Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times
Federal agents clashed with protesters near a detention center in downtown Los Angeles, as confrontations stretched into a third day. About 300 National Guard troops were deployed across the city.
Here’s the latest.
Federal law-enforcement officials fired canisters of tear gas at a group protesting immigration raids in Los Angeles on Sunday, a day after President Trump ordered the National Guard to help quell demonstrations over the objections of California officials.
Video from the scene showed Department of Homeland Security officers and at least three from Immigration and Customs Enforcement also firing other crowd-control munitions outside a detention center in downtown Los Angeles where members of the California National Guard had also been deployed. The smoking canisters forced some of the hundreds of protesters to flee, while others helped fellow demonstrators wash their eyes. It was not immediately clear what prompted the escalation.
The confrontation was the latest between government agents and protesters, whose demonstrations have been largely peaceful but nonetheless prompted Mr. Trump to announce the deployment of at least 2,000 members of the National Guard. The president said that any protest or act of violence that impeded officials would be considered a “form of rebellion.”
Mr. Trump made rare use of federal powers to bypass the authority of Gov. Gavin Newsom in announcing the deployment on Saturday. Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, called the president’s decision “purposefully inflammatory.”
Roughly 300 members of the National Guard had been deployed to the city as of Sunday morning, according to Mr. Newsom’s office. Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles called the deployments a “chaotic escalation” on Sunday, adding that the only other time she had seen the National Guard patrolling city streets, besides to help with disaster recovery, was during the 1992 riots, when they were requested by state and local officials. “There’s no reason for them to be on our streets now,” she said.
Here’s what else to know:
A rare decision: One expert said Mr. Trump’s order for the troops was the first time since 1965 that a president had activated a state’s National Guard force for a domestic operation without a state governor’s request for the purposes of quelling unrest or enforcing the law. That year, President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators. Read more ›
Workplace raids: The recent raids appeared to be part of a new phase of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, in which officials say they will increasingly focus on workplaces. Read more ›
Enforcement pushback: The protests around the country against the Trump administration’s efforts to detain and deport large numbers of immigrants have grown more confrontational. People have begun to clash with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and police officers at detention centers, or when agents target people in workplaces and at court hearings. Read more ›
Hegseth’s threat: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that active-duty Marines could also be deployed in response to the protests, drawing sharp criticism from Mr. Newsom. Such a move can only come from the president, and Mr. Trump would need to invoke the Insurrection Act. Read more ›
Latino communities: Some of the most active protests against immigration raids in California took place in Paramount, a small city some 25 miles southeast of the Hollywood sign that has for decades attracted Latino immigrants. Officials arrested eight people there on Saturday on federal obstruction charges, according to a Department of Homeland Security official. Read more ›Show less
Mimi DwyerReporting from Los Angeles County
A large group of Los Angeles police officers just ran in formation through a crowd of protesters. Some fired projectiles into the crowd. Many protesters are filming the faces and badges of police who are lined up with weapons and batons drawn.
Image
Foam projectiles fired into the crowd of protesters littered the ground outside a downtown detention center where a crowd has been growing since the morning.
Los Angeles police officers fired crowd-control munitions at one group of protesters near downtown after the gathering was declared an unlawful assembly.
Here’s the latest.
Federal law-enforcement officials fired canisters of tear gas at a group protesting immigration raids in Los Angeles on Sunday, a day after President Trump ordered the National Guard to help quell demonstrations over the objections of California officials.
Video from the scene showed Department of Homeland Security officers and at least three from Immigration and Customs Enforcement also firing other crowd-control munitions outside a detention center in downtown Los Angeles where members of the California National Guard had also been deployed. The smoking canisters forced some of the hundreds of protesters to flee, while others helped fellow demonstrators wash their eyes. It was not immediately clear what prompted the escalation.
The confrontation was the latest between government agents and protesters, whose demonstrations have been largely peaceful but nonetheless prompted Mr. Trump to announce the deployment of at least 2,000 members of the National Guard. The president said that any protest or act of violence that impeded officials would be considered a “form of rebellion.”
Mr. Trump made rare use of federal powers to bypass the authority of Gov. Gavin Newsom in announcing the deployment on Saturday. Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, called the president’s decision “purposefully inflammatory.”
