California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have both opposed deployment of the National Guard and Marines to the city.

After eight years as lieutenant-governor, in 2018 he was elected to California’s top job. He breezed past a recall effort in 2021 (which tried to capitalise on Mr Newsom’s visit to the French Laundry, a posh restaurant in Napa Valley, during covid lockdowns) and won re-election in 2022.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr slams Gov. Gavin Newsom’s lawsuit over Trump’s National Guard deployment, calling the claims ‘nonsense.'

The president deployed 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in response to anti-ICE protests.

The governor highlighted his work with ICE in California but said that President Trump was “trying to gin things up to create problems” at protests.

Seventy percent of Californians disapprove of the president in a new survey. But recent national polls paint a less drastic picture.

An escalating clash pits a Republican president looking to fulfill his mass deportation goals against a Democratic governor with White House aspirations hoping to mobilize opposition.