WH defends National Guard deployment in L.A.
The White House is defending its decision to deploy the National Guard in Los Angeles, NBC News' Gabe Gutierrez reports. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told CBS News' "Face the Nation" that President Trump is prioritizing the safety of both the community and law enforcement officers.
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CNN
19 minutes ago
- CNN
June 8, 2025 - Trump presidency, Los Angeles protest news
• On the ground: Police have used flash-bangs and tear gas while dispersing crowds, with some hitting and pushing protesters while making arrests, CNN witnessed. Protesters set at least two self-driving cars on fire. All of Downtown Los Angeles has been declared an unlawful assembly area. • Troop deployment: About 300 National Guardsmen are on the ground after President Donald Trump called them up to protect federal personnel and property. It's the first time a president has called in the National Guard without a state's request or consent in decades. Also prepared to deploy are 500 Marines. • Trump vs Newsom: California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state will file a lawsuit against the Trump administration over deployment of the National Guard, which he and LA Mayor Karen Bass have called inflammatory. • Why are there protests? Authorities and demonstrators have clashed for days after dozens of people were detained by immigration agents. Intelligence analysts believe protesters are motivated by several factors, including immigration raids, deployment of the National Guard, and agitators who fit profiles of 'professional rioters.'
CNN
30 minutes ago
- CNN
Freeways blocked, cars on fire: LA protests against immigration raids and National Guard deployment
Update: Date: 2 min ago Title: 27 people have been arrested during Sunday's immigration protests in LA Content: A total of 27 arrests were made in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, LAPD Police Chief Jim McDonnell told reporters at a nighttime news conference. The alleged crimes include throwing a Molotov cocktail at an officer and ramming a motorbike into a police line, McDonnell said. Seventeen of the arrests on Sunday were made by the California Highway Patrol while clearing protesters from the 101 Highway, while the LAPD made 10 arrests during scuffles downtown, the police chief said. On Saturday, McDonnell said, 29 arrests were made for alleged failure to disperse. 'Our job is not to divide communities or to politicize law enforcement. Our job is simply to keep everyone safe,' McDonnell said. The chief addressed the community's 'deep fear and anxiety' emerging from recent immigration enforcement, and assured the department is 'committed to transparency, accountability, and treating every Angeleno with respect, regardless of their immigration status.' Update: Date: less than 1 min ago Title: What is the National Guard, and when are they deployed? Content: President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles on Sunday – the first time a US chief executive has used such power since 1992, when the Los Angeles riots erupted after four White police officers were acquitted in the beating of Black motorist Rodney King. What is the National Guard? It's part of the US military with a double line of command, answering to both state governors and the president. Its members are part of the primary combat reserve of the Army and the Air Force. Serving on a part-time basis, they can be deployed overseas for combat or support missions, but mostly operate in the US for domestic emergencies like natural disasters. Every state and territory (plus Washington, D.C.) has a National Guard. Any state governor or the US president can call on the Guard at any moment - setting it apart from other military branches. Previous state deployments: The National Guard has been mobilized by states for high-profile situations several times in recent years. During the pandemic, Guard members in some states helped to make face masks, field calls from concerned citizens, disinfect facilities and assembling testing kits. Following the January 7, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol, several states sent Guard members to Washington for additional security. Federal deployments: It's rare for the president to federally deploy the National Guard the way Trump did, without the request from a governor. Abraham Lincoln had mobilized troops to fight the Confederacy and later support Reconstruction, but National Guard would not evolve into today's form until the 20th century. After Lincoln, no president deployed the Guard until 1957, when they were sent ensure public order during the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. They were also federally deployed in 1967 to restore public order during the Detroit riots; in 1968 following the assassination of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; and in 1970 during the New York postal strike, according to the National Guard. Update: Date: 6 min ago Title: CNN witnessed cars set on fire and protesters preparing to face off with police Content: CNN's Kyung Lah reports on self-driving cars being set on fire and vandalized during protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles.
