Members of the National Guard faced off with protesters in Los Angeles on Sunday, and tear gas was fired at a growing crowd that gathered outside a federal complex hours after the federal troops arrived in the city on President Donald Trump’s orders.
The confrontation broke out in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, as a group of demonstrators shouted insults at members of the guard lined shoulder to shoulder behind plastic riot shields.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Tensions boil over as National Guard cracks down on LA protests.
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There did not appear to be any arrests.
Around members 300 National Guard troops arrived in Los Angeles early Sunday following clashes in recent days between protesters and federal immigration agents.
The deployment followed two days of protests that began Friday in downtown Los Angeles before spreading on Saturday to Paramount, a heavily Latino city south of the city, and neighboring Compton.
As federal agents set up a staging area Saturday near a Home Depot in Paramount, demonstrators attempted to block Border Patrol vehicles, with some hurling rocks and chunks of cement. In response, agents in riot gear unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls.
Tensions were high after a series of sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day, as the weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the city climbed above 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement.
The deployment of the National Guard came over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who accused Trump of a “complete overreaction” designed to create a spectacle of force.
The recent protests have drawn hundreds of participants but remain far smaller than other mass demonstrations, including the 2020 protests against police violence that spurred Newsom to request assistance from the National Guard.
The last time the National Guard was activated without a governor’s permission was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Trump has framed the move as a necessary response to Newsom’s and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s failure to swiftly contain the unrest.
In a directive Saturday, Trump invoked a legal provision allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is ”a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States”.
He said he had authorised the deployment of 2,000 members of the National Guard.
Newsom called Trump on Friday night and they spoke for about 40 minutes, according to the governor’s office. It was not clear if they spoke Saturday or Sunday.
There was some confusion surrounding the exact timing of the guard’s arrival. Shortly before midnight local time, Trump congratulated the National Guard on a “job well done”. But less than an hour later, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said troops had yet to arrive in the city.
In a statement Sunday, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin accused California’s politicians and protesters of “defending heinous illegal alien criminals at the expense of Americans’ safety”.
“Instead of rioting, they should be thanking ICE officers every single day who wake up and make our communities safer,” McLaughlin added.
The troops included members of the California Army National Guard’s 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, according to a social media post from the Department of Defense.
In a signal of the administration’s aggressive approach, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also threatened to deploy active-duty Marines “if violence continues” in the region.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said the order by Trump reflected “a president moving this country rapidly into authoritarianism” and “usurping the powers of the United States Congress”.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a staunch Trump ally, endorsed the president’s move, doubling down on Republicans’ criticisms of California Democrats.
“Gavin Newsom has shown an inability or an unwillingness to do what is necessary, so the president stepped in,” Johnson said.
Governor, mayor attack Trump over National Guard deployment
Newsom, a Democrat, described Trump’s decision to call in the National Guard as a “provocative show of force” that would only escalate tensions, adding that Hegseth’s threat to deploy Marines on US soil was “deranged behaviour”.
“Trump is sending 2000 National Guard troops into LA County — not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis. He’s hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control. Stay calm. Never use violence. Stay peaceful,” Newsom posted on X.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also slammed President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard.
“The fear people are feeling in our city right now is very real — it’s felt in our communities and within our families and it puts our neighborhoods at risk,” Bass said in a statement. “This is the last thing that our city needs, and I urge protestors to remain peaceful.”
“Los Angeles will always stand with everyone who calls our city home,” Bass said.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said the order by Trump reflected “a president moving this country rapidly into authoritarianism” and “usurping the powers of the United States Congress”.
Several Republicans, meanwhile, have voiced support for the involvement of the National Guard.
Among them was Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who stopped short of backing Hegseth’s threat to send in active-duty military personnel.
“My guess is the National Guard ought to take care of the situation,” Johnson said.