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Los Angeles gears up for fourth day of protests against immigration raids LA braces for fourth day of protests as Trump deploys 2,000 national guard
(about 2 hours later)
Rally will demand release of arrested union leader David Huerta as ACLU says ‘we will not be silenced’ Tensions escalate as city’s residents protest immigration crackdown and Trump threatens to arrest Gavin Newsom
LA protests – live updatesLA protests – live updates
Los Angeles was waking up on Monday to another day of high tensions with Donald Trump’s administration after a weekend of protests over immigration raids in the city, with the president controversially ordering in the national guard and the governor of California saying the state planned to sue in response. US officials were deploying roughly 2,000 national guard members in Los Angeles on Monday in response to large protests over immigration raids, while Donald Trump has taken the extraordinary step of threatening to arrest the Democratic governor of California.
Federal agents the day before clashed with demonstrators in Los Angeles as police used teargas and “less-lethal munitions” to disperse crowds of people who were mostly peacefully protesting against immigration raids across the city and Trump’s deployment of the California national guard against the will of Governor Gavin Newsom and the state’s other elected leaders. Tensions between the federal government and the nation’s second-largest city dramatically escalated over the weekend as residents took to the streets to demonstrate against a series of brutal crackdowns on immigrant communities. Raids in the region have affected garment district workers, day laborers and restaurants, and the president of a major California union was arrested by federal agents while serving as a community observer during US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) arrests.
On Monday new rallies against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detentions were planned for noon in downtown Los Angeles, with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announcing an event “to demand justice for detained immigrants and an end to the ongoing human rights abuses by Ice”. Police have used teargas and other munitions to disperse crowds while Governor Gavin Newsom announced a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s deployment of the California national guard over the objection of state officials. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, has also threatened to arrest Newsom and the Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass, a move the governor said was “an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism”.
“We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced,” the civil rights organisation said in a statement. Newsom dared the administration to follow through with the threats, prompting Trump to respond, “I would do it if I were Tom. I think it’s great.”
The rally is set to demand the immediate release of David Huerta, a union leader who it said “was unjustly arrested and is still being held by the government, and all unjustly detained individuals”. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced another rally in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, demanding the immediate release of David Huerta, the president of SEIU California and SEIU-USWW, “humane treatment and access to lawyers for all detainees”, and an “end to ICE raids that devastate immigrant families and communities”.
But the political rhetoric over the protests has not cooled. “We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced,” the civil rights group said. The ACLU of Southern California has also said it plans to sue over the national guard deployment.
Trump, who congratulated the national guard troops for a “great job” even before they had arrived in the city, posted on his Truth Social platform on Monday that deploying them was a “great decision”, saying the city would have been “completely obliterated” otherwise.Trump, who congratulated the national guard troops for a “great job” even before they had arrived in the city, posted on his Truth Social platform on Monday that deploying them was a “great decision”, saying the city would have been “completely obliterated” otherwise.
Trump’s “border czar”, Tom Homan, told Fox News early on Monday that Ice “took a lot of bad people off the street”. Homan claimed on Fox News on Monday that Ice “took a lot of bad people off the street”. He said, without providing specifics, that he had arrested gang members and people with serious criminal convictions, but also admitted that Ice was detaining immigrants without criminal records.
“We arrested a sexual predator, we arrested gang members, we arrested somebody that had an armed robbery conviction,” Homan said, without providing specifics. “We made LA safer … but you’re not hearing any of this. All you’re hearing is rhetoric about Ice being racist, Ice being Nazis and terrorists – and Governor Newsom feeds that, just like [Democratic US House minority leader] Hakeem Jeffries says he’s going to unmask Ice agents.
“We’re not going to stop.”
Homan also told NBC News that more raids were coming. “I’m telling you what – we’re going to keep enforcing law every day in LA,” he said. “Every day in LA, we’re going to enforce immigration law. I don’t care if they like it or not.”Homan also told NBC News that more raids were coming. “I’m telling you what – we’re going to keep enforcing law every day in LA,” he said. “Every day in LA, we’re going to enforce immigration law. I don’t care if they like it or not.”
