Los Angeles immigration protest clashes: What's the latest and what's next?
Los Angeles has witnessed a third night of protests against the immigration crackdown by United States President Donald Trump's administration.
The administration's decision to deploy the national guard has widened the rift between Republicans and Democrats, including the leadership of California. And now, the Trump administration has indicated that it might send US marines in to help quell the protests.
That scenario would mirror the events of 1992 when marines were deployed alongside the national guard for law enforcement in Los Angeles during riots that followed the acquittal of four policemen filmed beating Rodney King, a Black man.
On Sunday, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) declared the protests in downtown LA an 'unlawful assembly'.
'You are to leave the Downtown Area immediately,' the LAPD said in a post on X.
One group of protesters shut down a major thoroughfare in central Los Angeles, the 101 Freeway.
The LAPD wrote that the freeway was shut down 'due to demonstrators throwing objects onto the SB [San Bernardino] lanes of the 101 Freeway and damaging multiple police vehicles'.
The protest also spilled over to San Francisco, where protesters rallied in solidarity with those in Los Angeles outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building. San Francisco police declared this an unlawful assembly and arrested about 60 people.
On Saturday, Trump deployed about 2,000 national guard soldiers to Los Angeles despite objections from California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
Legally, an unlawful assembly refers to an intentional meeting of three or more people that disrupts public peace.
The protests began on Friday night after ICE officials arrested 44 people for violating immigration laws.
The US Department of Homeland Security later said ICE officials had arrested a total of 118 immigrants who did not have the required documents to stay in the US.
Uniformed ICE agents went through the city in caravans of unmarked military-style vehicles to make the arrests.
The protests sprung up as a response to these operations. Crowds of demonstrators gathered outside a facility where some of the detainees were believed to be held.
The protests are largely taking place in downtown Los Angeles, where protesters spray-painted anti-ICE slogans on the walls of the Edward R Roybal Federal Building.
ICE was the agency leading the immigration arrests.
After protests broke out on Friday, the LAPD was called in to quell civil unrest.
Police Chief Jim McDonnell said at a news conference on Sunday that in recent days, many protests in the city have been peaceful.
'However, when peaceful demonstrations devolve into acts of vandalism or violence, especially violence directed at innocent people, law enforcement officers and others, we must respond firmly.'
On Saturday, Trump ordered the deployment of at least 2,000 national guard soldiers to Los Angeles County.
Newsom asked Trump to rescind this order. 'We didn't have a problem until Trump got involved,' he wrote.
'This is a serious breach of state sovereignty – inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they're actually needed.'
Bass described Trump's deployment of the national guard in Los Angeles as 'a chaotic escalation'.
The US military's Northern Command issued a statement on Sunday saying about 500 marines are in a 'prepared to deploy status' and they are ready to assist the Department of Defense.
'The National Guard, and Marines if need be, stand with ICE,' Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in an X post on Sunday.
Deranged = allowing your city to burn & law enforcement to be attacked.
There is plenty of room for peaceful protest, but ZERO tolerance for attacking federal agents who are doing their job.
The National Guard, and Marines if need be, stand with ICE. https://t.co/KVjvvnaL70
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) June 8, 2025Other Republicans have echoed Hegseth's sentiments.
'One of our core principles is maintaining peace through strength. We do that on foreign affairs and domestic affairs as well. I don't think that's heavy-handed,' Mike Johnson, speaker of the US House of Representatives, told ABC News.
In an X post on Sunday, Newsom described Hegseth's threat to deploy the Marines as 'deranged behavior'.
At least 10 people were arrested during the protests on Sunday, LAPD Captain Raul Jovel said at the news conference.
However, he added that this number was 'fluid and preliminary' and arrests were ongoing. On Saturday, 29 people were arrested, according to McDonnell.
Jovel said three officers were injured in the clashes. He added that the injuries were not significant enough for the officers to be transported to hospital.
The protesters have also vandalised and set ablaze several self-driving cars that belong to the ride-hailing company Waymo.
Los Angeles media outlets reported that protesters spray-painted anti-ICE messages on multiple self-driving cars lined up between Arcadia and Alameda streets in Los Angeles.
On Sunday in a post on X, the LAPD advised against visiting the area.
In a series of posts on his Truth Social platform, Trump criticised Newsom and Bass, both Democrats.
In one post on Sunday, he wrote: 'Governor Gavin Newscum and 'Mayor' Bass should apologise to the people of Los Angeles for the absolutely horrible job that they have done, and this now includes the ongoing L.A. riots. These are not protesters, they are troublemakers and insurrectionists. Remember, NO MASKS!'
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in an X post: 'A message to the LA rioters: you will not stop us or slow us down. @ICEgov will continue to enforce the law.'
A message to the LA rioters: you will not stop us or slow us down. @ICEgov will continue to enforce the law.
And if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) June 7, 2025Democrats have tried to walk a fine line between condemning the ICE raids and the national guard deployment while also opposing violence against law enforcement officials.
'We will always protect the constitutional right for Angelenos to peacefully protest. However, violence, destruction and vandalism will not be tolerated in our City and those responsible will be held fully accountable,' Bass wrote in an X post.
Bass also posted on Sunday that she had a meeting with Newsom and McDonnell. 'Angelenos – don't engage in violence and chaos. Don't give the administration what they want,' she wrote, referring to the Trump administration.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who is from California, posted a statement on X on Sunday. She wrote: 'Deploying the National Guard is a dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos. In addition to the recent ICE raids in Southern California and across our nation, it is part of the Trump Administration's cruel, calculated agenda to spread panic and division.'
My statement on what's unfolding in Los Angeles. pic.twitter.com/rujs8mrVPK
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 8, 2025The Trump administration's response to the protests in Los Angeles has drawn parallels with the riots that engulfed America's second most populous city in 1992.
In 1991, the police were chasing King, an African American man, for driving while intoxicated. When officers caught up with him, they ordered him out of his car. A video recorded by a bystander showed King being beaten by the police officers for 15 minutes. As a result, King ended up with bone fractures, broken teeth and brain damage.
Four officers were charged with excessive use of force. In 1992, a jury found the four officers not guilty. Hours after the verdict, riots broke out in LA.
Then-California Governor Pete Wilson deployed 2,000 national guard soldiers to the city. Additionally, 1,500 marines were deployed – the last time the elite force was deployed for domestic law enforcement. The unrest lasted six days and resulted in the deaths of 63 people and widespread looting and arson.
Unlike the riots, the ongoing protests in Los Angeles have largely been peaceful with isolated clashes with law enforcement officials.
Wilson and then-President George HW Bush, both Republicans, were on the same page in terms of authorising the deployment of national guard forces, unlike Trump and Newsom.
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