US deploys marines to LA as Trump standoff with Newsom escalates
[WASHINGTON] The Trump administration escalated its response to anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles with the mobilisation of 700 Marines, deploying active-duty military on the ground and increasing tensions with California officials.
The turmoil comes as Los Angeles saw a fourth night of clashes between police and demonstrators rallying against a rising number of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who local officials say have stoked fear in the immigrant-rich community.
President Donald Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom clashed again over the response to the unrest in LA, with the state suing the administration for mobilising National Guard troops in the city. Trump, meanwhile, suggested that Newsom, a Democrat widely seen as a potential presidential contender in 2028, could be arrested if he interferes with the federal immigration raids or response to the unrest.
On Monday, largely peaceful daytime protests morphed into scattered clashes with police shooting less-lethal ammunition and some protesters throwing bottles.
The LA protests have largely been limited to a few small parts of a city that spreads over several hundred square miles and is connected by a web of freeways. There was no sign of unrest in areas such as Century City, Hollywood Hills and Santa Monica that are miles away from downtown, with businesses and residents largely unaffected.
However, incidents have started to spread beyond the city limits. Demonstrators rallied in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, and other major American cities as anti-ICE protests intensified.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign Up
Sign Up
In Santa Ana, southeast of Los Angeles in Orange County, protesters faced off with law enforcement after immigration raids took place there.
Police clashed with protesters in Dallas and Austin late on Monday, according to local media reports, with tear gas deployed to disperse a crowd near the Texas state Capitol building.
The Trump administration has argued the conditions in LA are spiraling and that federal forces are needed to support immigration agents and restore order. A Defence Department official said Monday that the Marines, based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California, were on the move after getting notice over the weekend.
US law generally bars the use of the active-duty US military – the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines – from carrying out domestic law enforcement. The deployment of the Marines adds to Trump's order over the weekend that directed the US Northern Command to assume control of the National Guard and dispatch them to LA.
California and Newsom sued the Trump administration Monday, calling the mobilisation of the state's National Guard and the Marines unnecessary and unlawful and accusing the president of 'another unprecedented power grab.' In a 22-page complaint filed late Monday in San Francisco federal court, the governor urged a judge to void the president's orders and transfer the National Guard from Defence Department control 'back to the rightful command' of the state.
'Deploying over 4,000 federalised military forces to quell a protest or prevent future protests despite the lack of evidence that local law enforcement was incapable of asserting control and ensuring public safety during such protests' is unconstitutional, according to the suit.
Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass have accused Trump of making the situation worse. In an X post Monday, the governor called the decision to bring in Marines 'un-American,' and said the administration's deployment of National Guard troops was both 'reckless' and 'pointless.'
Trump, in a series of posts on Truth Social, said sending in the National Guard was a 'great decision,' derided the idea that the protests were largely peaceful, and said that 'If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated.'
'Just one look at the pictures and videos of the Violence and Destruction tells you all you have to know,' Trump said. 'We will always do what is needed to keep our Citizens SAFE, so we can, together, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!'
The president also backed comments from his border adviser Tom Homan, who threatened to arrest state and local officials who obstruct federal immigration enforcement, including Newsom and Bass.
'I would do it if I were Tom. I think it's great,' Trump said at the White House. 'I like Gavin Newsom, he's a nice guy but he's grossly incompetent, everybody knows that.'
Homan later said in a CNN interview Monday that the governor hasn't done anything at this time to warrant arrest.
Waymo, the self-driving car service, owned by Google parent Alphabet Inc., suspended its taxi service in the downtown Los Angeles on Monday after demonstrators torched its driverless cars. It also limited service to areas of San Francisco where further protests were expected, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government had made representations to the Trump administration after an Australian television journalist was shot by police with a rubber bullet while covering the LA protests.
'We don't find it acceptable that it occurred and we think the role of the media is particularly important,' Albanese told reporters in Canberra.