The tensions between elected state and local officials and the federal government showed signs of escalating further after Newsom said he planned to sue the federal government and dared Trump to arrest him. California’s lawsuit will accuse the Trump administration of “unlawfully” federalizing the state’s national guard, said the state attorney general, Rob Bonta.
In an interview on MSNBC, Newsom said the lawsuit would challenge Trump’s federalizing of the California national guard without the state’s consent. “There is no invasion. There is no rebellion,” Bonta said in a statement. “The president is trying to manufacture chaos and crisis on the ground for his own political ends. Federalizing the California national guard is an abuse of the president’s authority under the law – and not one we take lightly. We’re asking a court to put a stop to the unlawful, unprecedented order.”
“Donald Trump has created the conditions you see on your TV tonight,” Newsom told the outlet. “He’s exacerbated the conditions. He’s, you know, lit the proverbial match. He’s putting fuel on this fire, ever since he announced he was taking over the national guard – an illegal act, an immoral act, an unconstitutional act.” Newsom earlier said the president was “putting fuel on this fire, ever since he announced he was taking over the national guard – an illegal act, an immoral act, an unconstitutional act”.
Federal law, he said, “specifically notes they had to coordinate with the governor of the state. Federal law, he said, “specifically notes they had to coordinate with the governor of the state”. The governor also said Trump’s actions were “putting lives at risk”.
“They never coordinated with the governor of the state.” US officials told the Associated Press on Monday mid-morning that there were roughly 1,000 national guard members already on the ground in LA, and that the 2,000 Trump had ordered would be deployed by the end of the day.
On Fox News, Newsom said Trump was “reckless and immoral, and he’s taken the illegal and unconstitutional act of federalizing the national guard and putting lives at risk”.
Newsom added that he was confident that California’s legal challenge would succeed.
On Sunday thousands of Angelenos had swamped the streets around city hall, the federal courthouse and a detention center where previously arrested protesters are being held. They also brought a freeway to a standstill.On Sunday thousands of Angelenos had swamped the streets around city hall, the federal courthouse and a detention center where previously arrested protesters are being held. They also brought a freeway to a standstill.
Vocal and boisterous, the crowd for large parts of the day was mostly peaceful. But tensions flared several times. On Sunday afternoon, police used teargas to disperse groups of protesters gathered near the detention center. And in the evening, officers fired round after round of flash-bangs in an attempt to push the protesters back up the freeway off-ramps. Los Angeles police leaders said officers had been shot at with commercial grade fireworks, and had rocks thrown at them. Vocal and boisterous, the crowd for large parts of the day was mostly peaceful. But tensions flared several times. On Sunday afternoon, police used teargas to disperse groups of protesters gathered near the detention center. And in the evening, officers fired round after round of flash-bangs in an attempt to push the protesters back up the freeway off-ramps. Los Angeles police leaders alleged that officers had been shot at with commercial grade fireworks, and had rocks thrown at them.
Trump’s decision to deploy national guard troops into Los Angeles, against the wishes of state and local officials, has sent shock waves through American politics. Newsom and other Democratic governors have sharply criticized the move, describing it as an “alarming abuse of power”. Trump’s national guard deployment marked a stunning escalation in a broad crackdown on immigrants following raids across the country. The federalization of the guard troops is the first time an American president has used such power since the 1992 LA riots, when widespread violence broke out in reaction to the acquittal of four white police officers for brutally beating the Black motorist Rodney King. It also was the first deployment without the express request of the governor since 1965.
The deployment marked a stunning escalation in a broad crackdown on immigrants following raids across the country. Trump’s federalization of the guard troops is the first time an American president has used such power since the 1992 LA riots – when widespread violence broke out in reaction to the acquittal of four white police officers for brutally beating the Black motorist Rodney King – and the first without the express request of the governor since 1965. Los Angeles county, home to 3.5 million immigrants, making up a third of the population, has a long history of civil rights protests. The demonstrations come as the White House has aggressively ramped up immigration enforcement with mass detentions in overcrowded facilities, a new travel ban, a major crackdown on international students and rushed deportations without due process.