There are a number of things to know about immigration raid protests in Los Angeles this weekend
Los Angeles protests against federal ICE and law enforcement: Newsom, Lyons, Huerta, and other people are being held in interferometry
Newsom said in a statement on Saturday that law enforcement assistance was available to Los Angeles authorities who requested it and that there was currently “no unmet need.” He said that the federal government was about to take over the California National Guard.
ICE operations were targeting multiple locations in the Los Angeles area to make their job harder, and in some cases demonstrators tried to stop the transport of immigrants who were being held. Authorities used flash bangs, pepper spray and tear gas to disperse crowds. One particularly contentious confrontation occurred at a Home Depot in the heavily Latino city of Paramount, just outside Los Angeles.
The Secretary of Defense said that the Marines at Camp Pendleton were on high alert, and would be mobilized if there was more violence.
“We had a problem until Trump got involved,” she wrote. “This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed.”
Trump said he could also deploy troops to more cities. ICE actions sparked protests in multiple cities across the country, including Minneapolis and Chicago.
ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons said in a statement that “rioters attacked federal ICE and law enforcement officers on the LA streets” and that crowds also “surrounded and attacked a federal building.”
A number of people were arrested. One of them was SEIU California president David Huerta. The union said that he had an injury during his arrest and was released from custody. Huerta was arrested for interfering with federal officers and will be arraigned on Monday in federal court.
The National Guard had a Great Job: a President’s View of the State’s Influence on the National Guard and the Mayor of Los Angeles
Trump said in a post on Truth Social early Sunday morning that the National Guard was doing a “great job.” The National Guard can be activated by the governor for any emergencies and the president can call them up for federal missions.
In separate statements, the heads of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said their agencies do not participate in federal immigration enforcement actions but that they are working to maintain public safety.
The Mayor of Los Angeles said that the actions of immigration enforcement had “sow terror” in the community. “We will not stand for this,” she said.
Following some of the unrest on Saturday, Bass said in another statement that “everyone has the right to peacefully protest, but let me be clear: violence and destruction are unacceptable, and those responsible will be held accountable.”
I believe it was a riot. I think it was terrible. It was a riot when Trump left for Camp David from New Jersey Sunday evening. He questioned whether local officials would be able to control the protests and said the federal government would make sure that was done.
“Governors are the Commanders in Chief of their National Guard and the federal government activating them in their own borders without consulting or working with a state’s governor is ineffective and dangerous,” read the statement, which included the names of 22 Democratic governors.
Los Angeles’s Borders as a “Tinerbox”: Implications of the Los Angeles Immigration Raids on the City’s Downtown
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the city became a “tinderbox” after a third day of protests and law enforcement clashed with demonstrators.
A post on X stated that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had arrested 118 immigrants in Los Angeles last week. Since then, demonstrators protesting the raids have clashed with police in Los Angeles, Paramount and neighboring Compton.
Police used tear gas and pepper spray to repel a group of protesters. Some of the immigrants were initially held at the facility.
Elsewhere in California, police in San Francisco said 60 people had been arrested Sunday night and at least three officers were injured when police clashed with protesters demonstrating in that city’s downtown in support of the Los Angeles protests against the immigration raids.
The police wrote on X that they were conducting arrests and people were throwing “concrete, bottles and other objects.” Los Angeles police arrested 10 people on the 101 freeway, while the California Highway Patrol arrested another 17 people on the same freeway.
Source: 4 things to know about the immigration raid protests that roiled LA this weekend
“What’s going on in Los Angeles, California,” a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Public Library, the “tinderbox” as a protest-torque
Anna Benedict told LAist that everyone here wants to be peaceful. The National Guard has been here for a while and no one is threatening them. Everyone is standing up for their freedom.
Eli says an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.
“We’re going to have troops everywhere. We are not going to let it happen to our country. “We will not let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden and his cars,” Trump said. (The reference to an “autopen” comes after Trump last week ordered an investigation into whether his predecessor Joe Biden used an autopen to sign documents in office).
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass stated on All Things Considered that coordination with federalized National Guard troops iscollaborative, but she was not a fan of Trump’s decision to deploy them.
“I believe that these raids and now the federalization of troops to come into Los Angeles is an intentional effort to sow chaos,” Bass said. She called the city a “tinderbox” and said, “I do not want to see civil unrest take place in this city and I think bringing the National Guard in is provocative.”
Trump appears likely to continue his administration’s ramped up immigration enforcement in his second term, after running on a promise to conduct mass deportations.
At Camp David, Trump said he plans to meet with people, including generals and admirals. Asked about sending Marines and protests in other cities, Trump left open that possibility.
“The bar is what I think it is. We’ll be very strong in terms of the law and order if we see danger to our country. It’s about law and order,” Trump said.