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Gavin Newsom condemns National Guard deployment amid ICE raids, protests in LA
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday evening criticized federal officials' decision to deploy 2,000 members of the California National Guard to the Los Angeles area as 'purposefully inflammatory.'
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deployed flash grenades and tear gas to disperse a protest at a Home Depot in Paramount, where people had gathered to protest a series of raids immigration officials had carried out around the city on Friday. SEIU California union president David Huerta, a frequent Newsom ally, was injured while protesting Friday and remained in federal custody over the weekend.
'The federal government is moving to take over the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers,' Newsom said in a social media post. 'That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.'
In an earlier post announcing he had deployed CHP officers to 'maintain safety on Los Angeles highways to keep the peace.'
'It's not (the CHP's) job to assist in federal immigration enforcement,' Newsom said. 'The federal government is sowing chaos so they can have an excuse to escalate. That is not the way any civilized country behaves.'
The Department of Homeland Security said Saturday that recent ICE operations in the south state resulted in the arrest of 118 people, including five individuals the agency identified as gang members. The agency said those arrested included individuals with prior convictions for drug trafficking, assault and other offenses.
Federal officials linked the arrests to heightened tensions in the region, and said ICE agents had been targeted during protests. The department reported a '413% increase in assaults' on officers and alleged that some agents' family members had been doxed.
Homeland Security officials criticized the Los Angeles Police Department in the statement, saying it took officers more than two hours to respond to a disturbance outside a federal building Friday night.
'The violent targeting of law enforcement in Los Angeles by lawless rioters is despicable and Mayor (Karen) Bass and Governor Newsom must call for it to end,' Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the statement. 'The men and women of ICE put their lives on the line to protect and defend the lives of American citizens.'
McLaughlin went on to criticize House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.J. and others including Bass for 'contributing to the surge in assaults of our ICE officers'
'From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is beyond the pale. This violence against ICE must end,' she said.
'Lawlessness that has been allowed to fester'
Tom Homan, the White House 'border czar,' told Fox News on Saturday that the administration planned to send in National Guardsmen to quell the protests, saying ICE would not 'apologize for enforcing the law.'
Under the Insurrection Act of 1792, federal authorities can override state law and deploy state militia in specific circumstances, such as in 'emergencies, civil disturbances, and other reasons authorized by state law.' In 2020, the Trump administration called up guardsmen from 11 states to put down anti-police brutality protests in Washington, D.C.
It was unclear what authority Homan, who has no official title within either Homeland Security or ICE, or any other officials had invoked to send in the National Guard.
In a statement Saturday night, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the deployment, accusing California officials of failing to maintain order.
'California's feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens,' she said. 'That is why President Trump has signed a Presidential Memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester.'
'The Commander-in-Chief will ensure the laws of the United States are executed fully and completely.'
The protests at the Home Depot in Paramount escalated into a violent clash with federal agents, prompting federal officials to declare the gathering an unlawful assembly. Flash-bang grenades and pepper balls were deployed, according to the Los Angeles Times, and several protesters were injured.
Federal officials said one immigration agent was injured when a rock shattered his vehicle's windshield, and the U.S. Marshals Service reported arrests for obstructing operations, according to the Times.
Bass said reports of violence in Paramount, an independent city patrolled by the L.A. Sheriff's Department, were 'deeply concerning' and emphasized that while peaceful protest was protected, 'violence and destruction are unacceptable.'
Showdown in Paramount 'creates chaos and fear'
Paramount Mayor Peggy Lemons told the Times that the city had no prior notice of federal operations and was not coordinating with immigration authorities.
'That creates chaos and fear,' she said.
In a statement posted to social media, Rep. Nanette Barragán, who represents south Los Angeles, condemned the use of tear gas and heavy-handed tactics by ICE and other federal agencies.
'This is unacceptable,' she wrote, urging constituents to 'know your rights.'
Newsom, who was previously in Los Angeles this week, said in a statement that local authorities had 'no unmet needs' and were able to 'access law enforcement assistance at a moment's notice.'
'The Guard has been admirably serving L.A. throughout recovery,' he said. 'This is the wrong mission and will erode public trust.'
