United States President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to the city of Los Angeles in California, where an immigration crackdown has triggered protests and clashes for a second day.
The White House said in a statement on Saturday that Trump was deploying the guardsmen to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester” in the US’s second most populous city.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also warned that the Pentagon was prepared to mobilise active-duty troops “if violence continues” in Los Angeles, saying the Marines at nearby Camp Pendleton were “on high alert”.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, called the Republican president’s decision “purposefully inflammatory”.
He posted on X that Trump was deploying the National Guard “not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle”.
He added, “Don’t give them one. Never use violence. Speak out peacefully.”
During Saturday’s protests, security personnel in riot gear confronted hundreds of protesters in the Paramount area of southeast Los Angeles, deploying tear gas on a street strewn with overturned shopping carts, as the crowds called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to leave their city.
Some of the protesters waved the flag of Mexico and had their faces covered with respiratory masks. They hurled rocks, bottles and fireworks at the security personnel, while a car was set ablaze.
The confrontations followed reports of continued immigration raids near a home improvement shop in the area.
There had been clashes in Los Angeles the night before, too, when ICE agents raided several locations in the city and arrested at least 44 people on alleged immigration violations.
Following the arrests, protesters gathered outside a federal detention centre, where the detainees were being processed, chanting, “Set them free, let them stay!”
Some held signs with anti-ICE slogans, and some scrawled graffiti on the building.
The White House, announcing Trump’s move to deploy the National Guard, described the protesters as “violent mobs” who have attacked ICE officers and federal agents “carrying out basic deportations” in Los Angeles.
“These operations are essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States. In the wake of this violence, California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens.”
The president’s move came shortly after he issued a threat on his social media network that said that if Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass didn’t “do their jobs,” then “the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”
It is not clear when the troops will be sent in.
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, however, told Fox News that the National Guard would be deployed in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington, DC, said Trump’s move to deploy the National Guard has prompted concern and raised questions.
“There has not been a deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles since 1992, during the riots after the police beating of Rodney King. So this is a significant step,” she said.
According to the California governor’s office, Trump federalized part of the California’s National Guard under what is known as Title 10 authority, which places him, not the governor, atop the chain of command, to deploy the troops.
Newsom, the governor, said in his statement on social media that local authorities “are able to access law enforcement assistance at a moment’s notice,” and “there is currently no unmet need”.
“This is the wrong mission and will erode public trust,” he added.
The immigration crackdown is part of Trump’s pledge to deport record numbers of people in the country without documentation and lock down the US-Mexico border. The White House has set a goal for ICE to arrest at least 3,000 migrants per day.
But people living in the country legally, including some with permanent residence, have also been caught up in the sweeping immigration crackdown, leading to legal challenges.
