Los Angeles-area mayors demand that Trump administration stop stepped-up immigration raids
Dozens of mayors from across the Los Angeles region banded together Wednesday to demand that the Trump administration stop the stepped-up immigration raids that have spread fear across their cities and sparked protests across the U.S.
But there were no signs President Donald Trump would heed their pleas.
About 500 of the National Guard troops deployed to the Los Angeles protests have been trained to accompany agents on immigration operations, the commander-in-charge said Wednesday. And while some troops have already gone on such missions, he said it's too early to say if that will continue even after the protests die down.
'We are expecting a ramp-up,' said Major-General Scott Sherman said, noting that protests across the nation were being discussed. 'I'm focused right here in L.A., what's going on right here. But you know, I think we're, we're very concerned.'
The L.A.-area mayors and city council members urged Mr. Trump to stop using armed military troops alongside immigration agents during the raids.
'I'm asking you, please listen to me, stop terrorizing our residents,' said Brenda Olmos, vice-mayor of Paramount, Calif., who said she was hit by rubber bullets over the weekend. 'You need to stop these raids.'
Speaking alongside the other mayors at a news conference, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the raids spread fear at the behest of the White House. Los Angeles started a nightly curfew Tuesday that will remain in effect as long as necessary in a 2.5-square-kilometre section of downtown. The city of Los Angeles encompasses roughly 1,295 square kilometres.
'If there are raids that continue, if there are soldiers marching up and down our streets, I would imagine that the curfew will continue,' Ms. Bass said.
Those who have been caught up in the nationwide raids include asylum seekers, people who overstayed their visas and migrants awaiting their day in immigration court.
Opinion: Donald Trump campaigned on eroding democracy. Now, he's just fulfilling his promises
The administration has cited the protests in its decision to deploy the military. Referring to the demonstrations, which have been mostly concentrated in the L.A. business district, the Democratic mayor added: 'If you drive a few blocks outside of downtown, you don't know that anything is happening in the city at all.'
California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, has asked a federal court to put an emergency stop to the military helping immigration agents in the nation's second-largest city. This week, guardsmen began standing protectively around agents as they carry out arrests. A judge set a hearing for Thursday.
The Trump administration called the lawsuit a 'crass political stunt endangering American lives' in its official response on Wednesday.
The military is now closer to engaging in law-enforcement actions such as deportations, as Mr. Trump has promised in his crackdown. The Guard has the authority to temporarily detain people who attack officers, but any arrests must be made by law enforcement.
The President posted on the Truth Social platform that the city 'would be burning to the ground' if he had not sent in the military.
Some 2,000 National Guard soldiers are in Los Angeles, and are soon to be joined by 2,000 more along with about 700 Marines, Maj.-Gen. Sherman said.
Speaking in an interview with the Associated Press and ABC, Maj.-Gen. Sherman initially said that National Guard troops had already temporarily detained civilians in the Los Angeles protests over immigration raids. He later said he based his comments on photos and footage he had seen that turned out not to be a representation of Guard members in Los Angeles.
Police detained more than 20 people, mostly on curfew violations, on the first night of the curfew in downtown Los Angeles and used crowd-control projectiles to break up hundreds of protesters.
But there were fewer clashes than on previous nights, and by daybreak, the downtown streets were bustling with residents walking dogs and commuters clutching coffee cups.
Los Angeles police have made nearly 400 arrests and detentions since Saturday, the vast majority of which were for failing to leave the area at the request of law enforcement, according to the police department.
There have been a handful of more serious charges, including for assault against police officers and for possession of a Molotov cocktail and a gun. Nine police officers have been hurt, mostly with minor injures. Some were transported to a hospital and released.
Demonstrations have also spread to other cities nationwide, including Dallas and Austin in Texas, and Chicago and New York, where thousands rallied and more arrests were made.
In New York, police said they took 86 people into custody during protests in lower Manhattan that lasted into Wednesday morning. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the majority of demonstrators were peaceful.
A 66-year-old woman in Chicago was injured when she was struck by a car during downtown protests Tuesday evening, police said. Video showed a car speeding down a street where people were protesting.