The United Nations on Monday warned against a further 'militarization' of the situation in LA. 'We certainly hope that all parties on the ground will de-escalate the situation,' deputy spokesman for the Secretary-General Farhan Haq said at a press briefing. BLOOMBERG
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
14 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Hundreds protest outside ICE headquarters in New York City
NYPD Strategic Response Group units arrest protesters as they block an entrance to the Federal building on Broadway in New York. PHOTO: VICTOR J. BLUE/NYTIMES Protesters block an entrance to the Federal building on Broadway after a rally against ICE arrests at Foley Square in New York on June 10. PHOTO: VICTOR J. BLUE/NYTIMES NEW YORK – Hundreds of protesters demonstrated in lower Manhattan on the evening of June 10 against President Donald Trump's escalating immigration crackdown, continuing several days of protests that began more than 3,850km away in Los Angeles. The demonstrators rallied at Foley Square, near a large government building that houses federal immigration offices and the city's main immigration court, which has become a flash point as the Trump administration ramps up the arrest of migrants in courthouses. Shortly after 6pm, hundreds moved into streets that snake through the lower Manhattan neighborhood that is home to federal buildings, marching about 1.5km north toward another immigration court on Varick Street. They raised bright yellow signs that said 'ICE out of NYC' in Spanish and English. A separate group stayed behind and spread out around the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office near Foley Square. The crowd there grew increasingly agitated as night fell, with some chanting 'Nazi scum' and taunting police officers. Dozens of officers in riot gear flanked the protesters in an apparent effort to facilitate traffic, leading to the arrest of a number of demonstrators who were escorted away with their hands bound in zip ties throughout the evening. After 10pm, a dwindling crowd of about 100 protesters clashed with police officers near Foley Square, with some briefly marching downtown toward the entrance of the Brooklyn Bridge. Officers sought to keep people on sidewalks, pushing some demonstrators to the ground as they arrested them and using pepper spray during some of the arrests. Some people shouted and shoved the officers as they were led away in handcuffs. As Mr Trump deployed National Guard troops and Marines to California, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who has largely aligned himself with Mr Trump's immigration agenda, said on June 10 that he did not foresee Mr Trump sending the military to the city. 'If there's ever a need to go beyond the manpower that we have, there's other ways you do it before you have to come with the look of a military operation,' Mr Adams said, citing the size and experience of New York City's police force. The rally on June 10 appeared to be larger than protests in New York during the past few days. Those earlier demonstrations were tense, resulting in arrests and small confrontations with law enforcement, but they did not devolve into the visceral scenes of chaos that appeared episodically in Los Angeles. While the protests in Los Angeles were largely peaceful, protesters and federal officers have engaged in violent clashes, with officers shooting flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets at protesters, who have thrown rocks, glass bottles and fireworks at the officers and have burned vehicles. NYPD Strategic Response Group units arrest protesters as they block an entrance to the Federal building in New York on June 10, 2025. PHOTO: VICTOR J. BLUE/NYTIMES In New York, demonstrators coalesced near 26 Federal Plaza, a 41-storey federal building just a few blocks from City Hall with one of the city's three immigration courts. Dozens of migrants showing up for hearings have been detained by federal agents at the courthouse in June, sparking pushback from Democrats and drawing activists to the building. The imposing skyscraper also houses the ICE field office in New York. On June 10, Ms Andrea Montiel, 31, whose parents are Mexican immigrants, said she showed up at the rally on behalf of family and friends who she said were too worried about their immigration status to demonstrate publicly. 'I think we're really here just because we hope we can make a difference and show ICE is not welcome,' she said, adding that New York and Los Angeles were connected by their large Hispanic populations. 'We are one community despite the distance.' After speeches at the rally, which was organised by a coalition of unions and immigration groups, the crowd grew more disorganized as protesters, many of them masked, broke off to march on city streets, chanting 'Abolish ICE' and waving Mexican and Palestinian flags. Ms Eva Stokes, 21, said she marched in support of her father, who is an immigrant from Mexico. 'My father could get deported at any time,' Ms Stokes said with tears filling her eyes. 'He already has been summoned, and, you know, it's a scary process. I don't want to feel like I'm going to lose my dad.' As nightfall approached, one group of about 50 protesters reached Washington Square Park, dancing and clapping by the park's fountain. People protest against recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in the Columbia Heights neighborhood in Washington on June 10. PHOTO: ERIC LEE/NYTIMES The first day of demonstrations in New York was June 7 , when more than 100 protesters gathered outside 26 Federal Plaza, where they clashed with police officers after the protesters tried to block ICE vehicles carrying detained migrants. Police said 22 people were taken into custody as officers dispersed the crowd. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, quickly praised the Police Department's response. 'Thankfully, unlike in Los Angeles, the local police department quickly responded to the riots,' DHS said in a statement. On June 9, after Mr Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles, demonstrators took over the lobby of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York, demanding the release of immigrants sent to a notorious maximum-security prison in El Salvador. The Police Department arrested at least 24 protesters during that demonstration. Later in the day, as concerns mounted that the protests in New York could spiral out of control, Mr Adams issued brief remarks alongside police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. The mayor said that he respected the right of New Yorkers to protest peacefully but vowed that 'we will not allow violence and lawlessness'. 'The escalation of protests in Los Angeles over the last couple of days is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in our city,' Mr Adams said. Ms Tisch said that any attack against police officers would 'be met by a swift and decisive response by the NYPD.' The city leaders gave the remarks just as a disjointed group of 200 protesters gathered near 26 Federal Plaza for a 'ICE out of NYC' demonstration on the evening of June 9, leading to seven arrests. NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
