Democrat Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “All In With Chris Hayes” that she would have preferred to not have “cuts” to “grants for violence prevention” during the city’s anti-ICE riots and protests over the National Guard troops deployed by President Donald Trump.
In June, Trump sent the National Guard into Los Angeles after a weekend of riots and protests sparked by an uptick in U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) raids. While discussing Trump’s crackdown on crime in Washington, D.C., by federalizing the nation’s capital, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes asked Bass for her take on the president’s decision to call in the National Guard.
“Well, basically, I feel like both of our cities [Los Angeles and Chicago], and we can add in Washington, D.C. right now, are all being test grounds,” Bass said. “We’re being test grounds for what happens when the military is deployed in American cities. I feel like the ultimate goal here is to normalize this overreach, where the National Guard was never needed here in Los Angeles. There were thousands of troops, and the only thing they did was stood outside a building.”
Despite Bass and Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom pushing back on Trump’s decision to bring in the National Guard, the city had already seen widespread looting, cars being burned, and vandalism throughout downtown. Following the deployment of troops and Marines to the federal building, protesters and rioters continued to flood the downtown area, with the Daily Caller News Foundation witnessing some of the vandalism firsthand.
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With protests and riots continuing by mid-June, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) declared an unlawful assembly in the downtown Civic Center area, as Bass eventually set a curfew for the zone. The DCNF additionally witnessed protesters taunting National Guard members and Marines during the incidents, with some yelling for them to get “ICE out of LA.”
“The majority of the troops were on a base nearby playing video games and resenting the fact that they were used in that way. But, you know, I so appreciate you putting in the context of what happened in the 80s and 90s when there was the mass arrests of young people,” Bass added. “I worry that that might be what has taken place in Washington, D.C. If you want to help us deal with crime, which both of us are very committed to, then don’t cut the grants for violence prevention so that we can help reduce crime in our cities.”
Trump announced the deployment of National Guard troops and the invocation of Section 40 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act on Aug. 11 for the nation’s capital, following a slew of crimes in Washington, D.C., that had drawn national attention. While Democrats and legacy media pundits have said Washington, D.C.’s crime dropped 35% in 2024, citing local police data, the statistics left out crimes such as felony and aggravated assault.
By Friday, Trump told reporters he is considering deploying the National Guard to Chicago, calling the city a “mess” and adding that the people of Chicago are “screaming for us to come.” Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have since told the president not to deploy troops to the city. Johnson said that the crime rates for Chicago have decreased.
Chicago Police Department data through Aug. 16 reportedly shows homicides in the city trending down 25% over the last 12 months compared to 2023. The frequency of killings remains higher than it was before the pandemic, according to ABC7 Chicago. Data from the outlet shows that in the last 12 months through Aug. 16, there have been 474 homicides, with an average yearly homicide rate of 722 between 2021 and 2023.
While reports have indicated that overall crime in Los Angeles has decreased, shootings involving officers have notably increased in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to NBC4 Los Angeles. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell told the outlet that officers are now facing “a greater number of officer-involved shootings,” with 25 incidents between Jan. 1 and July 15, compared to 18 during the same period in 2024.
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