Curfew in LA as protests against Trump's immigration crackdown continue
A nighttime curfew was in force in Los Angeles as local officials sought to get a handle on protests that United States President Donald Trump claimed were an invasion by a 'foreign enemy'.
'I have declared a local emergency and issued a curfew for central Los Angeles to stop the vandalism, to stop the looting,' Mayor Karen Bass told reporters on Tuesday.
One square mile (2.5 square kilometres) of the city's more than 500-square-mile area will be out of bounds until 6am (13:00 GMT) for everyone apart from residents, journalists and emergency services, she added.
Small-scale and largely peaceful protests began on Friday in Los Angeles as anger swelled over intensified arrests by immigration authorities.
At their largest, a few thousand people have taken to the streets, but smaller groups have used the cover of darkness to set fires, daub graffiti and smash windows.
Overnight on Monday, 23 businesses were looted, police said, adding that more than 500 people had been arrested in recent days.
Protests have also sprung up in other cities around the United States, including New York, Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco.
Trump has ordered 4,000 National Guard soldiers to Los Angeles, along with 700 active-duty Marines, in what he has claimed is a necessary escalation to take back control, despite the insistence of local law enforcement that they could handle matters.
The Pentagon said the deployment would cost US taxpayers $134m.
'What you are witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order, and national sovereignty,' Trump told troops at Fort Bragg, a military base in North Carolina.
'This anarchy will not stand. We will not allow an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy.'
California Governor Gavin Newsom said Trump's shock militarisation of the city was the behaviour of 'a tyrant, not a president'.
In a livestreamed address, Newsom called Trump a 'president who wants to be bound by no law or constitution, perpetuating a unified assault on American tradition'.
'California may be first, but it clearly will not end here.'
In a filing to the US District Court in Northern California, Newsom asked for an injunction preventing the use of troops for policing.
Trump's use of the military is an 'incredibly rare' move for a US president, said Rachel VanLandingham, a professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles and a former US Air Force lieutenant colonel.
US law largely prevents the use of the military as a policing force – absent the declaration of an insurrection, which Trump again mused about on Tuesday.
Trump 'is trying to use emergency declarations to justify bringing in first the National Guard and then mobilising Marines,' said law professor Frank Bowman of the University of Missouri.
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Which US cities have the LA immigration protests spread to?
Protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, which began on June 6 in Los Angeles, have spread beyond the California city, across the United States. This comes days before a military parade scheduled on Saturday in Washington, DC, which marks the US Army's 250th anniversary. More protests across the US are scheduled on Saturday. Here is what we know about what is happening and where. On June 6, ICE carried out immigration enforcement raids in LA, in which uniformed ICE agents arrived at various sites in LA in groups of unmarked vehicles, arresting 44 people in a military-style operation. The operation triggered protests in LA on the same day, and crowds rallied outside a facility where some of the detainees were believed to be held. They were dispersed by police, but protests began again soon after. US President Donald Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops into the city on June 8, a move condemned as an 'illegal takeover' by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who then filed a lawsuit to try to prevent their deployment onto the city streets. The next day, Trump doubled the number of active National Guard troops in the city to 4,000. On Monday, Trump also ordered 700 marines to be deployed from the Twentynine Palms base east of Los Angeles, describing the city as a 'trash heap' that was in danger of burning to the ground. A federal court hearing about whether or not Trump can legally deploy the National Guard and marines to assist with immigration raids in LA is scheduled for Thursday. Marines arrived in the city on Tuesday. However, as of Wednesday, they had still not completed training, The Hill reported, citing an unnamed US Northern Command official. The marines are now expected to join the National Guard troops on the streets of LA on Friday. On Tuesday night, LA Mayor Karen Bass announced a curfew in downtown LA, and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) made several arrests. A sixth day of protests continued on Wednesday. These were mostly peaceful but featured occasional outbursts of violence. By June 9, protests against the ICE raids and Trump's deployment of the military had spilled over to several other US cities in solidarity with the LA Wednesday, protests had appeared in 12 other cities across several states. Here