The Trump administration announced it would deploy 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles amid growing protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids that have sparked clashes between federal agents and demonstrators.
The announcement came as hundreds of protesters confronted federal security personnel in the Paramount area of southeast Los Angeles on Saturday, waving Mexican flags and chanting slogans like “ICE out of LA!” A second, smaller protest occurred in downtown Los Angeles later that evening.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that the Pentagon was prepared to mobilize active-duty troops, including Marines stationed at nearby Camp Pendleton, “if violence continues.” The White House justified the deployment by citing a need to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the move, calling it “purposefully inflammatory.” He urged protesters to remain peaceful, saying the National Guard was being deployed “not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle.” Newsom also criticized the suggestion of deploying active-duty Marines on American soil as “deranged behavior.”
President Trump escalated the rhetoric on his Truth Social platform, warning that if state and local officials failed to control the situation, “the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, riots and looters, the way it should be solved!!!”
The protests highlight a deep political divide: Democratic-run Los Angeles, home to a large Hispanic and immigrant population, is clashing with the Republican White House, which has made aggressive immigration enforcement a key focus of Trump’s second term.
Vice President JD Vance described the protests as a “violent insurrection,” while senior White House aide Stephen Miller labeled the demonstrations “violent insurrection.” However, officials have not invoked the Insurrection Act, a 1807 law that allows the president to deploy military forces to suppress civil unrest. The last invocation of this act was during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Video from the protests shows federal agents in green uniforms and gas masks lined up against protesters in Paramount, where clashes included gas canisters and detentions. Los Angeles police confirmed multiple arrests for failure to disperse but did not provide further details.
Among the protesters was 44-year-old Ron Gochez, who said, “Now they know that they cannot go anywhere in this country where our people are and try to kidnap our workers… they cannot do that without an organized and fierce resistance.”
The unrest began Friday night after ICE conducted immigration enforcement operations across the city, resulting in at least 44 arrests for alleged immigration violations. The Department of Homeland Security reported about 1,000 “rioters” participated in the initial protests, although this figure could not be independently verified.
Angelica Salas, executive director of immigrant rights group Chirla, raised concerns that lawyers had yet to gain access to those detained, calling the situation “very worrying.”
Trump’s administration aims to deport record numbers of undocumented immigrants, with ICE tasked to arrest at least 3,000 migrants daily. However, the crackdown has also affected legal residents and sparked multiple legal challenges.
Television footage showed unmarked vehicles resembling military transports moving through Los Angeles streets during enforcement raids. ICE operations targeted areas including Home Depot locations, where street vendors and day laborers were detained, as well as garment factories and warehouses.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass condemned the raids, stating, “I am deeply angered by what has taken place. These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. We will not stand for this.”
As tensions rise, the situation in Los Angeles remains volatile, with authorities preparing for potentially more confrontations in the coming days.