US President Donald Trump has ordered 2,000 National Guardsmen to Los Angeles to deal with unrest over raids on undocumented migrants.
Trump said the federal government would “step in and solve the problem”, after the Californian city saw a second day of clashes between protesters and federal agents.
Tear gas was used to disperse crowds as residents of the predominantly Latino Paramount district clashed with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents earlier in the day.
As many as 118 arrests were made in LA this week as a result of ICE operations, including 44 on Friday. California Governor Gavin Newsom has condemned the raids as “cruel”.
Trump thanked the National Guard for a “job well done” in Los Angeles late on Saturday night. Despite this, the troops did not appear to have arrived in the city.
Early on Sunday the New York Times website quoted a federal official as saying that the force would arrive within 24 hours.
Trump criticised the city’s Democratic governor and mayor in a post on his Truth Social platform, calling them “incompetent”. He also said protesters would no longer be allowed to wear masks.
Newsom said the federal government’s takeover of the National Guard was “purposefully inflammatory” and would “only escalate tensions”.
The National Guard is usually called by a state’s governor, but Trump has used a provision that allows him to take control himself, Newsom’s office told the AP news agency.
Trump had earlier hit out at the governor on social media, saying that if he and LA Mayor Karen Bass could not do their jobs, “then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth later threatened to mobilise active-duty marines if violence continued, saying troops at nearby Camp Pendleton were on “high alert”. Newsom described this threat as “deranged behaviour”.
The Paramount district had calmed considerably late on Saturday evening, but clashes between protesters and law enforcement were still happening.
Outside the Home Depot hardware store where the protests first erupted, the air was thick with tear gas and smoke.
LA county sheriffs fired flash bangs and tear gas every few minutes to try to clear protesters away.
Neighbours and protesters said migrants were locked inside local businesses afraid to come out. Paramount’s population is more than 80% Hispanic.
In a statement on Sunday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) said that two deputies had suffered minor injuries. Several individuals were detained with at least one arrested, it added.
A fire at a local mall was quickly extinguished, the LASD said, while fireworks and bottles were thrown and at least one car was burnt. The full extent of the damage is currently unknown.
More protests are expected in the LA area on Sunday.
A White House press release said: “In recent days, violent mobs have attacked ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles, California.”
The statement added that “California’s feckless Democrat leaders” had “abdicated their responsibility” to protect citizens, which was “why President Trump has signed a Presidential Memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen”.
Speaking in Los Angeles, where he had travelled to personally supervise the continuing ICE operations, Trump’s “border tsar” Tom Homan warned that there would be “zero tolerance” of any violence or damage to private property.
In a post on X, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino also issued a warning to protesters: “You bring chaos, and we’ll bring handcuffs. Law and order will prevail.”
Governor Newsom said the federal government “wants a spectacle” and urged people not to give them one by becoming violent.
In a statement on Friday, he said: “Continued chaotic federal sweeps, across California, to meet an arbitrary arrest quota are as reckless as they are cruel”.
Earlier, Mayor Bass accused ICE agents of “sowing terror” in Los Angeles.
Angelica Salas, who leads the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, told a recent rally: “Our community is under attack and is being terrorised. These are workers. These are fathers. These are mothers. And this has to stop.”