is the situation in each city: LA is not the only city in California which is experiencing protests. Soon after the start of the LA protests, a peaceful protest began in San Francisco with demonstrators gathering outside an ICE building on financial hub Sansome Street in the north of the city. Local media reported that police arrived in riot gear and made arrests. On Sunday, June 8, San Francisco police arrested about 60 people, and declared the protest an 'unlawful assembly'. On Monday, the San Francisco police released a statement on X, saying the demonstrations had been 'overwhelmingly peaceful' but that 'two small groups broke off and committed vandalism and other criminal acts'. It said police had made more arrests, without specifying the number of people arrested. Local media reports suggest the number could be above 150. Local media reported that ICE agents were also arresting migrants in San Francisco. The city's mayor, Democrat Daniel Lurie, shared this news on X on Monday, saying: 'I have been briefed on the ongoing immigration enforcement actions taking place downtown.' Lurie added: 'I have been and will continue to be clear that these federal immigration enforcement tactics are intended to instil fear, and they make our city less safe.' He stated the police force would not be involved in making immigration arrests. 'Under our city's longstanding policies, local law enforcement does not participate in federal immigration enforcement. Those are our policies, and they make our city safer.' On Tuesday, 200 protesters rallied outside the San Francisco Immigration Court. Protests were also reported in the nearby city of Oakland. On Monday, protests broke out in Santa Ana in Orange County, a largely Mexican-American city just south of LA. The protests broke out following reports of ICE raids in the city. Local media reported that several hundred people were protesting outside the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and court. The Santa Ana Police Department released a statement on X saying it was aware of the immigration enforcement actions and would not participate in them. However, the police department posted another statement on X later on Monday saying: 'When a peaceful demonstration escalates into rocks, bottles, mortars, and fireworks being used against public service personnel, and property is destroyed, it is no longer a lawful assembly. It is a violation of the law.' Local media reported that several arrests were made. Police chief Robert Rodriguez said peaceful protesters would be protected but urged residents not to participate in violent protests or vandalism. 'Those who participate in unlawful activities will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.' On Tuesday, National Guard troops were deployed to Santa Ana and clashes with protesters were reported. Protests have broken out in Seattle, Washington State's most populous city. About 50 protesters gathered outside the immigration court in downtown Seattle on Tuesday. On Wednesday, hundreds of protesters marched downtown from Capitol Hill. According to the Seattle Police Department, this demonstration was mostly peaceful, but some individuals set fire to a dumpster, which prompted police intervention. Several clashes were also reported between protesters and the police, who arrested eight people for assault and obstruction. Protests also broke out in Spokane, a city towards the eastern side of Washington State. The police arrested more than 30 protesters and dispersed the crowd using pepper balls, Spokane police chief Kevin Hall told a news conference. Mayor Lisa Brown imposed a night curfew in the city, which was set to last until 5am (12:00 GMT) on Thursday. Protests have broken out in several cities in Texas. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott wrote on X on Tuesday: 'Texas National Guard will be deployed to locations across the state to ensure peace & order. Peaceful protest is legal. Harming a person or property is illegal & will lead to arrest.' On Tuesday, Abbott deployed the National Guard ahead of protests in San Antonio. The city's mayor, Democrat Ron Nirenberg, said on Wednesday that he had not been informed in advance about the National Guard deployment and had not requested it. More than 400 protesters gathered outside the city hall on Wednesday in a largely peaceful protest. Hundreds of protesters gathered on Monday between the Texas State Capitol building and a federal building which holds an ICE staff office. More than a dozen people were arrested, Abbott wrote in an X post. The police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse protesters. Some protesters threw rocks at officers and graffitied a federal building, according to local media reports. Protesters also gathered in the Texas cities of Dallas and Houston. Protesters gathered outside the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on Tuesday. Police said they arrested 18 people when protesters tried to cross Interstate 25, a highway that runs through New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming. On Tuesday, thousands of protesters gathered near an immigration centre in Chicago and marched downtown, blocking a plaza. Some 17 people were arrested, according to the police and some clashes