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Trump deploys National Guard troops
Tensions in Los Angeles escalated on Sunday as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to US President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard. They blocked off a major road and set self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd. Many protesters dispersed as evening fell and police declared an unlawful assembly, a precursor to officers moving in and making arrests of people who do not leave. Some of those remaining threw objects at police from behind a makeshift barrier that spanned the width of a street and others hurled chunks of concrete, rocks, electric scooters and fireworks at California Highway Patrol officers and their vehicles parked on the closed southbound 101 freeway. Officers ran under an overpass to take cover. Sunday's protests in Los Angeles, a sprawling city of four million people, were centred in downtown several blocks. It was the third and most intense day of demonstrations against Mr Trump's immigration crackdown in the region, as the arrival of around 300 Guard troops spurred anger and fear among many residents. The Guard was deployed specifically to protect federal buildings, including the detention centre where protesters concentrated. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said officers were 'overwhelmed' by the remaining protesters. He said they included regular agitators who appear at demonstrations to cause trouble. Several dozen people were arrested throughout the weekend of protest. One was detained on Sunday for throwing a Molotov cocktail at police, and another for ramming a motorcycle into a line of officers. Let's get this straight: 1) Local law enforcement didn't need help. 2) Trump sent troops anyway — to manufacture chaos and violence. 3) Trump succeeded. 4) Now things are destabilized and we need to send in more law enforcement just to clean up Trump's mess. — Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 9, 2025 Mr Trump responded to Mr McDonnell on Truth Social, telling him to arrest protesters in face masks. 'Looking really bad in L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!' he wrote. Starting in the morning, the troops stood shoulder to shoulder, carrying long guns and riot shields as protesters shouted 'shame' and 'go home'. After some closely approached the guard members, another set of uniformed officers advanced on the group, shooting smoke-filled canisters into the street. Minutes later, the Los Angeles Police Department fired rounds of crowd-control munitions to disperse the protesters, who they said were assembled unlawfully. Much of the group then moved to block traffic on the 101 freeway until state patrol officers cleared them from the roadway by late afternoon. Nearby, at least four self-driving Waymo cars were set on fire, sending large plumes of black smoke into the sky and exploding intermittently as the electric vehicles burned. By evening, police had issued an unlawful assembly order shutting down several blocks of downtown Los Angeles. Flash bangs echoed out every few seconds into the evening. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom requested that Mr Trump remove the guard members in a letter on Sunday afternoon, calling their deployment a 'serious breach of state sovereignty'. He was in Los Angeles meeting local law enforcement and officials. The deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state's national guard was activated without a request from its governor, a significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the administration's mass deportation efforts. Mr Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass blamed the increasingly aggressive protests on Mr Trump's decision to deploy the Guard, calling it a move designed to inflame tensions. They have both urged protesters to remain peaceful. 'What we're seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration,' she said in an afternoon press conference. 'This is about another agenda, this isn't about public safety.' But Mr McDonnell, the LAPD chief, said the protests were following a similar pattern for episodes of civil unrest, with things ramping up in the second and third days. He pushed back against claims by the Trump administration that the LAPD had failed to help federal authorities when protests broke out on Friday after a series of immigration raids. His department responded as quickly as it could, and had not been notified in advance of the raids and therefore was not pre-positioned for protests, he said. Mr Newsom, meanwhile, has repeatedly said that California authorities had the situation under control. He mocked Mr Trump for posting a congratulatory message to the Guard on social media before troops had even arrived in Los Angeles, and said on MSNBC that Mr Trump never floated deploying the Guard during a Friday phone call. He called Mr Trump a 'stone cold liar'. The admonishments did not deter the administration. 'It's a bald-faced lie for Newsom to claim there was no problem in Los Angeles before President Trump got involved,' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. The arrival of the National Guard followed two days of protests that began Friday in Los Angeles before spreading on Saturday to Paramount, a heavily Latino city south of the city, and neighbouring Compton. Federal agents arrested immigrants in LA's fashion district, in a Home Depot parking lot and at several other locations on Friday. The next day, they were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office near another Home Depot in Paramount, which drew out protesters who suspected another raid. Federal authorities later said there was no enforcement activity at that Home Depot. The weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the LA area climbed above 100, federal authorities said. Many more were arrested while protesting, including a prominent union leader who was accused of impeding law enforcement. The protests did not reach the size of past demonstrations that brought the National Guard to Los Angeles, including the Watts and Rodney King riots, and the 2020 protests against police violence, in which Mr Newsom requested the assistance of federal troops. The last time the National Guard was activated without a governor's permission was in 1965, when President Lyndon B Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan Centre for Justice. In a directive on Saturday, Mr Trump invoked a legal provision allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is 'a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States'. He said he had authorised the deployment of 2,000 members of the National Guard. Mr Trump told reporters as he prepared to board Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, Sunday that there were 'violent people' in Los Angeles 'and they're not going to get away with it'. Asked if he planned to send US troops to Los Angeles, Mr Trump replied: 'We're going to have troops everywhere. We're not going to let this happen to our country.' He did not elaborate. About 500 marines stationed at Twentynine Palms, about 125 miles (200 kilometres) east of Los Angeles were in a 'prepared to deploy status' on Sunday afternoon, according to the US Northern Command.
