Trump deploys National Guard to Los Angeles protests

RTÉ News​

6 hours ago

US President Donald Trump's administration said it would deploy 2,000 National Guard troops as federal agents in Los Angeles faced off against demonstrators for a second day following immigration raids.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that the Pentagon was prepared to mobilise active-duty troops "if violence continues" in Los Angeles, saying the Marines at nearby Camp Pendleton were "on high alert".
Federal security agents confronted protesters in the Paramount area in southeast Los Angeles, where some demonstrators displayed Mexican flags and others covered their mouths with respiratory masks.
A second protest in downtown Los Angeles last night attracted some 60 people, who chanted slogans including "ICE out of L.A.!"
Mr Trump signed a presidential memorandum to deploy the National Guard troops to "address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester," the White House said in a statement, while Mr Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, told Fox News that the National Guard would be deployed in Los Angeles.
"Great job by the National Guard in Los Angeles," Mr Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
He criticised California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for their handling of the protests and recent wildfires.
Mr Trump also said that masks would not be allowed to be worn at protests "from now on".
California Governor Gavin Newsom called the decision "purposefully inflammatory".
Mr Newsom said it was "deranged behavior" for Mr Hegseth to be "threatening to deploy active-duty Marines on American soil against its own citizens".
"If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can't do their jobs, which everyone knows they can't, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!" Mr Trump posted yesterday on his Truth Social platform.
US Senator for California Adam Schiff called Mr Trump's actions "unprecedented", adding that the deployment is "designed to inflame tensions, sow chaos, and escalate the situation".
The protests pit Democratic-run Los Angeles, where census data suggests a significant portion of the population is Hispanic and foreign-born, against Mr Trump's Republican White House, which has made cracking down on immigration a hallmark of his second term.
The Trump Administration's calling on the California National Guard without the authorization of the Governor is unprecedented.
This action is designed to inflame tensions, sow chaos, and escalate the situation.
If the Guard is needed to restore peace, the Governor will ask for…
— Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) June 8, 2025
"Insurrectionists carrying foreign flags are attacking immigration enforcement officers, while one half of America's political leadership has decided that border enforcement is evil," Vice President JD Vance posted on X.
Senior White House aide Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner, described the protests as a "violent insurrection".
The administration has not invoked the Insurrection Act, two US officials said on condition of anonymity.
One said that National Guard troops can deploy quickly, within 24 hours in some cases, and that the military was working to source the 2,000 troops.
The 1807 law empowers a president to deploy the US military to enforce the law and suppress events like civil disorder.
The last time it was invoked was during the 1992 Los Angeles riots at the request of the California governor.
Late yesterday afternoon, authorities began detaining some protesters, according to witnesses.
Los Angeles police posted on X that "multiple people have been detained for failing to disperse after multiple warnings were issued".
There was no immediate official information of any arrests.
Video footage showed dozens of green-uniformed security personnel with gas masks lined up on a road strewn with overturned shopping carts as small canisters exploded into gas clouds.
"Now they know that they cannot go to anywhere in this country where our people are, and try to kidnap our workers, our people - they cannot do that without an organized and fierce resistance," said protester Ron Gochez, 44.
A first round of protests kicked off on Friday night after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducted enforcement operations in the city and arrested at least 44 people on alleged immigration violations.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that there were about "1,000 rioters" at the protests on Friday.
Angelica Salas, executive director of immigrants' rights organisation Chirla, said lawyers had not had access to those detained on Friday, which she called "very worrying".
'Tactics sow terror in communities' - LA Mayor
Donald Trump has pledged to deport record numbers of people in the country illegally and lock down the US-Mexico border, with the White House setting a goal for ICE to arrest at least 3,000 migrants per day.
But the sweeping immigration crackdown has also caught up people legally residing in the country, including some with permanent residence, and has led to legal challenges.
ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to requests for comment on the protests or potential immigration sweeps.
Television news footage on Friday showed unmarked vehicles resembling military transport and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation.
Raids occurred around Home Depot stores, where street vendors and day laborers were picked up, as well as at a garment factory and a warehouse, Angelica Salas said.
Karen Bass, the Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, condemned the immigration raids.
"I am deeply angered by what has taken place," Mr Bass said in a statement. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. We will not stand for this."