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DHS: Terrorist attacks linked to Gaza war Cohen, the former DHS intelligence official, said neither the Trump administration nor the Biden administration have done enough to prevent terrorism, while foreign actors and terrorist groups like ISIS have upped their game on the internet to radicalize converts within the U.S. "We're continuing to see efforts to not just inspire but instruct those individuals who are angry, who are certain, who are looking for the justification to engage in violence, to express that anger," Cohen said. "So content is developing and introduced online that's intended to inspire them to commit violence, but also providing instructions on just how to do it. We've seen videos talking about vehicle ramming. We've seen videos talking about how to construct explosive devices. We've seen video online encouraging mass shootings at the same time." In August 2024, two Austrian teenagers were arrested and accused of plotting to attack Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna. Authorities said both suspects appeared to have been inspired by ISIS and al-Qaeda, and one of them had researched bomb-making techniques and uploaded to the internet an oath of allegiance to the current leader of the Islamic State. "Law enforcement analysts over the last several months have seen online content posted by al-Qaeda-related and Hamas and Iranian-linked groups advocating violence as a way for people to respond to their concerns about what's going on in Gaza," Cohen said. 'COVID is a huge reason why it's more complicated' Neumann said the pandemic opened the door for terrorist groups to manipulate people during a time of extreme vulnerability. "COVID is a huge reason why it's more complicated," said Neumann, adding that the usual modus operandi of terrorist groups is "offering a certainty in an uncertain world." "It's offering this black-and-white answer of why the bad thing happened to them," Neumann said. "When you look at why people mobilize to violence or radicalize, it is not the ideology. The ideology is kind of the bow that comes on top after all of these other factors have kind of gotten into play for an individual." She added, "We, largely as a field, understand those that commit acts of violence have underlying psychosocial factors that have led them to this place where they are willing to be convinced that violence is the right solution for their problems." Neumann pointed to a 2023 poll by University of California, Davis Violence Prevention Research Program that found 32.8% of respondents considered violence to be usually or always justified to advance some political objectives. "And then you add to it, COVID, Oct. 7, social media, it's just a perfect cauldron for a lot of people to be led astray," Neumann said. In three of the alleged U.S. terrorist attacks that have occurred since mid-April, investigators said the suspects were motivated by the war to commit violence on American soil. The suspect in the April 13 firebombing of the Pennsylvania governor's residence allegedly targeted Gov. Shapiro, who is Jewish, "based upon perceived injustices to the people of Palestine," according to a criminal complaint. The man who allegedly gunned down two Israeli embassy staff members on May 21 outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., was captured on video shouting "Free Palestine" following the shooting. Neither suspect has entered a plea. In Boulder, Colorado, on June 1, authorities say Soliman, shouting "free Palestine" and wielding a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails, targeted demonstrators, injuring 15. Soliman has been charged in both state and federal court. He is also charged with hate crimes in the federal case. He has yet to enter a plea to any of the charges. The year started off with the New Year's Day truck-ramming on Bourbon Street in New Orleans that left 14 people dead. The suspect, who was killed in a gunfight with police, had pledged support for ISIS, according to investigators. In a Facebook video the suspect posted as he drove to commit the attack, he said he "originally planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the 'war between the believers and the disbelievers.'" Cohen said, "Regional conflicts in the past were isolated events occurring in foreign lands. But because of the internet, they are now taking place in communities across America." A fifth terrorist attack, that was apparently unrelated to the Middle East war, occurred on May 17 in Palm Springs, California, where a car packed with large quantities of ammonium nitrate was detonated, allegedly by a 25-year-old man who investigators said died in the blast and lived by "pro-mortalism, anti-natalism, and anti-pro-life ideology," or the belief that people should not be born without their consent. An alleged co-conspirator in the Palm Springs attack was arrested this month with federal authorities saying he provided large quantities of ammonium nitrate to the suspect killed in the blast. The attacks in Washington, D.C., New Orleans and at Gov. Shapiro's Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, residence were all allegedly carried out by U.S. citizens, according to investigators. The suspect in the Boulder attack is an Egypt-born man who lived in Kuwait until he moved to Colorado three years ago and had overstayed his B2 tourist visa, investigators said. Additionally, a dual American-German citizen was arrested on May 19 after he allegedly attempted to attack the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, but was thwarted by a guard, investigators said. The suspect was captured after dropping a backpack filled with Molotov cocktails, authorities said. "We have to do a better job at maintaining awareness of the threat, and that means by tracking what foreign domestic threat actors or what foreign intelligence services terrorist groups are posting online, the types of attacks they're calling for and the techniques that they are promoting to conduct those attacks," Cohen said. "Law enforcement can take that intelligence then and have a better understanding of the targets that are at risk and ensure that security measures are put in place to reduce the likelihood that these types of public events would be targeted." Neumann said that the current threat environment requires an urgent response from the federal government. "As with everything that happens in Washington, there will be another attack of such a scale that people are going to say, 'We should do something,' and then all of a sudden, the money will flow, and then they'll be like, 'Oh, look, here's this new shiny object that we can solve this problem with,'" Neumann said. "It will get restarted, but we will have lost a long period of time and expertise and will have to make some similar mistakes again as we relearn. That's kind of sad, because in the intervening time people will die because we're not investing in this now."
