National Guard troops dispatched by Trump arrive in Los Angeles to quell protests National Guard troops ordered by President Donald Trump have begun to arrive in Los Angeles to quell the protests that have erupted in recent days against federal immigration authorities seeking to carry out deportations in the region.
Members of the California National Guard were seen organizing early Sunday at the federal complex in downtown Los Angeles, which includes the Metropolitan Detention Center, where clashes occurred over the last two days.
Trump claims he is deploying 2,000 National Guard troops from California to Los Angeles, despite objections from Governor Gavin Newsom. The clashes erupted Saturday near a Home Depot in the predominantly Latino city of Paramount, south of Los Angeles, where federal agents were organizing in a nearby Department of Homeland Security office. Agents deployed tear gas, stun grenades, and pepper balls, while protesters threw stones and cement at Border Patrol vehicles. Smoke rose from small piles of burning trash in the streets.
Tensions were high after a series of immigration raids by authorities the previous day, including in Los Angeles’ fashion district and at a Home Depot, while the weekly count of immigrant arrests in the city exceeded 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and charged with obstructing law enforcement. The White House announced that Trump would deploy the National Guard to «address the anarchy that has been allowed to thrive.»Newsom, a Democrat, said in a post on the social media platform X that it was «deliberately incendiary and will only escalate tensions.» He later expressed that the federal government wants a spectacle and urged people not to give it to them by turning violent.In a sign of the administration’s aggressive approach, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to deploy the military.
«If the violence continues, active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized; they are on high alert,» Hegseth stated on X.Trump’s order came after clashes in Paramount and neighboring Compton, where a car was set on fire. Protests continued into the night in Paramount, with several hundred protesters gathering near a donut shop, and authorities erecting barbed wire to keep the crowd at bay.
Crowds also gathered again outside federal buildings in downtown Los Angeles, including a detention center, where local police declared an unlawful assembly and began arresting people.