Updated June 11, 2025 at 7:46 a.m.
President Trump’s weekend deployment of National Guardsmen to Los Angeles to address escalating protests has been met with some questions about his authority to do so without approval from California’s governor.
One former leader of the Michigan National Guard says Trump may have acted improperly when he ordered the Guard to the streets of LA on Sunday.
The action came on the third day of demonstrations in that city over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.
Major General Retired Greg Vadnais led the Michigan National Guard from 2011 until 2019.
“It is a stretch for the federal government to, in my opinion, on the facts that I understand them, to do what they did," he said. "It goes back to, was it necessary, is the central question. And I honestly don’t know the answer to that. I would be highly suspect."
Newsom plans to sue the Trump administration, arguing that deploying his National Guard without consulting him first was illegal and immoral.
The Michigan National Guard declined to comment.
Nearly 60 years ago, a police raid at an after-hours bar in Detroit kicked off an uprising that led to former Governor George Romney authorizing the mobilization of the Michigan National Guard.
According to the Detroit Historical Society, the riots ended with 43 dead, both civilians as well as law enforcement and military personnel, and thousands arrested.
WKAR’s Ed Coury spoke with Michigan State University Assistant Professor and historian Roger Rosentreter about this turbulent time in the state’s history.
Interview Transcript
Ed Coury: In the aftermath of President Donald Trump's deployment of California National Guard troops to Los Angeles Sunday to deal with demonstrations over immigration enforcement, I spoke with Roger Rosentreter, an assistant professor of history at Michigan State University about the time Michigan's National Guard was sent to Detroit to end unrest.
Roger, has the Michigan National Guard ever been asked to settle a protest or disturbance, anything like what's happened in California?
Roger Rosentreter: Well, the short answer is yes. In 1967, in July of 1967, the urban disturbances in Detroit in particular, there are some smaller incidents, but certainly none in comparison to what happened in July of '67 when the entire Michigan National Guard which had been up at summer camp up at Camp Grayling were sent, mobilized by the governor to come to Detroit and to help restore some of the peace in that city.
Coury: I understand there was some controversy in that when that order came down.
Rosentreter: Well, I don't know so much about controversy. The whole matter was very controversial, not so much the National Guardsmen being used for necessarily for trying to assist the state police and local police, I mean, that does periodically happen, certainly, or the calling on times of emergency.
But the controversy certainly has to do with a Republican governor, a Democratic president, a Democratic mayor and the whole issue there, and then the results afterwards. These were troops that were not necessarily trained for this kind of duty. That's a whole another issue that's important to keep in mind. Again, yes, the 8,000 members, I think that's the number that's used, of the Michigan National Guardsmen were sent to Detroit.
And then there were federal troops that would eventually show up later within, I think, within a day or so when Governor Romney asked President Johnson to send federal troops as well. So, I think there were upwards of maybe 4,000 to 5,000 members of the, I think, it was the 82nd Airborne Division landed in Selfridge and then they deployed in Detroit.
Coury: In California, the issue is enforcement of immigration laws. What was the issue back then in Michigan?
Rosentreter: Well, there were, and this is where it gets real controversial and real complicated. there was, again, just an arrest of some folks at a "blind pig," as it were, and the whole issue got out of hand. And there was a lot of issues over, for example, the Detroit police force was largely white, persecution of African American citizens.
I mean, it gets awfully complicated and probably too complicated for, you know, a quick answer, but the need to maintain some kind of peace, you know, was what led to the deployment of the troops. So, they figured that the police force simply was unable to, there weren't enough police to deal with the size of the disturbance.
Coury: You're a historian. You're not a military leader or strategist. But what are your thoughts about something like that happening in today's climate in Michigan?
Rosentreter: No answer. [laughs] ... My job is to to look at the past so much to talk about deploying troops in the streets in 2025.
Coury: Roger Rosentreter is an assistant professor of history at Michigan State University. Thanks for joining us.
Rosentreter: Thank you.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.