WASHINGTON, DC — The Trump Administration’s deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles following protests against aggressive immigration enforcement has drawn sharp condemnation from advocacy groups, with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) calling it an unconstitutional overreach.
Ben Johnson, AILA’s Executive Director, accused the administration of operating a “mass deportation machine” that prioritizes quotas over public safety, tearing apart families and destabilizing communities.
“These protests stem from a brutal reality: ICE’s enforcement is not about targeting criminals—it’s a dragnet that spares no one,” Johnson said. While condemning protest-related violence, he warned that militarizing the response would only escalate tensions.
The move has sparked a legal and political firestorm, as California Governor Gavin Newsom had explicitly opposed federal intervention. Johnson called the unilateral deployment an “alarming abuse of power,” part of a broader pattern of eroding checks on executive authority.
“This is not just about immigration—it’s about whether the military becomes a political tool,” he said, urging Congress, the courts, and the public to resist what he described as authoritarian overreach.
AILA reiterated its call for an immigration system grounded in due process and human rights, warning that silence in the face of escalating enforcement tactics amounts to complicity.
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