Timeline: How ICE raids sparked LA protests and prompted Trump to send the military
With migrant communities already living in fear amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, raids carried out in downtown Los Angeles last week by federal agents apparently became a flashpoint for days of protests in America's second-largest city.
The spate of protests, which have seen both peaceful marches and violent clashes with law enforcement, prompted the president to call in the military.
The decision by President Donald Trump to deploy the National Guard and Marines over the objections of local and state leaders has also set off a war of words between Trump and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The president has publicly called Bass and Newsom "incompetent" in the crisis, and the mayor and governor have countered that Trump is abusing the power of the Oval Office by sending in the military and alleging he is "escalating" an already volatile situation.
The L.A. protests, which have been mostly concentrated in the city's downtown area near Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, have devolved into violent clashes with local law enforcement firing less-lethal projectiles, tear gas and flash bangs to disperse crowds. Demonstrators have responded by blocking a major freeway, setting vehicles ablaze and hurling rocks, Molotov cocktails and other projectiles at the police, authorities said.
As demonstrations continue in Los Angeles and spread to other cities across California and the nation, here is a timeline on how the conflict has unfolded:
ICE agents carry out a series of immigration sweeps across Southern California. Reports of federal agents running after people in a parking lot of a Home Depot in the Westlake neighborhood near downtown L.A. start circulating in the community.
Around 3 p.m. local time, a crowd begins gathering in the downtown Fashion District after ICE agents show up at an apparel manufacturing business. Aerial footage taken by ABC News' Los Angeles station, KABC, shows what appears to be ICE agents loading two white passenger vehicles with people in handcuffs. As the vehicles leave the apparel business, protesters try unsuccessfully to stop them, including one individual who was seen lying down in the path of one of the cars.
Several hours later, a large group of protesters gathered outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse downtown, calling for an end to immigration raids in the city. Video footage shows protesters vandalizing the building, heckling police and throwing bottles and other objects at officers who used shields to protect themselves. Police in riot gear are seen confronting protesters with batons and what appeared to be tear gas launchers.
At 10 p.m., the LAPD posts a message on social media, saying "an UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY has been declared for the area" around the downtown federal building and advises protesters and others to leave the area.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department receives reports around 10:15 a.m. of a large crowd gathering in Paramount, a small suburb of Los Angeles, amid rumors that ICE is preparing to raid a Home Depot there. Deputies ordered the crowd to disperse and fired tear gas and flash bang when people refused to leave. Around the same time, another protest broke out in neighboring Compton, where reports emerged of vandalism, including protesters setting a car on fire in the street.
Later, Mayor Bass said that there were no ICE raids in Paramount or anywhere else in Los Angeles County on Saturday. She said the building in Paramount that protesters gathered near was being used as a staging area for federal resources.
Around 6 p.m., Trump signed a presidential memorandum authorizing the deployment of 2,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles, saying it is necessary to "address the lawlessness" in Los Angeles. Bass and Newsom immediately object to the president's decision, saying it would only enflame tensions.
Throughout the night, protesters still assembled at the downtown federal complex were seen throwing fireworks, rocks, glass bottles and other objects at police, who responded by firing less-lethal projectiles and flash-bangs to disperse protesters.
National Guard Troops began arriving in Los Angeles around 4 a.m., taking up a position outside the Roybal federal building. The deployment marked the first time a president has mobilized a state's National Guard without a governor's consent since President Lyndon B. Johnson did so in 1965, when he sent National Guard troops to Alabama to protect civil rights activists marching from Selma to Montgomery.
Twenty-two Democratic governors released a joint statement calling Trump's decision to deploy the National Guard "an alarming abuse of power."
"Governors are the Commanders in Chief of their National Guard and the federal government activating them in their own borders without consulting or working with the state's governor is ineffective and dangerous," the joint statement reads.
A large group of protesters began marching in downtown Los Angeles, chanting and holding signs reading, "Fight Trump."
The LAPD goes on "tactical alert," meaning all personnel are to remain on duty as the city braces for another evening of protests. Despite officers using less-lethal munitions in an attempt to break up the demonstrations, protesters marched onto the 101 Freeway, halting traffic on a portion of the freeway running through downtown.
Two LAPD officers were injured by motorcyclists attempting to breach a skirmish line police had established, according to officials. Video captured other demonstrators standing on an overpass throwing objects, including at least one scooter and bicycle, at California Highway Patrol officers and their vehicle as the CHP attempted to remove protesters from the freeway.
"Tonight, we had individuals out there shooting commercial grade fireworks at our officers. That can kill you," LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell says at a news conference.
Gov. Newsom formally requested that the Trump administration rescind its "unlawful deployment" of National Guard troops.
At 12:11 a.m. local time, the LAPD declared protests in all of downtown Los Angeles acts of "unlawful assembly" and ordered people to leave the area or risk arrest.
U.S. military officials confirmed that 700 members of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines at Twentynine Palms, California, are being deployed to Los Angeles.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he and Newsom are suing the Trump Administration, alleging the president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have "trampled over" California's sovereignty by unlawfully invoking "a law that's intended to prevent an invasion by a foreign nation or [prevent] a rebellion or [in response to] local and state law enforcement [making] it so that the law of the United States cannot be executed."
Returning to the White House from a weekend trip to Camp David, Trump told reporters it would be "great" if Tom Homan, acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, arrested Newsom, although Homan says he and the president had no discussions about arresting the governor.
In a social media post, Newsom said, "These are the acts of a dictator, not a President."
As protests in Los Angeles entered their fourth night, photos from the scene showed tense moments as demonstrators confronted police. At one point, police said protesters near Temple Street and Los Angeles Street in downtown L.A. were throwing objects at police, and an LAPD incident commander authorized the use of "less lethal munitions" in response.
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum slams the U.S. for "criminalizing migration," saying Mexican immigrants are law-abiding citizens and necessary for the U.S. economy.
At the White House, a reporter asks Trump if he would use the Insurrection Act as a response to the protests. The president responds, "If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We will see."
"These are paid insurrectionists, these are paid troublemakers," Trump said of the protesters without citing supporting evidence.
"If we didn't get involved" and send the National Guard, "right now Los Angeles would be burning, just like it was burning a number of months ago with all the houses that were lost," Trump said, referencing the January wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Mayor Bass said she and the LAPD are considering imposing a curfew and other responses, as police braced for another day of protests.
Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's chief spokesman and a senior advisor to Defense Secretary Hegseth, shared a statement on X, saying that on President Trump's orders the Department of Defense is adding an additional 2,100 California National Guard to federal service "to support ICE & to enable federal law-enforcement officers to safely conduct their duties. The added troops bring the total number of National Guard members mobilized to go to L.A. to more than 4,000.
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