How the US was gripped by protests and why Trump is escalating the situation
"No Kings!" – under this slogan, mass protests against US. President Donald Trump took place on 14 June.
Right before a military parade in Washington and on the day Trump turned 79, tens of thousands (possibly even hundreds of thousands) of people took to the streets, parks and public squares across the country, chanting anti-authoritarian slogans and calling for the defence of democracy and migrant rights.
Read more about how the United States was swept by protests and the problems they may pose for Trump in the article by Uliana Krychkovska, a European Pravda journalist: Trump shows force: what sparked the massive protests in the US.
It all started on 6 June, when US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched a large-scale raid operation in California aimed at detaining undocumented migrants. Federal agents appeared on the streets in full tactical gear, sparking outrage among local communities.
Strikingly, many of the arrests occurred during high school graduations – a time when children, who are often in the US legally, are accompanied by undocumented parents. Graduations were used as a convenient way to identify and detain them.
Unsurprisingly, these actions were seen not only by activists but also by many ordinary Californians as a show of force – aggressive and meant to intimidate migrants.
The wave of outrage quickly escalated into mass protests, and in some places, into street unrest.
In response, Trump took control of California’s National Guard. A curfew was later introduced in Los Angeles, despite initial resistance.
The US President also sent 700 US Marines to Los Angeles, which his administration said was a response to "growing threats against federal personnel and buildings."
Soon, the wave of protests spread to other major cities across the US.
Trump’s birthday became the climax of a week of protests.
And while in some cities the situation spiraled out of control, most demonstrations remained peaceful.
This strengthened the argument against Trump’s use of the National Guard.
On 12 June, a judge in San Francisco, Charles Breyer, ruled that the president’s deployment of the National Guard without state consent was illegal.
However, just two and a half hours later, the US Court of Appeals suspended the ruling. A full hearing is scheduled for 17 June.
Trump has defended the deployment, calling the protests in Los Angeles an "insurrection." But Judge Breyer stated directly that the events in the city do not meet the legal definition of insurrection. He also expressed concern over the idea of equating protest with a national security threat.
On Sunday, 15 June, Trump intentionally escalated the situation further, calling on ICE officers to "do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History."
He added that officials must step up efforts to detain and deport undocumented migrants in America’s biggest cities – Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.
It’s not hard to see that Trump is targeting only cities led by Democrats.
Thus, the fight against illegal migration is becoming closely intertwined with domestic political conflict.
This means the current events may have far-reaching and lasting consequences, both for Trump personally and for the overall political climate in the United States.