Los Angeles being invaded by ‘foreign enemy’: Trump claims ‘full-blown assault on peace’ in California

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (Jun 10) claimed that the rioters in Los Angeles bearing foreign flags were part of a “foreign invasion”. He vowed to “liberate” the city following protests, which were sparked by immigration raids.

Speaking about the protests in Los Angeles at Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina, the US president described the protestors as “animals” who “proudly carry the flags of other countries”. He further got the soldiers to boo the names of former president Joe Biden and California Governor Gavin Newsom, with whom he recently echanged heated remarks over deployment of thousands of National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles.

“This anarchy will not stand. We will not allow federal agents to be attacked, and we will not allow an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy,” Trump said.

“What you’re witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and national sovereignty, carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags with the aim of continuing a foreign invasion of our country,” he added.

Trump also claimed that Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass “paid troublemakers, agitators, and insurrectionists” in Los Angeles.

“In Los Angeles, the governor of California, the mayor of Los Angeles, they’re incompetent and they paid troublemakers, agitators and insurrectionists. They’re engaged in this willful attempt to nullify federal law, and aid the occupation of the city by criminal invaders”, the president said.

Trump has linked the protestors to “uncontrolled migration”, adding that Europe must act too, reiterating his administration’s stance on the subject.

“As the entire world can now see, uncontrolled migration leads to chaos, dysfunction and disorder,” Trump said.

“And you know what? They have it in Europe too. It’s happening in many of the countries of Europe. They better do something before it's too late.”

California asks federal judge to block Trump’s troop deployments

Trump’s move has been criticised by California authorities, who said that the deployment of troops is unnecessary and will inflame the situation. California Governor Gavin Newsom has called the president’s actions “dictatorial” and “un-American”.

On Tuesday (Jun 10), Newsom asked a federal judge to quickly block Trump administration’s order to deploy National Guard and Marines in response to the protests in Los Angeles.

Trump’s deployment of the military and the National Guard poses “imminent harm to State Sovereignty, deprives the State of vital resources, escalates tensions and promotes (rather than quells) civil unrest,” State Attorney General Rob Bonta told Judge Charles Breyer in US District Court in San Francisco.

“Sending trained warfighters onto the streets is unprecedented and threatens the very core of our democracy,” Newsom said in a statement later.

“Donald Trump is behaving like a tyrant, not a President,” the governor added. “We ask the court to immediately block these unlawful actions.”