Tensions in Los Angeles are escalating as thousands of protesters take to the streets in response to President Donald Trump’s extraordinary deployment of the National Guard, blocking off a major freeway and setting self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement use tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash bangs to control the crowd.
Many protesters dispersed as evening fell and police declared an unlawful assembly, a precursor to officers moving in and making arrests of people who don’t leave. Some of those remaining threw objects at police from behind a makeshift barrier that spanned the width of a street and others hurled chunks of concrete, rocks, electric scooters and fireworks at California Highway Patrol officers and their vehicles parked on the closed southbound 101 Freeway. Officers ran under an overpass to take cover.
Sunday’s protests in Los Angeles, a sprawling city of 4 million people, were centered in several blocks of downtown. It was the third and most intense day of demonstrations against Trump’s immigration crackdown in the region, as the arrival of around 300 Guard troops spurred anger and fear among many residents.
A Waymo taxi burns near the metropolitan detention centre of LA. – AP
The Guard was deployed specifically to protect federal buildings, including the downtown detention center where protesters concentrated.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said officers were “overwhelmed” by the remaining protesters. He said they included regular agitators who show up at demonstrations to cause trouble.
Several dozen people were arrested throughout the weekend of protest. One was detained Sunday for throwing a Molotov cocktail at police, and another for ramming a motorcycle into a line of officers.
Trump responded to McDonnell on Truth Social, telling him to arrest protesters in face masks.
“Looking really bad in L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!” he wrote.
Starting in the morning, the troops stood shoulder to shoulder, carrying long guns and riot shields as protesters shouted “shame” and “go home." After some closely approached the guard members, another set of uniformed officers advanced on the group, shooting smoke-filled canisters into the street.
Minutes later, the Los Angeles Police Department fired rounds of crowd-control munitions to disperse the protesters, who they said were assembled unlawfully. Much of the group then moved to block traffic on the 101 freeway until state patrol officers cleared them from the roadway by late afternoon.
Nearby, at least four self-driving Waymo cars were set on fire, sending large plumes of black smoke into the sky and exploding intermittently as the electric vehicles burned. By evening, police had issued an unlawful assembly order shutting down several blocks of downtown Los Angeles.
Flash bangs echoed out every few seconds into the evening.
Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Trump deploys hundreds of National Guard troops. - AP
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom requested Trump remove the guard members in a letter Sunday afternoon, calling their deployment a “serious breach of state sovereignty”. He was in Los Angeles meeting with local law enforcement and officials. It wasn't clear if he'd spoken to Trump since Friday.
Their deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state’s national guard was activated without a request from its governor, a significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the administration’s mass deportation efforts.
Mayor Karen Bass echoed Newsom's comments.
“What we’re seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration," she said in an afternoon press conference. “This is about another agenda, this isn’t about public safety.”
Their admonishments did not deter the administration.
“It’s a bald-faced lie for Newsom to claim there was no problem in Los Angeles before President Trump got involved,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement in response.
Car burns in Los Angeles street amid tense anti-ICE protests. – Reuters
Around 300 National Guard troops arrived in Los Angeles early Sunday on orders from Trump, who accused Governor Gavin Newsom and other Democrats of failing to stanch recent protests targeting immigration agents.
The move appeared to be the first time in decades that a state’s national guard was activated without a request from its governor, a significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the administration’s mass deportation efforts.
The deployment followed two days of protests that began in downtown Los Angeles before spreading Paramount, a heavily Latino city south of the city, and neighbouring Compton.
As federal agents set up a staging area near a Home Depot in Paramount, demonstrators attempted to block Border Patrol vehicles, with some hurling rocks and chunks of cement. In response, agents in riot gear unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls.
Tensions were high after a series of sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day, as the weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the city climbed above 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement.
The deployment of the National Guard came over the objections of Governor Newsom, who accused Trump of a “complete overreaction” designed to create a spectacle of force.
Federal agents and anti-ICE protesters face off in LA as street fires burn. – Reuters
The recent protests have drawn hundreds of participants but remain far smaller than other mass demonstrations, including the 2020 protests against police violence that spurred Newsom to request assistance from the National Guard.
The last time the National Guard was activated without a governor's permission was in 1965, when President Lyndon B Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Trump says there will be ‘very strong law and order’
In a directive Saturday, Trump invoked a legal provision allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is ”a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States”.
He said he had authorised the deployment of 2000 members of the National Guard.
Trump told reporters as he prepared to board Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, Sunday that there were “violent people” in Los Angeles “and they’re not gonna get away with it”.
Tense encounters continue in Paramount between law enforcement and protesters. – AP
Asked if he planned to send US troops to Los Angeles, Trump replied: “We’re gonna have troops everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country. We’re not going to let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden.”
Trump also said that California officials who stand in the way of the deportations could face charges. A Wisconsin judge was arrested last month on accusations she helped a man evade immigration authorities.
“If officials stay in the way of law and order, yeah, they will face charges,” Trump said.
