As U.S. marines land in L.A., protesters — and the governor — say their presence has become the threat
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For the better part of Tuesday afternoon, another protest simmered behind a federal detention centre in downtown Los Angeles.
Demonstrators gathered, some teenagers and some adults with young children on their shoulders, as organizers regularly reminded them to keep the temperature down during protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the city.
Standing shoulder-to-shoulder while holding rifles and shields, members of the National Guard formed a line along the driveway to the building.
"We are here to protest, not to fight," said Delilah Franco, 22, before taking the mic to remind the growing crowd to stay out of the road and on the sidewalk.
WATCH | Having National Guard in L.A. 'frightening,' protester says:
L.A. protester says ICE raids are 'sick'
19 minutes ago
Duration 0:44
Hundreds of U.S. marines joined a contingent of National Guard troops in Los Angeles Tuesday at the direction of U.S. President Donald Trump. Their arrival after a night of dampened protests was swiftly condemned by state and city officials, while protesters said they believed the military presence was an attempt to antagonize an otherwise lawful, manageable demonstration.
"It's frightening, it's scary, but it's obviously used to instill fear in the citizens," Franco said of the marines and National Guard being deployed.
"We're here chanting to let the people in that [federal detention] building know we're here for them and they're not alone … we gotta keep fighting until there's some change being made."
For the better part of the day on Tuesday, the steps around the federal building in downtown Los Angeles were quiet — a far cry from the protest epicentre they were days before.
Members of the Los Angeles Police Department soon moved in on the crowd of about 200 people along Alameda Street mid-afternoon, corralling the protesters from both sides until they either left or got stuck in between lines of police officers.
The protest was isolated to the block around the detention centre. Elsewhere in the city, the only signs of unrest were days-old "F--k ICE" graffiti and the husk of a burned-out car.
Tump 'crossed a red line,' Newsom says
"It's so enraging to see that he can use this power for the bad," Franco said, referring to Trump authorizing the deployment of the marines and National Guard. "It's bullshit, I'm sorry."
"I feel like he's doing it to California to send a message to the other states and the country."
Earlier on Tuesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked the courts for an emergency intervention to limit Trump's use of the National Guard in Los Angeles.
"A President of the United States who's unhinged and has now crossed a red line in this country," Newsom said in a video posted to X.
More than a dozen protesters who spoke with CBC News said they were bewildered by the military presence, saying the protests had been otherwise controlled by the LAPD. The police department on Saturday put out a statement commending demonstrators for keeping the peace.
"This is America. 'Land of the free,' " said Isaac, 38, making air quotes with his fingers. He said he was a lifelong resident of L.A. whose parents immigrated to the United States.
"The marines, they're not well trained to deal with population control like LAPD," he said. "They're trained to shoot to kill."
One member of an interfaith group said they sympathized with the members of the service who had been ordered to face down their fellow Americans.
"They are being placed in a moral conundrum," said Tanya Lopez, 38, a first-generation American whose parents immigrated from Mexico. She noted that the service members are supposed to be protecting civilians of they nation they serve, yet were being deployed against them.
"They are just trying to incite violence and pit us one against the other," she said.
California Gov. Newsom accuses Trump of using marines as political pawns
10 hours ago
Duration 12:03
The Trump administration has ordered U.S. marines into Los Angeles and intensified raids on suspected undocumented immigrants, fuelling more outrage from street protesters. California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused U.S. President Donald Trump of trying to manufacture a crisis and violating California's state sovereignty and the U.S. Constitution.
Trump claims military intervention was necessary
Trump has said military intervention was necessary to maintain law and order in the city. He referred to demonstrators on Tuesday as "animals" and "paid insurrectionists."
"If we didn't send out the National Guard … Los Angeles would be burning right now!" Trump said in the Oval Office Tuesday.
It is rare, but not illegal, for the president to deploy National Guard troops despite the objections of the governor and local leaders. It is rarer still for marines to be deployed on home soil.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit Monday over the use of National Guard troops following the first deployment, telling reporters that Trump had "trampled" the state's sovereignty.
The authorization came amid Monday's mostly peaceful protests in the country's second-largest city. Additional protests against immigration raids are expected to continue in other cities Tuesday.
Monday's demonstrations were far less raucous than those held on Sunday, with thousands attending a peaceful rally at city hall and hundreds protesting outside a federal complex that includes a detention centre where some immigrants are being held following immigration raids at workplaces across the city.
WATCH | L.A. mayor says ICE raids must stop:
ICE raids must stop, Los Angeles mayor says
4 hours ago
Duration 3:48
At a news conference Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Bass called for an end to federal immigration raids in the city and slammed the Trump administration's deployment of National Guard and marines following several days of protests over the stepped-up enforcement. 'The real solution of all of this is for the administration to stop the raids,' Bass said of the unrest roiling the city.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said her administration has heard the ICE raids could continue for the next 30 days, if not longer.
"It's a sense of intimidation and fear that is just so unnecessary and so corrosive to our city," Bass said at a Tuesday news conference. The mayor said she would place a call to Trump asking him to stop the raids.
Passing the federal building early Tuesday, Isaac said his hometown wouldn't take the intervention lying down.
