What to know about the protests over Trump's immigration crackdown in LA and other cities
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The showdown over President Donald Trump's decision to send troops to Los Angeles to quell immigration protests is set for a court hearing Thursday. California's Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, both Democrats, oppose the military presence and say Trump has abused his authority.
Trump has ordered the deployment of roughly 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles following protests over his stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws.
Police made 81 arrests on Wednesday, most for failing to disperse on the second night of a curfew in downtown Los Angeles. They say nearly 470 LA protesters have been detained or arrested since Saturday.
The protests intensified after Trump called up the Guard and have since spread to Boston, Chicago, Seattle and other cities. And more are scheduled for this weekend as Trump stages a military parade in Washington.
Here are some things to know about the protests:
Court showdown set over troops in LA
The war of words over Trump's use of troops to help carry out intensified immigration raids will move from social media to a federal courtroom in California on Thursday afternoon.
Newsom will ask the judge to order an emergency stop to Trump's troop deployment to protect federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents making arrests across Los Angeles. He says the presence of troops at the raids has further inflamed tensions.
The Trump administration on Wednesday called the lawsuit a 'crass political stunt endangering American lives,' and says it is willing to send troops to other cities to assist with immigration enforcement and controlling disturbances. It's in line with what Trump promised during the 2024 campaign.
In a court filing ahead of Thursday's hearing in San Francisco, eight former high-ranking U.S. military officials said the deployments pose 'multiple risks to the core mission of the National Guard and the Marines, and to the well-being of the troops.'
All 22 other Democratic governors agree, calling it 'an alarming abuse of power.'
On the Republican side, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has deployed more than 5,000 Texas National Guard troops and more than 2,000 state police to help local law enforcement manage protests.
What troops are in LA, and what are they doing?
Trump's orders move troops closer to engaging in law enforcement actions including deportations as the president has promised as part of his crackdown.
Some 2,000 Guard soldiers are already trained and many have participated in protest security, and 2,000 more are expected to join them later.
Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, who is overseeing Trump's troop deployment, said the 700 Marines deployed deployed to the city are undergoing civil disobedience training in Orange County and could be on the streets by Thursday evening.
About 500 of the Guard troops deployed to the protests have been trained to accompany agents on immigration operations, he said.
ICE said the troops were providing security at federal facilities and protecting federal officers.
California senator removed from Noem eventU.S. Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed after he interrupted a Los Angeles news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on immigration.
Padilla, a California Democrat, was removed as he tried to shout over Noem.
'I think everybody in America would agree that that was inappropriate,' Noem said.
Newsom called the removal 'outrageous, dictatorial and shameful.'
The Department of Homeland Security said Padilla refused to back away, leading agents to think he was dangerous. Despite DHS assertions that Padilla did not identify himself, he is heard saying 'I'm Sen. Alex Padilla' as an agent pushes him away.
Noem met with Padilla afterward for 15 minutes.
LA police respond quickly to control demonstrators
Police quickly moved demonstrators away from a federal building before the second night of the curfew took effect. Officers on horseback also charged at a group in front of City Hall, hitting them with wooden rods and pushing them out of a park. Officers also fired crowd control projectiles and federal authorities said they arrested one man for allegedly distributing face shields to protesters.
A roughly 1-square-mile (2.5-square-kilometer) section of the sprawling city of about 4 million people is affected by the 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.
Protests have popped up in more than a dozen major cities elsewhere, including New York. On Wednesday, police in Seattle deployed pepper spray to clear out protesters and officers used smoke and pepper balls to control a crowd in Denver.
'No Kings' rallies critical of Trump are planned nationwide Saturday to coincide with the president's scheduled military parade in Washington.
What's behind the demonstrations?
The protests started Friday in downtown Los Angeles before spreading Saturday to the neighboring cities of Compton and Paramount. They have been driven by anger over Trump's stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws.
Los Angeles County presents a ripe target for the raids, as an estimated 10% of residents aren't in the country legally.
Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and chief architect of Trump's immigration policies, said late last month that ICE should make at least 3,000 arrests a day. That would mark a dramatic increase from Jan. 20 to May 19, when the agency made an average of 656 arrests a day.
Democratic governors called before Congress Thursday vowed to follow the law when it comes to immigration but insisted the White House do the same.
'As we speak, an American city has been militarized over the objections of their governor,' New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told the House Oversight committee. 'This is a flagrant abuse of power and nothing short of an assault on our American values.'
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This story has been corrected. The commander of the troops deployed to Los Angeles initially told the AP that National Guard members had already detained some civilians. He later said his information was incorrect, and Guard members have not detained civilians.
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Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas; Jake Offenhartz, Krysta Fauria and Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles; Eliott Spagat in San Diego; Jesse Bedayn in Denver; Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta; Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia; and Lolita C. Baldor and Joey Cappelletti in Washington, D.C., contributed.
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