National Guard reaches Los Angeles — reports – DW – 06/08/2025

California’s National Guard troops began arriving at the scene of the protests, according to footage from local US broadcaster ABC7.

Previously, the US President Donald Trump ordered 2,000 troops to be deployed to Los Angeles, bypassing the authority of Governor Gavin Newsoom.

The US news channel reported that the soldiers began assembling at in front of the Hall of Justice, just next to Los Angeles city hall. ABC7 also reported that the troops drove through the neighborhood of Paramount, in the southen part of the city.

Paramount was the scene of clashes between federal agents and protesters, with tear gas deployed. 

US President Donald Trump bypassed California Governor Gavin Newsom’s authority to deploy the state’s National Guard troops, assuming federal control in a rare move that overrides typical state oversight.

Governors usually command their state National Guard units, but Trump invoked federal authority to take direct control of California’s forces.

Newsom criticized the decision as “purposefully inflammatory,” warning that it would only escalate tensions. The Democrat later accused the federal government of seeking a spectacle and urged the public not to respond with violence.

Newsom’s office said Trump federalized California’s National Guard under what is known as Title 10 authority. This legal provision allows the president to assume command of a state’s National Guard if “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law, told the Los Angeles Times that by overriding Newsom’s authority, Trump “is using the military domestically to stop dissent.”

“It certainly sends a message as to how this administration is going to respond to protests. It is very frightening to see this done,” he added.

The New York Times reported Trump’s decision marks the first time in several decades that a president has activated a state’s National Guard without the state governor’s request.

Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, noted that the last such instance occurred in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson deployed troops to Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators.

DW spoke with “The California Report” radio host Saul Gonzalez about the current situation of unrest in the Los Angeles area. Here is what he had to say: 

Protests have died down in Los Angeles County after a day of chaos, with what appeared to have been tear gas having filled the streets in Paramount and downtown Los Angeles, where protesters clashed with security officers over immigration raids.

President Trump’s decision to then deploy National Guard troops was met with objections, as California Governor Gavin Newsom called the decision “purposefully inflammatory” and called on demonstrators to “never use violence.”

The protests began after federal officials conducted immigration sweeps in the Los Angeles area on Friday. 

US media outlets are reporting that organizers have called for a third day of protests after a day of clashes between protesters and law enforcement officials over immigration raids in Los Angeles.

The protests pit Democratic-run Los Angeles, where census data suggests a significant portion of the population is Hispanic and foreign-born, against Trump’s Republican White House, which has made cracking down on immigration a hallmark of his second term.

Shortly after President Donald Trump praised the National Guard’s efforts in Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass clarified that the troops had not yet arrived.

“Just to be clear, the National Guard has not been deployed in the City of Los Angeles,” she wrote on X.

Trump earlier praised the National Guard “for a job well done” only hours after activating their deployment to Los Angeles County.

According to The New York Times, Bilal Essayli, the interim US attorney for the Central District of California, said guard troops will be on the streets of Los Angeles on Sunday.

“They’re going to primarily be focused on protecting federal property, so I think you can expect to see them at least in downtown LA,” the paper quoted him as saying. 

“This [Trump] administration’s sole purpose is to conduct the biggest mass deportations in the history of the United States,” Jeanette Zanipatin, an immigration lawyer, told DW.

“We are seeing them erode all the protections and rights that people have, especially immigrants, under the Constitution,” she said.

Speaking about the ongoing protests in Los Angeles, Zanipatin said that the Trump administration is circumventing the Constitution and not allowing people to exercise due process. 

This administration is eroding “checks and balances between the federal branch and our court system,” she said. 

Watch the full interview here.

US President Donald Trump thanked the National Guard “for a job well done” only hours after activating their deployment to Los Angeles.

But there was no confirmation on whether troops were already deployed to the area by Saturday evening.

“These Radical Left protests, by instigators and often paid troublemakers, will NOT BE TOLERATED,” he wrote on his Truth social platform. 

He also said protesters would no longer be allowed to wear masks. “What do these people have to hide, and why,” Trump asked.

This comes even though many immigration officers involved in the crackdown on undocumented migrants, an operation that sparked the protests, were wearing masks to conceal their identities.

ICE’s acting director, Todd Lyons, recently said agents cover up to protect their families

US Attorney for California Bill Essayli said that more than a dozen ‘agitators’ were arrested after they impeded federal agents from carrying out law enforcement operations.

Los Angeles saw a second day of unrest Saturday as residents clashed with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) federal agents and other law enforcement officials over raids on undocumented migrants. 

“We will continue to arrest anyone who interferes with federal law enforcement,” Essayli wrote on social media. 

The protests have set Democratic-led LA, where census data shows a large Hispanic and foreign-born population, against President Donald Trump’s administration, which has made immigration crackdowns a central focus.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security said ICE operations in Los Angeles resulted in the arrest of 118 immigrants.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the National Guard has been deployed previously, but only during widespread civil unrest, for example, during the upheaval associated with the 2020 protests following the murder of George Floyd, or the riots that occurred after the Rodney King verdict in 1992.

This time, clashes between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and law enforcement have been limited to isolated areas, including the Home Depot in Paramount, a location in LA’s fashion district, and the Civic Center.

The unrest was sparked when ICE officers executed search warrants at multiple locations on Friday. 

They were wearing military-style uniforms, arrived in armored trucks and other unmarked vehicles, and had their faces covered. 

“The federal government is sowing chaos so they can have an excuse to escalate. That is not the way any civilized country behaves,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said.

US President Donald Trump took federal control of California’s state military to deploy soldiers into LA, the country’s second-biggest city.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said the Trump Administration was trying to create “a spectacle” by deploying the National Guard in Los Angeles.

“The federal government is taking over the California National Guard and deploying 2,000 soldiers in Los Angeles – not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle,” he wrote on X.

He urged demonstrators,”don’t give them one. Never use violence. Speak out peacefully.”

If you’re joining us now, we’re covering news about the Trump administration having mobilized resources to send National Guard troops to the LA area following growing protests over immigration raids in the area.

Trump’s order came after clashes between law enforcement officers and protesters in Paramount, a city south of LA, and neighboring Compton, where a car was set on fire.

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

US Vice President JD Vance labeled protesters who confronted immigration agents during raids of local businesses “insurrectionists.”

“Insurrectionists carrying foreign flags are attacking immigration enforcement officers, while one-half of America’s political leadership has decided that border enforcement is evil,” Vance wrote on X.

Another top White House official, Stephen Miller, described the protest against the federal immigration raids as an “insurrection” against the United States.

“An insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States,” Miller, an immigration hardliner and White House deputy chief of staff, wrote on X.

The Trump administration has not invoked the Insurrection Act, two US officials told the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity. 

The US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has warned that the Pentagon is prepared to send active duty Marines to Los Angeles, where there have been violent clashes between protesters and security forces.

The unrest began on Friday after at least 44 migrants were detained in multiple Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the city.

Hegseth’s announcement that US Marines could be deployed came shortly after the White House said it was sending 2,000 National Guard troops to LA in response to the violence.

Marines are considered to be among the best trained and most elite in the US Armed Forces. They are known for amphibious landings and unconventional warfare in overseas operations.

“And, if violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert,” Hegseth said on X.

“The violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal Law Enforcement are designed to prevent the removal of Criminal Illegal Aliens from our soil; a dangerous invasion facilitated by criminal cartels (aka Foreign Terrorist Organizations) and a huge NATIONAL SECURITY RISK,” the defense secretary said.

Hegseth added that “violence and destruction” against federal agents and facilities would not be tolerated.