Trump deploys National Guard to Los Angeles immigration protests

President Donald Trump is deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles over the objections of state governor Gavin Newsom after a second day of clashes between hundreds of protesters and federal immigration authorities in riot gear.

Confrontations broke out on Saturday near a Home Depot in the heavily Latino city of Paramount, south of Los Angeles, where federal agents were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office nearby.

Agents unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls, and protesters hurled rocks and cement at Border Patrol vehicles. Smoke wafted from small piles of burning refuse in the streets.

Tensions were high after a series sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day, including in LA's fashion district and at a Home Depot, as the weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the city climbed past 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement.

The White House announced that Trump would deploy the Guard to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester.”

It wasn't clear when the troops would arrive.

Protests in several Los Angeles vicinities

Newsom, a Democrat, said in a post on the social platform X that Trump's action was “purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.” He later said the federal government wants a spectacle and urged people not to give them one by becoming violent.

In a signal of the administration's aggressive approach, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to deploy the U.S. military. “If violence continues, active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert,” Hegseth said on X.

Trump's order came after clashes in Paramount and neighboring Compton, where a car was set fire. Protests continued into the evening in Paramount, with several hundred demonstrators gathered near a doughnut shop, and authorities holding up barbed wire to keep the crowd back.

Crowds also gathered again outside federal buildings in downtown Los Angeles, including a detention center, where local police declared an unlawful assembly and began to arrest people.

A history of National Guard deployments

Trump calls up the Guard Trump federalized part of California's National Guard under what is known as Title 10 authority, which places him, not the governor, atop the chain of command, according to Newsom's office.

Newsom said in his statement that local authorities “are able to access law enforcement assistance at a moment’s notice,” and “there is currently no unmet need.” The California Highway Patrol said Newsom directed it to deploy additional officers to “maintain public safety.”

In 2020, Trump asked governors of several states to deploy their National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to quell protests after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police. Many agreed and sent troops. Trump also threatened at the time to invoke the Insurrection Act for those protests — an intervention rarely seen in modern American history.

But then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper pushed back, saying the law should be invoked “only in the most urgent and dire of situations.” Trump did not invoke the act during his first term, and he did not do so Saturday, according to Leavitt and Newsom.

Protests kicked off a day earlier in Los Angeles after federal authorities arrested 44 people for violating immigration law Friday. DHS later said recent ICE operations in Los Angeles resulted in the arrest of 118 immigrants, including five people linked to criminal organizations and people with prior criminal histories. David Huerta, regional president of the Service Employees International Union, was also arrested Friday while protesting.

The Justice Department confirmed that he was being held Saturday at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles ahead of a scheduled Monday court appearance.

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for his immediate release, warning of a “disturbing pattern of arresting and detaining American citizens for exercising their right to free speech.”