Troops sent by Trump reach protest-hit Los Angeles over governor's wishes
LOS ANGELES: Hundreds of National Guard troops took up positions in Los Angeles Sunday (Jun 8) on US President Donald Trump's orders, a rare deployment against the state governor's wishes after sometimes violent protests against immigration enforcement raids.
The US military said 300 soldiers from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team had been sent to three separate locations in the greater Los Angeles area, and were "conducting safety and protection of federal property & personnel."
Helmeted troops in camouflage gear and carrying automatic weapons could be seen in front of a federal complex, including a detention center, with the phrase "Our City" spray-painted on it in downtown Los Angeles.
The deployment overrode the protests of local officials, an extraordinary move not seen in decades and deemed "purposefully inflammatory" by California Governor Gavin Newsom.
It came ahead of more planned protests in the city, which has a large Latino population, including a call by organizers for a "mass mobilization" at City Hall at 2pm local time (5am Monday, Singapore time).
A separate Pride parade in support of LGBTQ rights, also under assault by the Trump administration, was due to begin at 11am in Hollywood (2am Monday, Singapore time), with organizers posting on Instagram that they were working with local law enforcement to keep the celebrations safe.
"Trump is sending 2,000 National Guard troops into LA County, not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis," Newsom posted on X Sunday.
"He's hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control. Stay calm. Never use violence. Stay peaceful."
Newsom's warning came after Los Angeles was rocked by two days of confrontations, during which federal agents fired flash-bang grenades and tear gas toward crowds angry at the arrests of dozens of migrants.
Pepper spray could still be smelled from the clashes overnight, AFP reporters in downtown Los Angeles said, while some scuffles between protesters and federal law enforcement could be seen early Sunday in the neighborhood of Compton.
'Escalation'
Republicans lined up behind Trump to dismiss the pushback by Newsom and other local officials against the National Guard deployment.
"I have no concern about that at all," Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told ABC's "This Week", accusing Newsom of "an inability or unwillingness to do what is necessary".
As for threats by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday to send in active-duty Marines on top of the Guard troops, Johnson said he did not see that as "heavy-handed."
"We have to be prepared to do what is necessary," he argued.
Los Angeles residents who spoke to AFP felt otherwise, however.
"I certainly wouldn't say I feel safer," 39-year-old Jason Garcia told AFP.
"I was in the military, and I know that this escalation of force just keeps getting higher."
'Unacceptable'
The National Guard, a reserve military, is frequently used in natural disasters, and occasionally in instances of civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local authorities.
It is the first time since 1965 that a president has deployed a National Guard without a request by a state governor, the former head of Human Rights Watch, US activist Kenneth Roth, posted on X.
But guardsmen are "specifically trained for this type of crowd situation," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
Trump has delivered on a promise to crack down hard on undocumented migrants, who he has likened to "monsters" and "animals", since taking office in January.
Raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in other US cities have triggered small-scale protests in recent months, but the Los Angeles unrest is the biggest and most sustained against Trump's immigration policies so far.
A CBS News poll taken before the Los Angeles protests showed a slight majority of Americans still approved of the immigration crackdown.
Masked and armed immigration agents carried out high-profile workplace raids in separate parts of Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday, attracting angry crowds and setting off hours-long standoffs.
Overnight an AFP photographer saw fires and fireworks light up the streets during clashes, while a protester holding a Mexican flag stood in front of a burnt-out car.
The stand-off demonstrated "Trump's authoritarianism in real time," Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders posted on X on Sunday.
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