Donald Trump on Saturday authorized the deployment of 2,000 national guard troops to Los Angeles, after an immigration crackdown erupted into mass protests for a second day and police in riot gear used teargas on bystanders.
The California governor, Gavin Newsom, said in a statement on X that the federal government was “moving to take over” the California national guard. Newsom said the mobilization was “purposefully inflammatory” and warned that it would “only escalate 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,” he said later. “Don’t give them one.”
The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, wrote on X that national guard troops were being mobilized “IMMEDIATELY” and threatened to send “active duty Marines” if the unrest continued.
It is not the first time the national guard has been deployed in Los Angeles. Troops also arrived during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, but their deployment at the time came at the request of the California governor and, unlike this time, amid widespread unrest.
A Los Angeles sheriff’s department spokesperson said two individuals had been arrested for assaulting an officer, that one demonstrator threw a molotov cocktail, and three deputies were struck, with minor injuries. The sheriff’s office said the department “was focused solely on traffic management and crowd control” and was not involved in any federal law enforcement operations.
Tensions this week started on Friday, when protesters clashed with law enforcement officials conducting immigration raids on multiple locations in the city’s downtown. On Saturday, US immigration authorities extended area raids into Paramount, a majority Latino area south-east of Los Angeles, and were met with more protests outside an industrial park.
In an hours-long standoff, border patrol personnel in riot gear and gas masks stood guard outside the park, deploying teargas as bystanders and protesters gathered on medians and across the street, some jeering at authorities while recording the event on smartphones.
“Ice out of Paramount. We see you for what you are,” a woman announced through a megaphone. “You are not welcome here.”
One handheld sign said: “No Human Being is Illegal.”
By Saturday evening, protests had dwindled from their peak on Saturday afternoon, but some protesters and authorities were engaged in a tense standoff. And the Trump administration moved aggressively.
The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Saturday evening accused California’s Democratic leaders of having “completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens”.
“The Trump Administration has a zero tolerance policy for criminal behavior and violence, especially when that violence is aimed at law enforcement officers trying to do their jobs,” she said in a statement, announcing that Trump had signed a memo late Saturday night ordering the national guard deployment.
The memo asserts that the demonstrations impeded “execution of laws” and therefore “constitute a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States”. Trump, according to the memo, federalized the state’s national guard troops under what is known as Title 10 authority, which places them under federal, rather than state, control.
Newsom said there was no such need. On Saturday afternoon, he made assurances that the Los Angeles police department was available to authorities and that his administration was in close contact with city and county officials. “There is currently no unmet need,” he said.
Newsom directed the California highway patrol (CHP) to deploy additional officers to maintain public safety on state highways and roads and work to keep the peace.
“The federal government is sowing chaos so they can have an excuse to escalate. That is not the way any civilized country behaves,” Newsom also said.
In a social media post, Trump insulted Newsom and Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass’s handling of the protests and said the federal government would “step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!” Earlier on Saturday, Tom Homan, the White House “border czar”, was the first to say the administration would mobilize the national guard.
“We’re gonna bring national guard in tonight and we’re gonna continue doing our job. This is about enforcing the law,” Homan said in an interview with Fox News.
Bass called reports of civil unrest across the Los Angeles area “deeply concerning” and said the city was in “direct contact” with law enforcement and officials in Washington.
“Everyone has the right to peacefully protest, but let me be clear: violence and destruction are unacceptable, and those responsible will be held accountable,” she wrote on X on Saturday evening.
On Friday, Ice officers had arrested more than 40 people as they executed search warrants at multiple locations, including outside a clothing warehouse, where a tense scene unfolded as a crowd tried to block agents from driving away.
Advocates for immigrant rights say people were also detained outside Home Depot stores and a doughnut shop.
During afternoon protests at a federal detention facility in downtown LA, David Huerta, the president of the California branch of the Service Employees International Union, was arrested amid a police response that included teargas and flash-bangs.
Huerta, who was injured and detained, released a statement to the Los Angeles Times from the hospital, saying: “What happened to me is not about me. This is about something much bigger.”
“This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that’s happening. Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals. We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice,” he added.
California leaders were quick to condemn the raids. Bass said the activity was meant to “sow terror” in the nation’s second-largest city.
“I am deeply angered by what has taken place,” Bass said. “These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. We will not stand for this.”
Newsom said: “Continued chaotic federal sweeps, across California, to meet an arbitrary arrest quota are as reckless as they are cruel. Donald Trump’s chaos is eroding trust, tearing families apart, and undermining the workers and industries that power America’s economy.”
Newsom also condemned Huerta’s arrest, saying: “David Huerta is a respected leader, a patriot, and an advocate for working people. No one should ever be harmed for witnessing government action.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) representatives did not respond immediately to email inquiries about weekend enforcement activities.
The arrests by immigration authorities in Los Angeles come as Trump and his administration push to fulfill promises to carry out mass deportations across the country.
Related: California leaders condemn Ice raids in LA: ‘We will not stand for this’
The Department of Homeland Security criticized Bass – and other Democratic lawmakers who spoke out against the raids – as using anti-Ice rhetoric to contribute to violence against immigration agents.
“From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is beyond the pale. This violence against Ice must end,” said the DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
In a series of incendiary remarks, Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and architect of Trump’s hardline immigration agenda, called Friday’s demonstrations “an insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States” and on Saturday described the day’s protests as a “violent insurrection”.