Riots erupted in California over the weekend over the Trump administration’s efforts to detain illegal immigrants in the Golden State.
President Donald Trump warned Monday that Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell had said protesters are getting “very much more aggressive,” and he reiterated calls to bring in additional military troops to quell protests.
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“Looking really bad in L.A.,” the president said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has 500 Marines now on standby to deploy to the area should California officials deem the action necessary.
Three days of protests
Thirty-nine people were arrested over the weekend for participating in riots, McDonnell said at a press conference Sunday evening. Separately, San Francisco police reported 60 arrests Sunday night.
The protests began Friday after extensive Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across the city after federal agents arrested around 44 immigrants in Paramount, California. Federal agents executed search warrants at three locations, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Officials revealed that those arrested in the Los Angeles sweep included murderers, sex offenders, and other violent criminals. The DHS arrested 118 illegal immigrants in the Los Angeles area over the week, including the 44 detained in Paramount and five the agency identified as gang members, per the BBC.
Angelica Salas, director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, said there were seven raids throughout the city on Friday. She called them “random sweeps” that were carried out without a warrant.
“This has to stop,” Salas said. “Immigration enforcement that is terrorizing our families throughout this country and picking up our people that we love must stop now.”
The president of SEIU California, a major labor union, was arrested and charged with impeding a federal agent while protesting, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Anti-ICE sentiment in California has been building for weeks after federal authorities conducted an operation targeting illegal immigrants working at San Diego restaurants. Other recent raids carried out by ICE include the arrests of 239 illegal immigrants during a weeklong operation from May 4 to May 10 that “focused on bolstering public safety in the greater Los Angeles area.”
The riots over the past three days were fueled in part by “misinformation” that ICE was carrying out a sweep of illegal immigrants working at a Paramount Home Depot, where many undocumented migrants go to find work, according to the outlet. The Hope Depot became a key flashpoint for demonstrators during the riots.
The protesters, some of whom have worn masks, have been accused of assaulting law enforcement and federal agency officials, blocking off a major freeway, and committing other criminal acts. They have tagged various public buildings and other structures with graffiti, including calls to “Kill ICE.” American flags have been set ablaze, as have several self-driving vehicles operated by Waymo, a ride-hailing service. One demonstrator used a makeshift flamethrower to set the interior of one of the cars ablaze, while others were seen throwing Lime electric scooters into the burning cars. Other rioters hurled rocks through the windshield of a Border Patrol pickup truck, wounding the agents inside. Others have been accused of blocking a federal bus in the street and hurling chunks of concrete, rocks, electric scooters, and fireworks at California Highway Patrol officers.
Rioters shattered multiple windows of the police headquarters, per CBS News. Suspects have thrown stones, bottles, and Molotov cocktails at police officers, while there were reports on Sunday afternoon of two motorcyclists deliberately crashing into officers behind a police barricade.
“Now they know that they cannot go to anywhere in this country where our people are and try to kidnap our workers, our people — they cannot do that without an organized and fierce resistance,” an anti-ICE demonstrator told Reuters.
Trump warns National Guard troops ‘will be everywhere’
The White House has accused Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of failing to meet the demonstrations with adequate force. California Democrats have allowed lawlessness to fester, according to the Trump administration, a move it argues has failed to protect citizens, led to violent attacks on federal authorities, and enabled the destruction of property.
Trump has argued “law and order” must be restored, saying military troops “will be everywhere.”
If protesters assault law enforcement officers by spitting on them, they will “get hit very hard,” the president warned.
“ARREST THE PEOPLE IN FACE MASKS, NOW!” Trump added in a post to Truth Social early Monday.
The White House swiftly deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, the first of whom arrived early Sunday morning. There are now around 300 members of the California National Guard deployed to Los Angeles County, while hundreds of Marines are on standby.
Law enforcement has met protesters in tactical gear and deployed tear gas, using flashbangs, pepper spray, and other crowd control devices to combat the demonstrations. Police have also used zip ties while wearing riot gear and wielding shields as they interact with protesters.
ICE has often controversially used face masks to carry out arrests to avoid being doxed, arguing they need to protect their identities in order to protect themselves and their families from blowback due to “false narratives” spread by Democrats about ICE’s mission and activity.
Democrats downplay riots
Newsom has demanded that Trump rescind his executive order sending the National Guard to quell the Los Angeles riots. The governor has pledged to sue the White House over the matter, arguing that the president’s directive is unlawful under federal law, state and local authorities are best equipped to protect the area, and that militarizing the situation has escalated tensions.
“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,” Newsom posted on X. “Don’t give them one.”
Overall, Democrats have accused ICE of inciting the protests due to federal agents’ efforts to arrest and deport illegal immigrants.
They have blamed the “cruel” Trump administration for fueling the chaos that erupted over the weekend, saying that decisions to send in the National Guard mark a dangerously authoritarian approach that has unnecessarily stoked tensions. All 22 Democratic governors across the country recently signed a letter claiming Trump’s actions to deploy the National Guard mark an “alarming abuse of power” as he seeks to “militarize California.”
“It started peacefully, then we had federal officers, you know, doing the tear gas, shooting out pellets,” Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-CA) said on CNN’s State of the Union.
“People were there to protest,” the California congresswoman continued. “They’re there to protest the mass deportations that are happening. And so it was peaceful. And of course, you escalate the situation. Now you‘re talking about bringing in the National Guard to militarize the situation. It‘s going to get worse. It‘s unnecessary again.”
Former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) are among the other Democrats who have characterized the riots as “peaceful protests,” even as they call the attacks on law enforcement “unacceptable.”
“Los Angeles is my home,” Harris said in a statement Saturday evening. “And like so many Americans, I am appalled at what we are seeing on the streets of our city. Deploying the National Guard is a dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos.”
“The reality is we see peaceful protests launching in Los Angeles,” Booker said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. “And again, any violence against police officers should not be accepted. Local authorities can handle that. But remember, a lot of these peaceful protests are being generated because the president of the United States is sowing chaos and confusion by arresting people who are showing up for their immigration hearings, who are trying to abide by the law.”
On Saturday, “border czar” Tom Homan did not rule out arresting Bass or Newsom should they obstruct immigration enforcement, although he did not accuse either politician of doing so and said he did not believe Bass had “crossed the line yet.”
“I’ll say it about anybody,” Homan told reporters. “You cross that line, it’s a felony to knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal alien. It’s a felony to impede law enforcement doing their job.”
During a Sunday evening MSNBC interview, Newsom responded to Homan’s comments.
“Come after me, arrest me,” Newsom said. “Let’s just get it over with, tough guy, you know? I don’t give a damn. But I care about my community. I care about this community.”
“The hell are they doing?” Newsom added. “These guys need to grow up. They need to stop, and we need to push back. And I’m sorry to be so clear, but that kind of bloviating is exhausting. So, Tom, arrest me. Let’s go.”
Republicans back National Guard deployment
White House officials view the scenes unfolding in Los Angeles as “a violent insurrection.” They say the National Guard is needed to end “violent mob assaults” on law enforcement.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo justified the efforts Sunday as he compared the unrest to the nationwide riots following the death of George Floyd in 2020.
NATIONAL GUARD ARRIVES IN LOS ANGELES TO COMBAT ICE PROTESTS FOLLOWING TRUMP ORDER
Pompeo also referenced the summer of 2020, during which rioters devastated cities throughout the country.
“We do all remember the summer of ’20 where this got out of hand, where local law enforcement and governors just let the flames burn,” Pompeo said. “This can’t happen this time. And you see President Trump and his team taking the actions that are both appropriate and necessary to protect people.”