "rebellion." And yesterday, he deployed National Guard troops despite the objections of Governor Gavin Newsom. LA's police chief said last night that many early protests had been peaceful but were marred by some violence later on.
MARTÍNEZ: For more on how Washington is handling the protests and the latest Trump immigration policy, with us now is NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram. So, Deepa, what has the president said about the protests and this decision to call in the National Guard?
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Yeah. The president spoke to reporters yesterday, and he called the protests in LA a riot. And he said that he called California's governor, Gavin Newsom, and said that if he didn't take care of the violence in response to the ICE raids, that he was going to send in troops. And that is, of course, what happened. Trump suggested that there were instances of protesters spitting on police officers and throwing things. Trump said he has a statement of, quote, "they spit, we hit," referring to how troops will respond. And he said that he was watching to see what happens in other cities in regards to other protests against police or military members. And Trump seemed to allude to the possibility that he could send in troops to other cities.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, this is within the president's power - to call in the National Guard - but it is a rare thing.
SHIVARAM: Right, exactly. So definitely rare because it happened without Newsom's consent. And the last time a president stepped in to call the National Guard without consent from a governor was the 1960s, so it is a far stretch of federal power here. But I will say the president does have the authority to do this. A White House official told me that Trump used a U.S. code to call in these National Guard troops. And it isn't the first time that Trump has called the National Guard. In the summer of 2020, during the protests against the police killing of George Floyd, Trump asked governors to send troops to D.C. But that was a situation in which governors had a choice to send in National Guard members or not. In this case, you know, over the weekend, Trump called in those guard members over Newsom's head.
MARTÍNEZ: And how did Gavin Newsom respond?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. So he's, of course, pushing back. Newsom released a letter last night addressed to the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth. He's formally requesting that Trump rescind his deployment of troops. Newsom called it a, quote, "serious breach of state sovereignty" and said that it was increasing tensions. And he said that he'll also file a lawsuit. Trump, though, appears to be doubling down on his actions. In a post to Truth Social yesterday, he called the protesters a, quote, "violent, insurrectionist mob" and said that he was directing his administration to, quote, "liberate Los Angeles from the migrant invasion."
MARTÍNEZ: All right. So what's happening in Los Angeles is related to immigration policy. Now, another immigration policy took effect today, and that's the new travel ban. So, Deepa, what can you tell us about this new travel ban?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. So the ban is divided into two parts. There are some countries that have a full ban, some that have a partial ban. There are 12 countries under the full ban, and those include countries such as Afghanistan, Haiti, Iran, Sudan and Yemen. The White House has said the countries named lack screening and vetting capabilities. And I'll tell you, you know, this ban was something Trump had promised to do on the campaign trail as a continuation of the Muslim travel ban from his first term. So Day 1 at the White House in January of this year, Trump signed an executive order that tasked federal agencies looking into, you know, which countries had what they see as deficiencies in vetting and screening that would merit this kind of a ban. So what's going into effect today has really been something that Trump started from the beginning of his second term.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram. Thanks a lot.
SHIVARAM: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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