In Texas, where police in Austin used chemical irritants to disperse several hundred demonstrators Monday, Republican Governor Greg Abbott's office said Texas National Guard troops were 'on standby' in areas where demonstrations are planned.
Guard members were sent to San Antonio, Tex., but Police Chief William McManus said he had not been told how many troops were deployed or their role ahead of planned protests Wednesday night and Saturday. Officers with the Texas Department of Public Safety said the Texas National Guard was present at a protest downtown.
The protests began Friday after federal immigration raids arrested dozens of workers in Los Angeles. Protesters blocked a major freeway and set cars on fire over the weekend, and police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades.
Thousands of people have peacefully rallied outside City Hall and hundreds more protested outside a federal complex that includes a detention center where some immigrants are being held after workplace raids.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
42 minutes ago
- CTV News
Judge says Trump illegally deployed National Guard to help with LA protests, must return control
DHS police and National Guard protect the outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. President Donald Trump must return to California's governor control over National Guard troops his administration deployed to Los Angeles to assist in immigration enforcement and controlling unrest, a federal judge said in a temporary restraining order Thursday. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said Trump overstepped his bounds in ordering the deployment of roughly 4,000 National Guard members to LA after protests erupted over the immigration crackdown. The order, which takes effect at noon Friday, applies only to the National Guard troops and not Marines who were also deployed to the city. 'Today was really about a test of democracy, and today we passed the test,' Gov. Gavin Newsom, who had asked the judge for an emergency stop to troops helping carry out immigration raids, said in a news conference after the decision. The deployment of the Guard was illegal and both violated the Tenth Amendment and exceeded Trump's statutory authority, Breyer said. The White House had no immediate comment on the ruling, but the federal government immediately filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit court. The Trump administration called the lawsuit a 'crass political stunt endangering American lives' in its official response Wednesday. Newsom's case was solely focused on the National Guard, and the judge said when the state attorney asked about whether this could apply to the Marines that he would not rule on that because they were not on the streets yet. About 700 Marines have been undergoing civil disturbance training at Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach in Orange County, California. Nicholas Green, an attorney for the state, told the court: 'I have been told by the office of the governor that within the next 24 hours, 140 Marines will replace and relieve National Guard members in Los Angeles.' Typically the authority to call up the National Guard lies with governors, but there are limited circumstances under which the president can deploy those troops. Trump federalized members of the California National Guard under an authority known as Title 10. Title 10 allows the president to call the National Guard into federal service under certain limited circumstances, such as when the country 'is invaded,' when 'there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government,' or when the president is unable 'to execute the laws of the United States.' Breyer said in his ruling that what is happening in Los Angeles does not meet the definition of a rebellion. 'The protests in Los Angeles fall far short of 'rebellion,'' he wrote. It was not immediately clear how that would change the situation on the ground. Newsom sued to block the Guard's deployment against his wishes. California later filed an emergency motion asking the judge to block the Guard from assisting with immigration raids. The governor argued that the troops were originally deployed to protect federal buildings and wanted the court to block the troops from helping protect immigration agents during the raids, saying that involving the Guard would only escalate tensions and promote civil unrest. Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, commander of Task Force 51, which is overseeing the Guard troops and Marines sent to Los Angeles, said that as of Wednesday about 500 of the Guard troops had been trained to accompany agents on immigration operations. Photos of Guard soldiers providing security for the agents have already been circulated by immigration officials. None of the Marines have been trained to go on immigration raids, and it is not yet clear if they eventually will, Sherman said. In his broad ruling, the judge determined Trump had not properly called the Guard up in the first place. The lawsuit argued that Title 10 also requires that the president go through governors when issuing orders to the National Guard. Brett Shumate, an attorney for the federal government, said Trump complied with the statute by informing the general in charge of the troops of his decision and would have the authority to call in the Guard even if he had not. In a brief filed ahead of the Thursday hearing, the Justice Department said Trump's orders were not subject to judicial review. 'Courts did not interfere when President Eisenhower deployed the military to protect school desegregation. Courts did not interfere when President Nixon deployed the military to deliver the mail in the midst of a postal strike. And courts should not interfere here either,' the department said. 'Our position is this is not subject to judicial review,' Shumate told the judge. Breyer, who at one point waved a copy of the constitution, said he disagreed. 'We're talking about the president exercising his authority, and the president is of course limited in that authority. That's the difference between a constitutional government and King George,' he said. The protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles intensified after Trump called up the Guard and have since spread to other cities, including Boston, Chicago and Seattle. Trump has described Los Angeles in dire terms that Bass and Newsom say are nowhere close to the truth. The Marines have not yet been spotted in Los Angeles, and Guard troops have had limited engagement with protesters. Olga R. Rodriguez, The Associated Press