between protesters and police were reported. On the same day, a 66-year-old woman was treated for a fractured arm after she was hit by a car that drove through the protest. No other injuries have been reported. On Tuesday morning, immigration authorities raided a meat production plant in Nebraska's Omaha city, taking dozens of workers away with them in buses. Local media reported that about 400 people protested against this raid on Tuesday along the 33rd and L streets. On Monday, hundreds of people gathered outside Boston City Hall, calling for the release of trade union leader David Huerta, who was arrested during the LA protests. Huerta was released on Monday afternoon on a $50,000 bond. However, he remains charged with conspiracy to impede an officer, a felony which could result in a maximum of six years in prison, according to the office of the US Attorney. Thousands of people protested in Lower Manhattan in New York City on Tuesday. The protesters rallied near an ICE facility and federal courts. On Tuesday, New York police took 86 people into custody. Some 34 of them were charged, while the rest received a criminal court summons. The police took more people into custody on Wednesday, but did not specify how many. On Tuesday afternoon, about 150 people gathered outside the Federal Detention Center and marched between the centre and ICE's headquarters in the city. After a group defied police orders to disperse from a major road, 15 people were arrested. Demonstrators marched past the Justice Department building in the US capital on Monday. The protesters were calling for the release of union leader David Huerta. There have been no reports of violence or arrests. Yes. On Saturday, protests opposing Trump's policies in general are planned in nearly 2,000 locations from parks to cities to small towns. They will coincide with a military parade in Washington, DC, commemorating the US army's anniversary, and with Trump's 79th birthday. No protests are planned in Washington, DC.
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
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China's hold over the industry had been a concern for the US and other countries for some time, but their alarm grew after Beijing imposed export controls in April. The restrictions affected supplies of samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium, and required companies shipping materials and finished products overseas to obtain export licences. The restrictions followed a similar move by China in February, when it placed export controls on tungsten, bismuth and three other 'niche metals'. While news of a deal on rare earths signals a potential reprieve for manufacturers, the details of its implementation remain largely unclear. Chinese customs data shows the sale of rare earths to the US dropped 37 percent in April, while the sale of rare earth magnets fell 58 percent for the US and 51 percent worldwide, according to Bloomberg. Global rare earth exports recovered 23 percent in May, following talks between US and Chinese officials in Geneva, but they are still down overall from a year earlier. The greatest alarm has been felt by carmakers and auto parts manufacturers in the US and Europe, who reported bottlenecks after working their way through inventories of rare earth magnets. 'The automobile industry is now using words like panic. This isn't something that the auto industry is just talking about and trying to make a big stir. This is serious right now, and they're talking about shutting down production lines,' Mark Smith, a mining and mineral processing expert and the CEO of the US-based NioCorp Developments, told Al Jazeera. Even with news of a breakthrough, Western companies are still worried about their future access to rare earths and magnets and how their dependence on China's supply chain could be leveraged against them. 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Ahead of the negotiations in London, China's Ministry of Commerce had said it approved an unspecified number of export licences for rare earths, and it was willing to 'further strengthen communication and dialogue on export controls with relevant countries'. However, an op-ed published by state news outlet Xinhua this week said rare earth export controls were not 'short-term bargaining tools' or 'tactical countermeasures' but a necessary measure because rare earths can be used for both civilian and military purposes. NioCorp Developments' Smith said Beijing is unlikely to quickly give up such powerful leverage over the US entirely. 'There's going to be a whole bunch of words, but I really think China is going to hold the US hostage on this issue, because why not?' he said. 'They've worked really hard to get into the position that they're in. They have 100 percent control over the heavy rare earth production in the world. Why not use that?' Deborah Elms, the head of trade policy at the Hinrich Foundation in Singapore, said it was hard to predict how rare earths would be treated in negotiations, which would need to balance other US concerns like China's role in exporting the deadly opioid fentanyl to the US. Beijing, for its part, will want guarantees that it can access advanced critical US technology to make advanced semiconductors, she said.
