By Jorge Garcia and Arafat Barbakh
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – California National Guard arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday, deployed by President Donald Trump after two days of protests by hundreds of demonstrators against immigration raids carried out as part of Trump’s hardline policy.
About a dozen National Guard members were seen in video footage on Sunday morning lining up at a federal building in downtown Los Angeles, where detainees from immigration raids on Friday were taken, sparking protests that continued on Saturday.
The complex is near Los Angeles City Hall, where another protest against the immigration raids is scheduled for Sunday afternoon. U.S. Northern Command confirmed National Guard troops had started deploying and that some were already on the ground.
“These Radical Left protests, by instigators and often paid troublemakers, will NOT BE TOLERATED,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform early on Sunday.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has accused Trump of deploying the National Guard because he wants “a spectacle.”
Footage showed at least a half dozen military-style vehicles and riot shields on Sunday at the federal building where the Department of Homeland Security said about “1,000 rioters” had protested on Friday. Reuters could not verify the DHS account.
On Saturday law enforcement faced off against a few hundred protesters in Paramount in southeast Los Angeles and then later on Saturday with about 100 people in downtown Los Angeles, according to Reuters witnesses. Federal law enforcement was seen firing gas canisters in Paramount and downtown Los Angeles on Saturday to try and disperse protesters.
The Los Angeles Police Department arrested 27 people on Saturday for failure to disperse from the downtown protest, police spokesperson Norma Eisenman said. She said she could not comment on whether LAPD used less lethal force. Less lethal force refers to crowd control tactics such as pepper balls.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department arrested three people on Saturday on suspicion of assaulting an officer. Sheriff’s deputies did use “less lethal force” in Paramount, spokesperson Deputy Brenda Serna said, but she could not specify which exact tactics were used.
‘ZERO TOLERANCE’
The protests pit Democratic-run Los Angeles, where census data suggests a significant part of the population is Hispanic and foreign-born, against Trump’s Republican White House, which has made an immigration crackdown a hallmark of his second term.
Trump in a presidential memorandum on Saturday said he was deploying at least 2,000 National Guard personnel following what he described as “numerous incidents of violence and disorder” in response to the enforcement of federal immigration law, as well as “credible threats of continued violence.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also warned that the Pentagon was prepared to mobilize active-duty troops “if violence continues” in Los Angeles, saying the Marines at nearby Camp Pendleton were “on high alert.”
“There is plenty of room for peaceful protest, but ZERO tolerance for attacking federal agents who are doing their job. The National Guard, and Marines if need be, stand with ICE,” Hegseth said in a social media post on Sunday, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Democratic Congresswoman Nanette Barragan, whose California district includes Paramount, on Sunday criticized the president’s decision to deploy National Guard troops, arguing that local law enforcement has adequate resources to respond.
“We don’t need the help. This is him escalating it, causing tensions to rise. It’s only going to make things worse in a situation where people are already angry over immigration enforcement,” Barragan told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the National Guard would provide safety around buildings, to people engaged in peaceful protest and to law enforcement.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Los Angeles on Friday arrested at least 44 people on alleged immigration violations.
Trump has pledged to deport record numbers of people in the country illegally and lock down the U.S.-Mexico border, setting a goal for ICE to arrest at least 3,000 migrants per day.
But the sweeping immigration crackdown has also included people legally residing in the country, some with permanent residence, and has led to legal challenges.
(Reporting by Jorge Garcia and Arafat Barbakh; Additional reporting by Sandy Hooper in Los Angeles, Daniel Trotta and Bo Erickson in Washington; Writing by John Kruzel and Michelle Nichols; editing by Diane Craft)
