In an obvious display of political force and intimidation, dozens of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were dispatched outside of the Japanese American Museum in Los Angeles on Thursday, where Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom was delivering a speech on congressional redistricting.
Video footage of the event shows at least two dozen heavily armed and mostly masked agents in full tactical gear marching near and milling around in front of the museum while Newsom was delivering his speech. In what seems to have been a clearly staged “impromptu” interview with Fox News, a representative of ICE — one of the few unmasked agents on the scene — calmly explained that they had made an arrest nearby adding: “we are here making Los Angeles a safer place. Since we don’t have politicians that’ll do that, we do that ourselves.” This was a clear gibe against the California governor, whom the agent claimed not to know was in the building at the time.
For the few mainstream media outlets that refused to buy into the Fox News narrative that this was merely a coincidence, most reported it as little more than a political stunt intended to criticize California Democrats or, alternatively, a desperate attempt to deflect attention away from allegations about Trump’s relationship with child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. But, while both of these may be true, it is also part of a much deeper and more dangerous trend that has been developing and escalating since the beginning of Trump’s second term.
Just as Trump used and continues to use federal agencies like the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to carry out an extra-judicial and extra-legislative agenda to dismantle and hobble government agencies that stand in his way, he is also increasingly turning to the use of armed federal forces and the threat of or actual use of state violence to carry out a reactionary political program of intimidation, repression, retribution, and the consolidation of power that goes far beyond the bounds of the executive.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Governor Newsom, one of the most likely contenders for the 2028 Democratic Party Presidential nomination, wasted no time turning the situation to his advantage. Almost on cue, Newsom interrupted his speech to criticize and insult Trump. “Who else,” Newsom said, “sends ICE [at the] same time we’re having a conversation like this? Someone who’s weak. Someone who’s broken. Someone whose weakness is masquerading as strength.” Meanwhile Los Angeles Mayor, Karen Bass called it “a provocative act,” adding “this is an administration, this is a Customs and Border Patrol that has gone amok.”
While Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass may not have been scared by Trump’s goons, the show of force was not really for them or the Democrats, who are now openly bragging about using their own undemocratic methods in response to Trump’s power grabs in Texas and elsewhere. The real audience for this jackboot burlesque is Trump’s far-right petit-bourgeois supporters who revel in and draw inspiration from such demonstrations of unchecked political power. These are the very same supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in 2021, and the same white supremacist neo-confederates and Proud Boys who attacked counter-protesters in Charlottesville, many of whom have been joining federal agencies like ICE in droves since 2016, and who are no doubt applying now for the more than 10,000 new ICE positions that the Trump administration is planning to create. How deep their fealty to Trump runs and how willing such agents would be to break with constitutional norms in a moment of crisis remains to be seen, but all signs indicate that Trump has an unprecedented and growing amount of influence and sway over large groups of armed citizens, both those who work for the federal government and civilians.
And of course, this is not the first time that Trump has used armed state and federal forces for political purposes. Indeed, it’s been only a little more than two months since Trump deployed the National Guard onto the streets of Los Angeles to violently repress protests against ICE raids in the city. That deployment only spurred further demonstrations and unrest, but it also led to the arrests of hundreds of anti-ICE protesters and countless immigrants. And there is speculation that Trump could send the National Guard to Los Angeles again during the 2028 Summer Olympics. Meanwhile, Trump has militarized the war on immigrants at the border, and ICE agents, under the direction of right-wing Trump fanatic Kristi Noem, have been deployed for months in cities across the country to terrorize immigrants and international students, such as Mahmoud Khalil, in an effort to both silence the movement for Palestine and weaken immigrant power by creating a climate of fear among immigrant communities.
As Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles last month and his more recent takeover of Washington D.C. demonstrate, he is not afraid to employ every tactic at his disposal to use violence or the threat of violence to achieve his political ends, and it remains an open question just how far he and his followers may be willing to go with this tactic. In D.C. for instance, the Trump administration has not only taken over the local police, they are also deploying federal agents of all varieties, including Homeland Security Investigation personnel and FBI agents to, among other things, set up check points and to demolish homeless encampments. Once again, the point here is not to end crime in Washington D.C., but to send a signal to the millions of right-wing Trump supporters that he is willing to crack a few eggs and that the time for making that omelette may be imminent.
While Trump has had some legislative success, such as the passage of his Big Beautiful Bill in July, he has also faced a lot of opposition from congress and the courts. In fact, Trump passed only five pieces of legislation in his first 100 days, the lowest of any president in the last seven decades, and many of his executive actions, such as the mass deportation of immigrants to El Salvadoran Prisons, have been challenged or slowed down by lower courts. If Republicans lose big in 2026, Trump will find it all but impossible to make any further legislative gains for his agenda or his party. But we saw what happened the last time Trump lost an election. In 2020 Trump was on the way out, and his power was limited; but in the event that the Republicans are routed in 2026, Trump will have two more years to extend the depth and breadth of his control and influence over ICE, Homeland Security, local police forces, and armed civilians.
It is quite reasonable to presume that a weakened and cornered Trump might seek to double down on the abuse of his executive powers to push even further his use of both the justice department and federal agents for political ends, leading to what others have already begun to argue is the formation of a kind of secret police. Nor is it beyond the realm of the possible that such tactics could spill over into the civilian population and that the Trump Administration and its loyal cronies might seek to deploy emergency powers to deputize or otherwise provide protection and cover for the use of right-wing militias against perceived enemies.
And these kinds of open attacks on political enemies are not mere speculation; it’s already happening. Trump’s threats to deport or arrest pro-Palestinian Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, for instance, may seem like bluster, but we’ve already seen the way that Trump and the State Department, under the direction of Trump loyalist Marco Rubio, have used executive power and prerogative to detain and deport anyone deemed a threat to U.S. foreign policy, particularly those who criticize Israel or support Palestinian liberation. And in the event that Mamdani wins the election in November, we can expect the state, with the tacit consent of the Democratic Party no doubt, to use everything at its disposal to threaten and undermine any attempts by Mamdani or the working people of New York to pass even modestly progressive reforms in the city. This could include the deployment of the National Guard and further hordes of ICE agents to terrorize and punish the city.
In D.C., unlike Los Angeles, the response to Trump’s takeover and deployment of federal agents has so far been largely confined to small, mostly peaceful protests; but there is an enormous amount of passive support for those demonstrations, and it is possible that such protests could increase if Trump over-reaches. At the same time, both Trump’s and ICE’s disapproval ratings are higher than ever. Organizing this discontent and building working class self-organization and self defense in our communities and our workplaces is going to be central to any future struggle against Trump and the Far Right as well as the larger struggle against capitalism and U.S. imperialism.