Los Angeles braced for another day of unrest on Monday over US president Donald Trump’s immigration policies, after police declared the city’s downtown an unlawful assembly area and ordered protesters to go home.
California officials pushed back at the deployment of National Guard troops by the White House, saying they were unnecessary and had only inflamed the situation. Governor Gavin Newsom vowed to sue the federal government.
“This is exactly what Donald Trump wanted. He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard,” Newsom posted on X on Monday. “We’re suing him.”
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass blamed the Trump administration for inciting tension by sending in the Guard. She also condemned protesters after some burned cars and hurled bottles at police.
“I don’t want people to fall into the chaos that I believe is being created by the administration completely unnecessarily,” Bass told a press conference on Sunday.
The unrest in Los Angeles has become a flashpoint in Trump’s signature effort to clamp down on illegal immigration.
The Republican president has pledged to deport record numbers of people who are in the country illegally and to lock down the US-Mexico border, setting the ICE border enforcement agency a daily goal of arresting at least 3,000 migrants.
Los Angeles police said some protesters had thrown concrete projectiles, bottles and other items at police. Police declared several rallies to be unlawful assemblies and later extended that to include the whole downtown area.
Several self-driving cars from Alphabet’s Waymo were set ablaze on a downtown street on Sunday evening.
Police on horseback tried to control the crowds. Some officers used flash-bang grenades and tear gas, CNN reported.
Demonstrators shouted “Shame on you!” at police and some appeared to throw objects, video images showed. One group blocked the 101 Freeway, a downtown thoroughfare.
City police chief Jim McDonnell told a media briefing on Sunday evening that people had a right to protest peacefully but the violence he had seen by some was “disgusting” and the protests were getting out of control.
Police said they had arrested 10 people on Sunday and 29 the previous night, adding arrests were continuing.
Vanessa Cardenas, head of the immigration advocacy group America’s Voice, accused the Trump administration of “trumping up an excuse to abuse power, and deliberately stoke and force confrontations around immigration.”
In response to California’s threat to sue the government, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X that “Newsom did nothing as violent riots erupted in Los Angeles for days.”
Asked if the National Guard was needed, police chief McDonnell said police would not “go to that right away,” but added, “Looking at the violence tonight, I think we’ve got to make a reassessment.”
In a social media post, Trump called on McDonnell to do so.
“He should, right now!!!” Trump added. “Don’t let these thugs get away with this. Make America great again!!!”
The White House disputed Newsom’s characterization of Trump inflaming the situation, saying in a statement, “Everyone saw the chaos, violence and lawlessness.”
Earlier on Sunday, about a dozen National Guard members, along with Department of Homeland Security personnel, pushed back a group of demonstrators outside a federal building in downtown Los Angeles, video showed.
The US Northern Command said 300 members of the California National Guard had been deployed to three spots in the Los Angeles area.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told CBS program “Face the Nation” that the National Guard would provide safety around buildings to people engaged in peaceful protest and to law enforcement.
The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement measures have also included residents who are in the country legally, some with permanent residence, spurring legal challenges.
In a social media post on Sunday, Trump called the demonstrators “violent, insurrectionist mobs” and said he was directing his cabinet officers “to take all such action necessary” to stop what he called riots.
Despite Trump’s language, he has not invoked the Insurrection Act, an 1807 law that empowers a president to deploy the US military to suppress events such as civil disorder.
Asked on Sunday whether he was considering doing so, he said, “It depends on whether or not there’s an insurrection.”
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth said on Saturday the Pentagon is prepared to mobilize active-duty troops “if violence continues” in Los Angeles, saying Marines at nearby Camp Pendleton were on high alert.