About 500 Marines stationed at Twentynine Palms, about 125 miles (200km) east of Los Angeles were in a “prepared to deploy status”, according to the US Northern Command.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who lives in Los Angeles, said the immigration arrests and Guard deployment were designed as part of a “cruel, calculated agenda to spread panic and division”.
She said she supports those “standing up to protect our most fundamental rights and freedoms”.
National Guard faces off with protesters after arriving in LA on Trump's orders. – AP
Defense secretary threatens to deploy active-duty Marines
In a statement, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin accused California's politicians and protesters of “defending heinous illegal alien criminals at the expense of Americans' safety”.
"Instead of rioting, they should be thanking ICE officers every single day who wake up and make our communities safer," McLaughlin added.
The troops included members of the California Army National Guard's 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, according to a social media post from the Department of Defense.
In a signal of the administration’s aggressive approach, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also threatened to deploy active-duty Marines “if violence continues” in the region.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said the order by Trump reflected “a president moving this country rapidly into authoritarianism” and “usurping the powers of the United States Congress”.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a staunch Trump ally, endorsed the president’s move, doubling down on Republicans’ criticisms of California Democrats.
“Gavin Newsom has shown an inability or an unwillingness to do what is necessary, so the president stepped in,” Johnson said.
Police and protesters clash outside federal detention centre in LA after ICE raids. – AP
Trump's justification
While US Vice President JD Vance referred to the protesters on Saturday as "insurrectionists" and senior White House aide Stephen Miller described the protests as a "violent insurrection", Trump has not invoked the Insurrection Act.
That 1807 law empowers a president to deploy the US military to enforce the law and suppress events like civil disorder. The last time it was invoked was during the 1992 Los Angeles riots at the request of the California governor.
Instead, Trump's justification for the National Guard deployment cited a provision of Title 10 of the US Code on the Armed Forces. However, Title 10 also says the "orders for these purposes shall be issued through the governors of the States". It was not immediately clear if the president had the legal authority to deploy the National Guard troops without Newsom's order.
Title 10 allows for National Guard deployment by the federal government if there is "a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States". Those troops are only allowed to engage in limited activities and cannot undertake ordinary law enforcement activities.
Trump's memo says the troops will "temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law, and to protect Federal property, at locations where protests against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur".
What are National Guard troops allowed to do under the law cited in Trump's order?
An 1878 law, the Posse Comitatus Act, generally forbids the US military, including the National Guard, from taking part in civilian law enforcement.
Section 12406 does not override that prohibition, but it allows the troops to protect federal agents who are carrying out law enforcement activity and to protect federal property.
For example, National Guard troops cannot arrest protesters, but they could protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement who are carrying out arrests.The First Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees the right to assembly, freedom of speech and the press.
Members of the California National Guard stand guard at the Paramount Business Centre in California. - Reuters
Experts have said that Trump's decision to have US troops respond to protests is an ominous sign for how far the president is willing to go to supress political speech and activity that he disagrees with or that criticizes his administration's policies.
Is Trumps move susceptible to legal challenges?
Four legal experts from both left- and right-leaning advocacy organisations have cast doubt on Trump’s use of Title 10 in response to immigration protests calling it inflammatory and reckless, especially without the support of California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who has said Trump's actions would only escalate tensions.
The protests in California do not rise to the level of “rebellion” and do not prevent the federal government from executing the laws of the United States, experts said.
Title 10 also says "orders for these purposes shall be issued through the governors of the States", but legal experts said that language might not be an obstacle. Legislative history suggests that those words were likely meant to reflect the norms of how National Guard troops are typically deployed, rather than giving a governor the option to not comply with a president's decision to deploy troops.
Could California sue to challenge Trump's move?
California could file a lawsuit, arguing that deployment of National Guard troops was not justified by Title 10 because there was no “rebellion” or threat to law enforcement. A lawsuit might take months to resolve, and the outcome would be uncertain.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has called on President Donald Trump to remove the National Guard. - Reuters
Because the protests may be over before a lawsuit is resolved, the decision to sue might be more of a political question than a legal one, experts said.
What other laws could Trump invoke to direct the National Guard or other US military troops?
Trump could take a more far-reaching step by invoking the Insurrection Act of 1792, which would allow troops to directly participate in civilian law enforcement, for which there is little recent precedent.
Casting protests as an “insurrection” that requires the deployment of troops against US citizens would be riskier legal territory, one legal expert said, in part because mostly peaceful protests and minor incidents aren’t the sort of thing that the Insurrection Act were designed to address.
The Insurrection Act has been used by past presidents to deploy troops within the US in response to crises like the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion and in the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War. The law was last invoked by President George HW Bush in 1992, when the governor of California requested military aid to suppress unrest in Los Angeles following the Rodney King trial.
But, the last time a president deployed the National Guard in a state without a request from that state's governor was 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson sent troops to protect civil rights demonstrators in Montgomery, Alabama.