Gov. Maura Healey backed Newsom on Wednesday as protests over federal immigration raids have dragged into their fifth day in Los Angeles.

“I stand in support with Governor Newsom, and supporting his prerogative as commander in chief to lead local and state law enforcement in protecting communities. What Donald Trump is doing is making communities less safe,” Healey told reporters Wednesday after an unrelated event outside of the State House.

The protests started in LA on Friday, when Immigration Customs Enforcement raids took place across the city. Over the weekend, the demonstrations escalated and the Trump administration sent about 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to the city. Mayor Karen Bass implemented a curfew in downtown LA and Newsom filed an emergency motion to try to block further deployment of troops in the city center.

“They’re talking about spending over a $100 million with this deployment,” Bass said at a news conference, according to Courthouse News Service. “Which is why I say that I feel like we have all been in Los Angeles a part of a grand experiment to see what happens when the federal government decides they want to roll up on a state, or roll up on a city, and take over.”

President Donald Trump posted about the LA protests and military deployment on his social media platform, Truth Social, several times Wednesday morning.

“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 wrote.

 

Another post says, “The INCOMPETENT Governor of California was unable to provide protection in a timely manner when our Ice Officers, GREAT Patriots they are, were attacked by an out of control mob of agitators, troublemakers, and/or insurrectionists. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Newsom has responded by calling Trump a threat to American life.

 

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

 

Healey told reporters that she joins with governors and attorneys general around the country in denouncing Trump’s actions.

 

“It is wrong to federalize the National Guard over the objection of and without the consultation of a governor of a state,” she said. “It’s making our communities less safe, and it puts law enforcement in danger,” adding that “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.”

 

“In terms of what happens next with court actions. I’ll leave that to the attorney general and support whatever steps she takes that she thinks are important to vindicate things as a legal matter, because that’s her domain,” Healey said.

 

Attorney General Andrea Campbell joined a group of 18 attorneys general in releasing a statement Wednesday condemning Trump’s military deployment to the city “as the chief law enforcement officers” in their respective states.

 

“The president’s decision to federalize and deploy California’s National Guard without the consent of California state leaders is unlawful, unconstitutional, and undemocratic,” the statement reads.

 

It continues, “The federal administration should be working with local leaders to keep everyone safe, not mobilizing the military against the American people... We oppose any action from this administration that will sow chaos, inflame tensions, and put people’s lives at risk – including those of our law enforcement officers.”

Markey speaks out

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey said he would oppose any similar tactics Trump is using in California in Massachusetts, which has already come under fire for its “sanctuary” policies.

“If Trump sought to nationalize the National Guard here in Massachusetts, or to send in the Marines, I would fight Trump every single step of the way because it would be one further step toward an authoritarian dictatorship in our country,” Markey told reporters Monday after speaking at a New England Council breakfast.

“What Trump is trying to do in California is wrong. It is authoritarianism on steroids,” Markey said. “We have to, here in Massachusetts, make sure that he understands that we are not going to tolerate having the authority of Gov. Healey or Mayor Wu, or any of our local officials, undermined by his authoritarian techniques to nationalize the National Guard or any other national military body.”

Trump’s border czar has threatened he’d bring “hell” to Boston, and he visited Massachusetts in March as federal agents arrested 370 people.