The White House announced that Trump would deploy the Guard to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester.”

President Donald Trump signed a memo late Saturday night federalizing 2,000 California National Guard troops to address what a White House official called the “lawlessness that has been allowed to fester” in Los Angeles.

The Trump administration says it will send 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles after two days of isolated clashes between federal immigration agents and protesters.

The top federal prosecutor in Southern California, Bilal A. “Bill” Essayli, said California “has an obligation to maintain order and maintain public safety, and they’re unable to do that right now in Los Angeles.

The memo obtained by NPR says troops would be used in activities, including in "night operations and rural interdiction," as well as "guard duty and riot control" inside detention facilities.

Army officials indicated that the Trump administration is preparing to provide 20,000 National Guard troops to help crack down on illegal immigration, though the Pentagon said it is still reviewing the decision.

More than two years after being deployed amid a major staffing crisis, the National Guard is set to leave Florida prisons after this month. Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022 announced a plan to use the National Guard to help the understaffed state prisons,

Democrats in Congress and some military and law enforcement officials expressed concern about the plan, which Defense Department officials have not yet approved.