A federal judge allowed President Trump at least two more days of free action to deploy troops to Los Angeles, putting off California’s request for an immediate restraining order Tuesday as the city prepared for another round of clashes between anti-deportation protesters and law enforcement.
The judge said Mr. Trump deserved a chance to answer California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s demands, and he set a hearing for Thursday to review the legal arguments over the deployment, which grew to 4,000 National Guard troops as well as 700 active-duty Marines.
The clashes have quickly become a Rorschach test for America’s views on political protests and immigration policy.
Republicans see an insurrection in the thousands of people who have barricaded roads, fought with police and disrupted pockets of America’s second-largest city.
Democrats see peaceful protests.
“There was no violence. I was on the street, I know, and I went from downtown detention back out into the community talking to people,” Rep. Maxine Waters told reporters on Tuesday, saying what Mr. Trump has described — and what many Americans have seen on their television screens — isn’t an accurate depiction.
SEE ALSO: Trump says Los Angeles would be ‘burning to the ground’ if he hadn’t deployed troops
“Don’t just rely on what you’re being told or the few incidents that you saw. He’s provoking. He’s trying to make sure that he gets people angry,” the California Democrat said of the president.
But Mr. Trump hailed his decision to deploy troops, saying he prevented worse destruction.
“Look, if we didn’t get involved right now, Los Angeles would be burning just like it was burning a number of months ago, with all the houses that were lost,” Mr. Trump said. “Los Angeles right now would be on fire, and we have it in great shape.”
Mr. Trump also warned other cities that they will get a similar heavy hand if protesters disrupt immigration enforcement.
He also said he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy troops to actively assist with law enforcement if L.A. spirals into more chaos.
He called protesters “animals,” “paid insurrectionists” and “agitators,” echoing the sentiment of local police who said the protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been infiltrated by anarchist elements.
SEE ALSO: Trump said he will invoke Insurrection Act if necessary
He began the day with the new deployment of additional troops, bringing the total to nearly 5,000 soldiers and Marines.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress they are expected to be on scene for 60 days and the Pentagon has budgeted $134 million for the effort, primarily covering travel, housing and food.
Mr. Newsom, who sued Monday over the deployments, rushed to court Tuesday with a demand for an immediate restraining order. He asked for a decision by 1 p.m. Pacific time, saying it was too important to wait for the Trump team to respond.
“The federal government is now turning the military against American citizens. Sending trained warfighters onto the streets is unprecedented and threatens the very core of our democracy,” the Democratic governor said.
He said the deployment is helping stoke the violence, and he asked for a ruling by early in the afternoon, hoping to head off the troops before another night of problems.
Instead, Judge Charles Breyer, a Clinton appointee and brother of former Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer, put off a ruling to give the administration time to answer. That is due tomorrow, and the judge’s hearing is set for Thursday.
Protests erupted Friday as ICE officers attempted to make arrests and bring targets back to a federal facility. Demonstrators tried to block the officers’ movement, spurring federal agents to deploy tear gas.
ICE’s acting director said L.A. police took more than two hours to respond and help — a charge denied by the police chief. But Mr. Trump said the situation had gotten bad enough that the troops were needed.
Things have escalated since, with vehicles set afire, American flags burned, Mexican flags hefted and fireworks, rocks and other objects — including the rental scooters that are now prevalent in major cities — hurled at officers.
Mr. Newsom, in his court filing Tuesday, said the demonstrations had been “largely peaceful” and said in the “isolated instances of more significant disturbance,” local police handled the situation without problems.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, New York Democrat, said the people who are protesting, for the most part, are “not violent.”
Rep. Yvette D. Clarke of New York, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said Mr. Trump should be impeached for sending in the National Guard, though other Democrats said that isn’t their priority.
As the clashes continue, Republicans have drawn comparisons to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, wondering why Democrats who condemned that event have stayed silent or cheered on the L.A. crowds.
Rep. Jimmy Gomez, California Democrat, rejected the comparison.
“I was here. There were 50,000 people outside. They were scaling the wall, scaling the walls. They were bashing in, breaking in with members of Congress, members of Congress, trapped in the gallery, including myself, including a lot of the people here,” the congressman said. “That was a dire situation where the police were run over, people were beaten.”
But Sen. Jon Fetterman, Pennsylvania Democrat, said his party needed to do a rethink and denounce the protests.
“This is anarchy and true chaos,” Mr. Fetterman said on social media, posting a picture of burnt cars. “My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings and assaulting law enforcement.
“I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations and immigration — but this is not that,” Mr. Fetterman said.
The Department of Homeland Security has been releasing lists of some of the unauthorized immigrants arrested in L.A., pointing to murderers, a child molester, several weapons offenders and a drug trafficker.
But Sen. Alex Padilla, California Democrat, called the arrests “indiscriminate.”
He said the president’s troop deployment was an attempt to distract from his push to get his budget plan, the One Big Beautiful Bill, through the Senate.
“Let’s be clear: what you’re all seeing on the news about the Los Angeles region right now is a crisis that Donald Trump has created, and he’s doing it to distract from his failed agenda,” the senator said.
• Jeff Mordock and Mike Glenn contributed to this report.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.