Roughly 300 members of the National Guard had been deployed to the city as of Sunday morning, according to Mr. Newsom’s office. Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles called the deployments a “chaotic escalation” on Sunday, adding that the only other time she had seen the National Guard patrolling city streets, besides to help with disaster recovery, was during the 1992 riots, when they were requested by state and local officials. “There’s no reason for them to be on our streets now,” she said.
Here’s what else to know:
A rare decision: One expert said Mr. Trump’s order for the troops was the first time since 1965 that a president had activated a state’s National Guard force for a domestic operation without a state governor’s request for the purposes of quelling unrest or enforcing the law. That year, President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators. Read more ›
Workplace raids: The recent raids appeared to be part of a new phase of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, in which officials say they will increasingly focus on workplaces. Read more ›
Enforcement pushback: The protests around the country against the Trump administration’s efforts to detain and deport large numbers of immigrants have grown more confrontational. People have begun to clash with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and police officers at detention centers, or when agents target people in workplaces and at court hearings. Read more ›
Hegseth’s threat: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that active-duty Marines could also be deployed in response to the protests, drawing sharp criticism from Mr. Newsom. Such a move can only come from the president, and Mr. Trump would need to invoke the Insurrection Act. Read more ›
Latino communities: Some of the most active protests against immigration raids in California took place in Paramount, a small city some 25 miles southeast of the Hollywood sign that has for decades attracted Latino immigrants. Officials arrested eight people there on Saturday on federal obstruction charges, according to a Department of Homeland Security official. Read more ›Show less
Mimi DwyerReporting from Los Angeles County
A large group of Los Angeles police officers just ran in formation through a crowd of protesters. Some fired projectiles into the crowd. Many protesters are filming the faces and badges of police who are lined up with weapons and batons drawn.
Image
Foam projectiles fired into the crowd of protesters littered the ground outside a downtown detention center where a crowd has been growing since the morning.
Los Angeles police officers fired crowd-control munitions at one group of protesters near downtown after the gathering was declared an unlawful assembly.
Protesters are facing off with law enforcement officers outside the detention center in downtown Los Angeles, where it appears two separate protests are about converge.
The president said he had directed three of his top cabinet officials — Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, and Pam Bondi, the attorney general — “to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion, and put an end to these Migrant riots.”
Trump often talks about an “invasion” of migrants, particularly when discussing migrants who illegally cross at the border. He also justified the use of the Alien Enemies Act to rapidly deport Venezuelan migrants by saying there was an “invasion” by the gang Tren de Aragua. Still, Los Angeles is place that has embraced rich and various immigrant cultures.
Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said Los Angeles had been “invaded and occupied.” He wrote that “violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations.” So far on Sunday, hundreds of protesters had converged on a detention center in downtown Los Angeles, but the demonstrations appeared to be peaceful.
President Trump fielded questions from reporters about the protests in California before leaving for Camp David on Sunday. “We’re going to have troops everywhere,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re not going to let this happen to our country.”
Department of Homeland Security officers were among those who fired less-than-lethal rounds at dozens of protesters outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, according to footage from the scene. The officers included at least one member of ICE’s Special Response Team, who wear military fatigues.
ICE agents and officers have arrested hundreds of immigrants in the Los Angeles region since Friday, according to an agency official, who said that many had criminal backgrounds. The agency had previously said more than 100 had been arrested on Friday alone.
What appeared to be tear gas was just fired at the crowd outside the detention center in downtown Los Angeles, scattering protesters who coughed from the smoke. Others helped them wash out their eyes. It was not immediately clear where the gas originated — there are National Guard troops here along with federal agents — or what prompted the escalation.
Several dozen protesters, many holding signs and Mexican flags, are still gathered in downtown Los Angeles outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where dozens of troops with the National Guard as well as federal police are staged. One of the protesters is imploring the crowd to remain peaceful.
“They want to see us fail,” said the protester, Julie Solis, who described herself as a first-generation citizen born and raised in California. “They’re trying to look for an excuse to implement martial law, and we can’t give them that satisfaction,” she said.