Trump deploys National Guard as Los Angeles protests against immigration agents continue

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump’s administration said it would deploy 2,000 National Guard troops on June 7 as federal agents in Los Angeles faced off against demonstrators for a second day following immigration raids.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth 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”.

The security agents confronted around 100 protesters in the Paramount area in south-east Los Angeles, where some demonstrators displayed Mexican flags and others covered their mouths with respiratory masks.

A second protest in downtown Los Angeles on the night of June 7 attracted some 60 people, who chanted slogans including “ICE out of LA!”, referring to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

The White House said in a statement that Mr Trump signed a presidential memorandum to deploy the National Guard troops to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester”.

Mr Trump’s border czar Tom Homan told Fox News that the National Guard would be deployed in Los Angeles on the evening of June 7.

California Governor Gavin Newsom called the decision “purposefully inflammatory”.

He posted on X that Mr Trump was deploying the National Guard “not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle,” adding: “Don’t give them one. Never use violence. Speak out peacefully.”

Mr Newsom said it was “deranged behaviour” for Mr Hegseth to be “threatening to deploy active-duty Marines on American soil against its own citizens”.

Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that if Mr Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass cannot do their jobs “then the federal government will step in and solve the problem, riots & looters, the way it should be solved!!!”

The protests pit Democratic-run Los Angeles, where census data suggests a significant portion of the population is Hispanic and foreign-born, against Mr Trump’s Republican White House, which has made cracking down on immigration a hallmark of his second term.

‘Insurrection’

“Insurrectionists carrying foreign flags are attacking immigration enforcement officers, while one half of America’s political leadership has decided that border enforcement is evil,” Vice-President J.D. Vance posted on X late on June 7.

Mr Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner and the White House deputy chief of staff, wrote on X that the June 6 demonstrations were “an insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States”.

On June 7, he described the day’s protests as a “violent insurrection”. The administration has not invoked the Insurrection Act, two US officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

One said that National Guard troops can deploy quickly, within 24 hours in some cases, and that the military was working to source the 2,000 troops.

The 1807 law empowers a president to deploy the US military to enforce the law and suppress events like civil disorder. The last time it was invoked was during the 1992 Los Angeles riots at the request of the California governor.

Video footage of the Paramount protest showed dozens of green-uniformed security personnel with gas masks lined up on a road strewn with overturned shopping carts as small canisters exploded into gas clouds.

Los Angeles police posted on X that “multiple people have been detained for failing to disperse after multiple warnings were issued”. It did not give further details. There was no official information of any arrests.

“Now they know that they cannot go to anywhere in this country where our people are, and try to kidnap our workers, our people – they cannot do that without an organised and fierce resistance,” said protester Ron Gochez, 44.

A first round of protests kicked off on June 6 night after ICE agents conducted enforcement operations in the city and arrested at least 44 people on alleged immigration violations.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement that there were about “1,000 rioters” at the protests on June 6.

Reuters could not verify DHS’ accounts.

Ms Angelica Salas, executive director of immigrants’ rights organisation Chirla, said lawyers had not had access to those detained on June 6, which she called “very worrying”.

Immigration crackdown

Mr Trump has pledged to

deport record numbers of people in the country illegally

and lock down the US-Mexico border, with the White House setting a goal for ICE to arrest at least 3,000 migrants per day.

But people legally residing in the country, including some with permanent residence, have also been caught up in the sweeping immigration crackdown, and this has led to legal challenges.

ICE, DHS and the Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to requests for comment on the protests or potential immigration sweeps on June 7.

Television news footage on June 6 showed unmarked vehicles resembling military transport and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation.

Raids occurred around Home Depot stores, where street vendors and day labourers were picked up, as well as at a garment factory and a warehouse, Ms Salas of Chirla said.

Ms Bass, the Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, condemned the immigration raids.

“I am deeply angered by what has taken place,” she said in a statement. “These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. We will not stand for this.” REUTERS