President Donald Trump has ordered 2,000 members of the California National Guard to be deployed to Los Angeles to intervene in protests against immigration raids, claiming local officials have failed to respond properly.
The move has been criticized by the state’s democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, who called it “purposefully inflammatory” and said it would only escalate tensions.
On Sunday, Trump praised the National Guard troops for their response to the protests, even though the Los Angeles mayor stated that no Guard troops were present in the city.
“Great job by the National Guard in Los Angeles after two days of violence, clashes and unrest,” the president said in a post on Truth Social.
Minutes later, Mayor Karen Bass posted on X, saying: “Just to be clear, the National Guard has not been deployed in the City of Los Angeles.”
Clashes erupted on Saturday near a Home Depot in Paramount, a predominantly Latino city south of Los Angeles, where federal agents were staging operations at a nearby Department of Homeland Security office.
Authorities deployed tear gas, flash-bang grenades, and pepper balls as protesters responded by throwing rocks and chunks of cement at Border Patrol vehicles. Smoke drifted through the streets from small fires set with burning debris.
Demonstrators are seen using blockades and facing tear gas, flashbang grenades, and pepper ball shots, while rising tensions have resulted in damaged property (Photo: Taurat Hossain/Anadolu via Getty Images)The unrest followed a series of immigration sweeps the day before, including operations in LA’s fashion district and at another Home Depot location.
More than 100 people have been arrested in the city in a week. Among those detained was a prominent union leader, taken into custody during a protest and charged with obstructing law enforcement.
Several hundred protesters gathered in Paramount near a doughnut shop, where authorities used barbed wire barricades to hold back the crowd.
Elsewhere in central Los Angeles, demonstrators once again assembled outside federal buildings, including a detention center. Police declared the gathering an unlawful assembly and began making arrests.
Earlier in Paramount, immigration agents encountered protesters near the entrance of a business park behind a Home Depot.
Demonstrators set off fireworks, dragged shopping carts into the street, smashed cinder blocks, and threw debris at a convoy of Border Patrol vans as they sped away down the boulevard.
Democratic governor objects the move
The president ordered the deployment of the National Guard to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester,” despite objections from the state’s Democratic governor.
Newsome has said the Trump administration’s decision to send troops to California is not due to a lack of local law enforcement personnel, but an attempt to create a “spectacle.”
Protesters clash with law enforcement officers in Paramount and downtown Los Angeles, California, following recent raids by immigration authorities (Photo: Taurat Hossain/Anadolu via Getty Images)“The federal government is taking over the California National Guard and deploying 2,000 soldiers in Los Angeles — not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle,” Newsome said in a post on X on Saturday.
“Don’t give them one,” he said. “Never use violence. Speak out peacefully.”
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Paramount Mayor Peggy Lemons told several news outlets that local residents turned out in response to immigration enforcement activity because of widespread fear within the community.
“When situations are handled the way this one seems to have been, it’s no surprise that chaos follows,” she said.
Protesters shouted at officers while filming the scene on their phones. A woman with a megaphone declared, “ICE out of Paramount. We see you for what you are. You’re not welcome here.”
Trump’s directive invokes a rarely used law that allows the federal government to deploy the National Guard if “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States”.
It is the first time a president has used such power since the 1992 LA riots, sparked by the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of black motorist Rodney King.
Trump said the federal government would “solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”
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