National Guard troops began arriving in Los Angeles early Sunday after being ordered there by US President Donald Trump, a rare deployment against the state governor’s wishes after sometimes violent protests against immigration enforcement raids.
Trump took federal control of California’s state military to push soldiers into the country’s second-biggest city, a decision deemed “purposefully inflammatory” by California Governor Gavin Newsom and of a kind not seen for decades.
Helmeted troops carrying automatic weapons and handing out shields could be seen near city hall in footage from ABC News’ local affiliate in the California city early Sunday, ahead of more protests expected by the afternoon.
The development came after two days of confrontations during which federal agents fired flash-bang grenades and tear gas toward crowds angry at the arrests of dozens of migrants in a city with a large Latino population.
Republicans lined up behind Trump Sunday to dismiss warnings by Newsom and other local officials that the protests had been largely peaceful, and that the deployment was against their wishes and would exacerbate tensions.
“I have no concern about that at all,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told ABC’s “This Week” when asked, adding that Newsom “has shown an inability or unwillingness to do what is necessary there, so the president stepped in.”
As for threats by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday to send in active-duty Marines on top of the Guard troops, Johnson said he did not see that as “heavy-handed.”
“We have to be prepared to do what is necessary,” he argued.
Federal authorities “want a spectacle. Don’t give them one. Never use violence. Speak out peacefully,” Newsom had posted on X late Saturday.
“We agree that if you’re being violent, you should be arrested … But this is not what’s happening,” California Congresswoman Nanette Barragan told CNN Sunday.
“We are having an administration that’s targeting peaceful protests … The president is sending the National Guard because he doesn’t like the scenes,” the Democrat said.
Overnight an AFP photographer saw fires and fireworks light up the streets during clashes, while a protester holding a Mexican flag stood in front of a burnt-out car that had been sprayed with a slogan against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
“It’s up to us to stand up for our people,” said a Los Angeles resident whose parents are immigrants, declining to give her name.
“Whether we get hurt, whether they gas us, whatever they’re throwing at us. They’re never going to stop us. All we have left is our voice,” she told AFP as emergency services lights flashed in the distance.
‘Zero tolerance’
Trump had signed a memorandum sending 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, the White House said Saturday.
Trump congratulated the National Guard for “a job well done” shortly before midnight on Saturday in a post on Truth Social, before the troops appeared to have been deployed.
The National Guard — a reserve military — is frequently used in natural disasters, such as in the aftermath of the LA fires, and occasionally in instances of civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local politicians.
Law professor Jessica Levinson said Hegseth’s additional threat to send in Marines from nearby Camp Pendleton appeared symbolic thanks to a legal restriction on using the US military as a domestic policing force in the absence of an insurrection.
“The National Guard will be able to do (no) more than provide logistical (and) personnel support,” she said.
Trump has delivered on a promise to crack down hard on the entry and presence of undocumented migrants — who he has likened to “monsters” and “animals” — since taking office in January.
Masked and armed immigration agents carried out high-profile workplace raids in separate parts of Los Angeles on Friday, attracting angry crowds and setting off hours-long standoffs.
Saturday’s standoff took place in the suburb of Paramount, where demonstrators converged on a reported federal facility that the local mayor said was being used as a staging post by agents.
Fernando Delgado, a 24-year-old resident, said the raids were “injustices” and those detained were “human beings just like any.”
“We’re Spanish, we help the community, we help by doing the labor that people don’t want to do,” he told AFP.
Mayor Bass acknowledged that some city residents were “feeling fear” following the federal immigration enforcement actions.
“Everyone has the right to peacefully protest, but let me be clear: violence and destruction are unacceptable, and those responsible will be held accountable,” she said on X.