28 minutes ago
- Straits Times
U.S.-Russian talks to take place in Moscow, Russian envoy says
FILE PHOTO: Russian and U.S. flags are pictured at the United States Mission in Geneva, Switzerland January 10, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo MOSCOW - Talks between the United States and Russia on resolving issues in their bilateral relations will move to Moscow from Istanbul, Russia's new ambassador to Washington told the state TASS news agency. "The recovery of Russian-American relations is still a long way off," Ambassador Alexander Darchiev told TASS, adding that the rapprochement with Moscow was being slowed by the so-called U.S. "deep state" and anti-Russian "hawks" in Congress. "I can confirm that the next negotiations of the delegations will take place in the very near future in Moscow," Darchiev was quoted as saying. The war in Ukraine triggered the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the depths of the Cold War. Senior diplomats in both Moscow and Washington told Reuters in 2024 that they could not recall relations ever being worse. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump casts the Ukraine conflict as a proxy war between the United States and Russia, and Trump has repeatedly warned of the risk of it escalating into a world war. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
AsiaOne
an hour ago
- AsiaOne
US Marines arrive in LA; California governor warns 'democracy under assault', World News
LOS ANGELES — Hundreds of US Marines arrived in the Los Angeles area on Tuesday (June 10) under orders from President Donald Trump, ratcheting up tensions in America's second largest city, as California's governor warned "democracy is under assault." Trump's extraordinary measures of sending National Guard and Marines to quell protests, which broke out in response to his immigration raids, fuelled demonstrations for a fifth day in Los Angeles, and sparked protests in several other cities. As Trump and Newsom traded fulminations, the city's mayor said the protests were limited to about five downtown streets, but declared a curfew for parts of the downtown area due to violence and looting. Police arrested another 197 people on Tuesday — more than double the total number of arrests to date. Democratic leaders have raised concerns over a national crisis in what has become the most intense flashpoint yet in the Trump administration's efforts to deport migrants living in the country illegally, and then crack down on opponents who take to the streets in protest. "This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers and even our National Guard at risk. That's when the downward spiral began," Newsom said in a video address. "He again chose escalation. He chose more force. He chose theatrics over public safety. ... Democracy is under assault." Newsom, widely seen as preparing for a presidential run in 2028, has called the deployments an illegal waste of resources. He and the state sued Trump and the Defence Department on Monday, seeking to block the deployment of federal troops. Trump in turn has suggested Newsom should be arrested. Trump, voted back into office last year largely for his promise to deport undocumented immigrants, used a speech honouring soldiers on Tuesday to defend his decision. He told troops at the Army base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina: "Generations of Army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third-world lawlessness." "What you're witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and on national sovereignty, carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags," Trump said, adding his administration would "liberate Los Angeles." Demonstrators have waved the flags of Mexico and other countries in solidarity for the migrants rounded in a series of intensifying raids. Homeland Security said Monday its Immigration and Customs Enforcement division had arrested 2,000 immigration offenders per day recently, far above the 311 daily average in fiscal year 2024 under former President Joe Biden. Unrest in the street Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Tuesday announced a curfew for one square mile (2.5 sq km) of downtown Los Angeles that will run from 8pm to 6am locally for several days. With five minutes until the curfew took effect, hundreds of protesters faced police with their hands raised, chanting ""peaceful protest." Even so, state and local officials have called Trump's response an extreme overreaction to mostly peaceful demonstrations. Bass emphasised at a press conference the distinction between the majority of demonstrators protesting peacefully and a smaller number of agitators she blamed for violence and looting. A curfew had been considered for several days but Bass said she decided to impose one after 23 business were looted on Monday night. "When these peaceful rallies end, and the protesters head home, another element moves in: opportunists, who come in under the cover of a peaceful protest to ravage and destroy," Council member Ysabel Jurado, who represents the area, told reporters. As the mayor and the council member spoke, police and protesters were engaged in skirmishes outside. In what has become a daily ritual, police forced demonstrators away from the streets outside the Metropolitan Detention Centre, where many detained migrants are held. Multiple groups of protesters snaked through downtown Los Angeles, monitored or followed by police armed with less lethal munitions. Protests also took place in other cities including New York, Atlanta and Chicago, where demonstrators shouted at and scuffled with officers. Some protesters climbed onto the Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza, while others chanted that ICE should be abolished. Christina Berger, 39, said it was heartbreaking to hear about children who are afraid of being separated from their families due to immigration raids, adding, "I just want to give some hope to my friends and neighbours." Marines at the ready About 700 Marines were in a staging area in the Seal Beach area about 30 miles (50km) south of Los Angeles, awaiting deployment to specific locations, a US official said. A US official said there were 2,100 National Guard troops in the Los Angeles area on Tuesday, more than half the 4,000 to be activated. The Marines and National Guard troops lack the authority to makes arrests and will be charged only with protecting federal property and personnel. Even so, California Attorney General Rob Bonta told Reuters the state was concerned about allowing federal troops to protect personnel, saying there was a risk that could violate an 1878 law that generally forbids the US military, including the National Guard, from taking part in civilian law enforcement. "Protecting personnel likely means accompanying ICE agents into communities and neighborhoods, and protecting functions could mean protecting the ICE function of enforcing the immigration law," Bonta said. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday posted photos on X of National Guard troops accompanying ICE officers on an immigration raid. Trump administration officials have vowed to redouble the immigration raids in response to the street protests. [[nid:718960]]
