Gov. Maura Healey blasts Trump for 'outrageous' deployment of California National Guard

Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald on Jun 11, 2025

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BOSTON — President Donald Trump’s decision to federalize the California National Guard in response to protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions in Los Angeles is “wrong,” Gov. Maura Healey said Wednesday.

After an unrelated event outside the State House, Healey bashed the Trump administration for an “outrageous” deployment of National Guard and military personnel that “makes communities less safe.”

“I support law enforcement and those working in law enforcement, and I don’t want to see them in harm’s way either, just like I don’t want to see members of our military in harm’s way. But what Donald Trump has done is really wrong, and he’s creating a threat to public safety,” Healey told reporters.

Trump has activated more than 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in response to clashes between protestors, federal immigration authorities, and local law enforcement.

The Republican president originally called up the Guard and Marines to protect federal buildings in the city and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers working in the field. In a post to social media Wednesday, Trump defended his actions.

“If our troops didn’t go into Los Angeles, it would be burning to the ground right now, just like so much of their housing burned to the ground. The great people of Los Angeles are very lucky that I made the decision to go in and help!!!” he said on his social media site Truth Social.

In a speech Tuesday evening, Newsom described Trump’s decisions as an “assault” on Democracy.

“California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next,” he said. “Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived.”

Demonstrations against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have spread across the country since the National Guard hit the ground in Los Angeles. Hundreds gathered in front of Boston City Hall Monday, and another contingent protested outside the State House Tuesday.

Healey said the situation in California is “a serious situation, with President Trump, essentially, in my view, creating and then escalating a public safety threat.” She also said state and local law enforcement “work incredibly well together” when people protest in Massachusetts.

“I think what’s important in these times is just the open lines of communication so everybody knows you know their role, their responsibility, both citizens in the public as well as members of law enforcement,” she said.

Healey’s remarks Wednesday come days after she joined a statement with a string of other Democratic governors that ripped into Trump’s move to deploy California’s National Guard as an “alarming abuse of powers.”

“Governors are the commanders in chief of their National Guard, and the federal government activating them in their own borders without consulting or working with a state’s governor is ineffective and dangerous,” the statement said.

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