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Protests over federal immigration raids pop up across the U.S. with more planned
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Police said they took 86 people into custody, including 52 who were released with criminal court summonses for minor crimes and 34 who were charged with assault, resisting arrest and other crimes. San Antonio More than 400 people gathered outside of city hall Wednesday evening for an anti-ICE demonstration, according to local authorities. The protest was largely peaceful, with many blasting music and some handing out water. Nearby streets were closed off as law enforcement officers watched from hundreds of feet away. Dozens walked there from the historic Alamo mission after police closed off the area before the protest began. San Antonio Police Chief William McManus encouraged peaceful demonstration but said his officers would respond if "it turns violent." Officers with the Texas Public Safety Department said the Texas National Guard was present at the protest. Members were not seen standing with law enforcement officers in front of a small crowd of demonstrators. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott declined to say how many soldiers would be sent or how, only that they would be deployed in "strategic locations where they can provide the most robust response" necessary. He did not say whether he or the president mobilized them. "There are others outside of this room who would like to know that. And I'm not going to tell them," Abbott said. "We want to make sure that what has happened in California does not happen in Texas." Mayor Ron Nirenberg said he did not ask the governor to deploy the National Guard troops and officials said they did not know how many troops were being sent, where they would be stationed or what they would do. "I want to acknowledge the anger and frustration that's out there with the federal government's crude interpretations of immigration law and cruel approach to human rights,' Nirenberg said. "Exercise your right to free speech, but I urge you to keep it lawful and peaceful." Philadelphia About 150 protesters gathered outside the Federal Detention Centre on Tuesday afternoon and marched to ICE headquarters then back to the detention centre. Police ordered a group marching along a major road to disperse and when they ignored the orders officers arrested 15 of them. Several officers used force during the arrests and their conduct will be reviewed, police said, without detailing what kind of force was used. Two officers suffered minor injuries. San Francisco About 200 protesters gathered outside the San Francisco Immigration Court on Tuesday after activists said several people were arrested there. Protests in the city swelled to several thousand demonstrators Sunday and Monday, and more than 150 people were arrested after some vandalized buildings and damaged cars, police vehicles and buses. Police said two officers suffered non-life threatening injuries. Seattle Hundreds of protesters marched through downtown Wednesday evening to a federal building where immigration cases are heard, with some dragging a dumpster nearby and setting it on fire. The building was covered in graffiti, with "Abolish ICE Now" written in large letters across its front window. Some protesters moved electric bikes and cones to block its entrance. Dozens of officers squared off with protesters near the federal building, with some shooting pepper spray. Officers worked to move the crowd away from the federal building, with some protesters throwing fireworks and rocks at officers, according to the Seattle Police Department. Chicago Police said 17 people were arrested at a protest that jammed a downtown plaza and took over surrounding streets Tuesday evening. Some of those arrested were accused of vandalism, and four were charged with felonies including aggravated battery against an officer of the peace. Also Tuesday, a 66-year-old woman was treated for a fractured arm after being struck by a car. Video showed the vehicle speeding along a road filled with protesters. No other injuries were reported. Denver A group of protesters gathered before the Colorado state capitol, creating a sea of cardboard signs, one exhorting: "Show your faces. ICE cowards." The group then split in half, with hundreds chanting and marching down two thoroughfares and crowding out traffic. Police ordered them to disperse. Officers used smoke and pepper balls to control the crowd and 17 people were arrested, Denver police said Wednesday. Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown imposed a downtown curfew after a protest Wednesday afternoon outside an ICE office in Spokane, Washington. The curfew will run from Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. until 5 a.m. Thursday, according to a statement released by the city. 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National Guard members fortify a federal building in Los Angeles on June 10, hours before a curfew in the downtown core and a wave of mass arrests. Since last week's furor over a new round of immigration raids in California, U.S. President Donald Trump has sent thousands of troops to the state. Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via AP to view this content.
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Is that our crime?' 7 hours ago Duration 2:59 'These guys are troopers, man' In Westlake on Wednesday, private security guards assigned to patrol the strip-mall parking lot greeted the labourers with nods and handshakes. One guard, who declined to provide his name because his employer doesn't want guards to speak to the media, said some of the labourers didn't wait long to return after Friday's raid because they have families depending on their income and are here to work, not cause trouble. "These guys are troopers, man." Nearly 50 kilometres southeast of Los Angeles, several more men sought respite from the heat of the day under some trees while waiting for work outside another Home Depot in Santa Ana. They know their freedom is at risk, but financially, they say they have no choice. "It's nonsense. It's ridiculous. We haven't done nothing wrong. Standing in front of the Home Depot for work to feed our family? Is that our crime?" asked Edbin Rios Perez, 24, who crossed the border from Mexico to the United States with his family as a child around 2008. "I don't have papers and I'm still here, risking my life to provide." Perez says he's seen ICE officers around and knows they could come after him. He and the others keep watch for black trucks, just as the men in Westlake do. "I am scared, honestly, but I don't want to show it because as a man, we gotta be there," he said. "I'd rather have my kids see that I'm not scared. My father, my mother? I still make them laugh, like, 'Hey, I'm OK.' But in reality, I'm not." 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Gavin Newsom picked up steam. Newsom, a Democrat, said the president's rare decision to deploy the marines on U.S. soil and the National Guard without state approval was in line with "authoritarian regimes." From the Home Depot parking lot in Westlake, the epicentre of the protest downtown is easy to spot in the skyline on account of the helicopter circling overhead. People who are undocumented are staying well away from the area, Ciara said. They're scared, but Ciara says he worries the entire scene — from the protests to the military to the politics — is distracting the public from the raids themselves and making the situation worse for those in hiding. "When the people who are legal here are doing something wrong, they think the people who are illegal are doing that, too," he said. "We are just trying to make things all right."