National Post
an hour ago
- National Post
White House defiant as judge rules Trump's National Guard deployment was illegal
LOS ANGELES — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged Thursday to carry on with the Trump administration's immigration crackdown despite waves of unrest across the U.S. Article content Hours later a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order directing President Donald Trump to return control of the Guard to California. The order, which takes effect at noon Friday, said the deployment of the Guard was illegal and both violated the Tenth Amendment and exceeded his statutory authority. Article content Article content Article content Gov. Gavin Newsom had asked the judge to put an emergency stop to troops helping to carry out immigration raids. Article content The developments unfolded as cities nationwide braced for major demonstrations against Trump over the weekend, and their leaders pleaded with residents to protest peacefully. Noem said the immigration raids that fueled the protests would move forward, saying agents have thousands of targets. Article content 'This is only going to continue until we have peace on the streets of Los Angeles,' she said during a news conference that was interrupted by shouting from U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat who was forcibly removed from the event. Article content Newsom has warned that the military intervention is part of a broader effort by Trump to overturn norms at the heart of the nation's democracy. He also said that sending National Guard troops on the raids has further inflamed tensions in Los Angeles, where large and sometimes volatile protests have broken out since the crackdown began nearly a week ago. Article content So far, the protests have been centered mostly in downtown LA near City Hall and a federal detention center where some immigrants are being held. Much of the sprawling city has been spared from the protests. Article content Article content The Trump administration on Wednesday called Newsom's lawsuit a 'crass political stunt endangering American lives.' Article content Demonstrations have picked up across the U.S., with protests emerging in more than a dozen major cities. On Wednesday, police in Seattle used pepper spray to clear out protesters, and officers in Denver used smoke and pepper balls to control a crowd. Article content Police in riot gear — many on horseback — charged at a group of protesters Wednesday night in LA just before the start of the second night of the city's downtown curfew. The officers struck some demonstrators with wooden rods and later fired crowd-control projectiles, and there were a handful of arrests.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Judge orders Trump to return control of California National Guard to state
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to return control of the California National Guard to the state after finding the U.S. president had overstepped his bounds with the "unlawful" decision to send troops to Los Angeles. In his ruling, Judge Charles Breyer of the Northern District of California said the troops' presence in Los Angeles has already caused "significant harm" and inflamed tension in the city. "The federal government cannot be permitted to exceed its bounds and in doing so create the very emergency conditions that it then relies on to justify federal intervention," Breyer wrote. "The citizens of Los Angeles face a greater harm from the continued unlawful militarization of their city." The order is set to take effect at noon on Friday. It was a loss for U.S. President Donald Trump, who has maintained thousands of National Guard troops to control protests over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the country's second-largest city. WATCH | Trump's pattern of governing by executive order: Protests, tariffs, borders: Why Trump says everything is an emergency | About That 11 hours ago Duration 12:03 Description: U.S. President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to respond to immigration protests in California with a rarely used law invoked when the government believes a rebellion is underway. Andrew Chang breaks down how Trump's framing of these protests as an emergency — along with everything from trade deficits to fentanyl — exists as part of a larger pattern of governing by executive order with unchecked power. California Gov. Gavin Newsom applied for a temporary restraining order to regain control of the troops, which are typically deployed either by the state or at the state's request. He celebrated the judge's decision on Thursday. "The court just confirmed what we all know — the military belongs on the battlefield, not on our city streets. This win is not just for California, but the nation," he wrote on X. "It's a check on a man whose authoritarian tendencies are increasing by the day. End the illegal militarization of Los Angeles now." Protests during the week have been largely peaceful and smaller in size than they were last Saturday. Eight National Guard officers standing on the steps to the Federal Building on Los Angeles Street on Thursday weren't immediately aware of the ruling.
