California National Guard members arrived in the Los Angeles area on Sunday, after President Trump activated the troops to contain protests against federal immigration raids that took place in the city and surrounding areas in recent days.
On Sunday afternoon, protesters gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where some of the immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were initially held.
Tear gas and pepper spray were used, according to NPR reporters on the scene, and authorities used shields to push people back and maintain a perimeter. The day was largely peaceful, but tensions escalated after two demonstrations merged.
Some of the ongoing demonstrations, which arose in response to a series of immigration operations in Los Angeles at the end of last week, escalated into clashes between protesters and law enforcement agents.
In response, the White House said Trump would send 2,000 National Guard members to California. In a social media post, Trump attacked what he called “Radical Left protests” by “instigators and often paid provocateurs”.
Diana Crofts-Pelayo, deputy communications director for Gov. Gavin Newsom, told NPR by email on Sunday morning that about 300 California National Guard troops had arrived in Los Angeles.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an X post that active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton are on maximum alert and will also be mobilized “if the violence continues”.
But Newsom said there has been no widespread violence.
Newsom said he formally requested that the Trump administration rescind “the illegal deployment of troops in Los Angeles County and return them to my command”.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told NPR’s All Things Considered on Sunday that “these [immigration] raids and now the federalization of troops to enter Los Angeles is an intentional effort to sow chaos”.
Last week, ICE agents’ actions sparked protests in several cities across the country, including Minneapolis and Chicago. Trump has intensified immigration enforcement in his second term after campaigning on a promise of mass deportations.
ICE operations targeted multiple locations in the Los Angeles area, and in some cases protesters tried to block the transport of detained immigrants. Authorities used flash grenades, pepper spray, and tear gas to disperse the crowds.
ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons said in a statement that “rioters attacked ICE and federal law enforcement agents on the streets of LA” and that crowds also “surrounded and attacked a federal building”.
An unknown number of people were arrested in the clashes. One of them was David Huerta, president of SEIU California. The union said he was treated at a hospital for injuries sustained during his arrest and remains detained. Huerta was arrested for interfering with federal agents and will appear before a judge on Monday in federal court, according to U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli.
ICE said in a Saturday post on X that it arrested 118 immigrants during operations in Los Angeles last week.
Trump said in an early Sunday post on Truth Social that the National Guard was doing a “great job”. The National Guard can be activated by governors for local or state emergencies, and U.S. presidents can also call it up for federal missions, placing the force in the military chain of command.
Speaking to reporters in Morristown, N.J., later on Sunday, Trump described what happened in Los Angeles as a “riot” and said it justified activating the California National Guard.
He alluded to sending troops to more U.S. cities, saying: “We’re going to have troops everywhere. We won’t let this happen to our country”.
Trump also said that, for now, he sees no basis for invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy military troops and contain disturbances in the country, though he left open the possibility of doing so in the future.
In separate statements, the chiefs of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said their agencies do not participate in federal immigration enforcement actions, but they are working to maintain public safety.
Fonte: www.npr.org, By Joe Hernandez, Steve Futterman