To the editor: The executive order of President Trump that sends the National Guard to Los Angeles was equivalent to a not so subtle provocation of the situation, and possibly an unconstitutional also (“The center of Los Angeles hit a generalized vandalism, the damage as the city struggles to calm the disturbances.” June 9). If you saw almost any source of coverage of visual media of the protests against immigration and the application of customs that occurred in Los Angeles, it could have been convinced that the city was in a violent agitation. It wasn't. What the spectators saw were only the most dramatic examples of events that occurred in recent days, the images repeatedly repeated of a handful of the same burning vehicles, explosions of flash explosion and other chosen images, I am sure of their visual effect.
To put this in perspective, the county population has more than 9 million residents. That is greater than that of 40 individual states of the United States and understand 88 incorporated cities and many areas not incorporated into a total area of 4,084 square miles. According to this measure, what happened was small, concentrated mainly in a few blocks that surround the civic center of the city of Los Angeles and a mostly peaceful mass meeting by the protesters, many of whom were very angry with the intentionally provocative tactics of the ice operations often ride and brutal. In the end, everything was managed competently by the Los Angeles Police Department and the agents of the Sheriff.
John Trask, Thousand Oaks
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To the editor: Obviously, it is not possible that those of us who live in the middle of the country completely understand what people in Los Angeles are experiencing. But be sure that we share your fears due to what all this means for our country. Donald Trump won the popular vote of 2024 for the thinnest margins, but claimed a mandate of the American people. And he has used that mandate statement to make our country and the entire world, a more dangerous place. In fact, his close electoral victory did not give him the right to terrorize and deport (without due process) people who have the right to be here, to break all the recent precedents by deploying the National Guard without the consent of the governor or, the most terrifying, to send to the American marines to find a civil disturbance that has caused and probably. As with many of his actions, Trump is trying to light his base while dividing our country. California has become his scapegoat for all magician things.
Trump's vision of the United States is contrary to everything our country represents. Unless we do something, such as the peaceful protest of Los Angeles, his vision is what our country will become. Please know, we are with you.
Stephen F. Gladstone, Cleveland
