What to know about the immigration protests in Los Angeles

Straits Times

5 hours ago

The National Guard, police and protesters stand off outside of a downtown jail in Los Angeles on June 8. PHOTO: AFP
Los Angeles police officers arrest a person during protests near the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles on June 8. PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Protesters are blanketed in smoke along Alondra Boulevard during a standoff with law enforcement in the Los Angeles County city of Compton. PHOTO: REUTERS
Demonstrators kneel with their hands raised in front of Los Angeles Metro Police during a protest in Los Angeles, California, on June 8. PHOTO: REUTERS
What to know about the immigration protests in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES - The first of at least 2,000 National Guard troops began arriving in Los Angeles on June 8 morning, ordered in by President Donald Trump to deal with protests against workplace immigration raids after two days of unrest.
Any demonstration that got in the way of immigration officials would be considered a 'form of rebellion,' Mr Trump said in his order, issued June 7.
The dispatch of troops was an extraordinary escalation that put Los Angeles squarely at the centre of tensions over his administration's immigration crackdown.
An expert said it was the first time since 1965 that a president had bypassed a state governor to activate that state's National Guard force for law enforcement or civil unrest purposes.
Governor Gavin Newsom of California called Mr Trump's order 'purposefully inflammatory'. He said there was no shortage of law enforcement resources to deal with the protests, and that the federal government was sending the troops because it wanted 'a spectacle'.
Protests broke out in Los Angeles on June 6 against a series of raids that appeared to be part of a new phase of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, in which officials say they will focus increasingly on workplaces.
Protesters continued demonstrating downtown and in nearby cities on June 7 as law enforcement officers made arrests and in some cases used crowd-control munitions, tear gas and flash-bang grenades against the protesters.
Hundreds of National Guard troops had arrived in Los Angeles by June 8 afternoon, and protests flared up again in the city's downtown. Here's what to know:
How have the protests developed?
The demonstrations began on June 6 after camouflage-clad federal agents began combing the garment district in Los Angeles in search of people suspected of being immigrants in the country without legal permission.
The raid, which spread alarm among workers in the city, incited chaotic scenes between protesters, who chanted and threw eggs, and law enforcement officers, who fired pepper spray and crowd-control munitions.
Demonstrations continued on June 7, both downtown and in the greater Los Angeles area, including the largely Latino and working-class city of Paramount, about 24km to the south. Protests there were some of the most volatile in the region, with law enforcement officers using flash-bang grenades and firing crowd-control munitions.
A firework sent by protesters explodes near by the Los Angeles Sheriff Department officers during immigration protest in Paramount, California, on June 7.
PHOTO: AFP
Mr Bill Essayli, the Trump administration's top law enforcement official in Southern California, said more than 100 people were arrested on June 6 and at least 20 more were arrested on June 7, mostly in Paramount.
A Department of Homeland Security official added Sunday that US officials had arrested eight people in Paramount on June 7 on federal obstruction charges. Two of the eight were minors and have been released from custody, the official said.
The streets of Los Angeles were largely quiet on the morning of June 8 as the first National Guard troops began to arrive downtown at the Metropolitan Detention Centre, where the Los Angeles Police Department had detained a number of protesters on June 7.
By early afternoon on June 8, hundreds of demonstrators outside the detention centre were facing off with federal law-enforcement officials in riot gear. The officials – including from DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement – fired canisters of tear gas into the crowd.
National Guard troops were also gathered in Paramount, near a Home Depot where protesters had clashed with agents on June 7.
Who calls in the national guard?
The National Guard is the only branch of the military that can be deployed both by state governors and by the president. Governors almost always control deployment in their states.
The Guard operates similarly to the Army Reserve force. Most of its members do not serve full time. They generally hold civilian jobs and attend regular training sessions, and are called into active service only when needed.
The National Guard is most often called upon during extreme weather events like hurricanes, floods and wildfires. Troops have sometimes been used to quell civil disturbances at the state governor's request.
The National Guard is the only branch of the military that can be deployed both by state governors and by the president.
PHOTO: AFP
One example was in 1992, when Governor Pete Wilson of California asked President George H.W. Bush to deploy the Guard after riots erupted in Los Angeles over the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of Mr Rodney King, a black man.
Before Mr Trump's move, the last time a president activated a state's National Guard troops for such a purpose without being asked to do so by the state's governor was in 1965, according to Ms Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Centre for Justice, an independent law and policy organization.
On that occasion, she said, President Lyndon B. Johnson used troops to protect civil rights demonstrators in Alabama.
What have officials said?
Trump administration officials have criticised the state's political leadership over their handling of the protests, while California's Democratic leaders blasted Mr Trump's order as unnecessary and an inappropriate use of power.
Ms Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a statement on the night of June 7 that Mr Trump was deploying the National Guard in response to 'violent mobs' that she said had attacked federal law enforcement and immigration agents. The 2,000 troops would 'address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester,' she said.
A protester walks through smoke from flash-bang smoke grenades fired by federal agents near a Home Depot in Paramount, California, on June 7.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Mr Trump described the demonstrations, which have been largely peaceful, as 'insurrectionist' on social media on June 8. He did not rule out invoking the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to deploy the US military domestically, and told reporters that there were 'violent people' at the protests and that 'we're not going to let them get away with it'.
State and local authorities in California and Los Angeles County have not indicated any need for federal assistance. State attorney general Rob Bonta said on social media that local law enforcement 'have the resources they need to meet the moment' and that Mr Trump's order was 'counterproductive'.
Governor Newsom called the president's order 'purposefully inflammatory' and said that Trump had activated the National Guard only because his administration wanted 'a spectacle.'
Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles said the National Guard's presence would 'not be helpful'. She said the city was capable of handling protests, adding that she had been in contact with White House officials and Mr Tom Homan, Mr Trump's 'border czar'. NYTIMES
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