National Guard troops began arriving in Los Angeles on Sunday, deployed on orders from President Donald Trump. This action follows recent clashes between federal immigration authorities and protesters who are attempting to impede deportation efforts.
California’s National Guard members were observed mobilizing at the federal complex in central Los Angeles, which houses the Metropolitan Detention Centre. This location, among others, has been the site of confrontations involving hundreds of individuals over the past two days.
The deployed troops included members of the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. A social media post from the Department of Defence featured images of dozens of National Guard members equipped with long guns and an armored vehicle.
President Trump stated that he is deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles to suppress the protests, which he characterized as “a form of rebellion.”
The deployment is concentrated within a small area in central Los Angeles. The protests have remained relatively small and localized. The majority of the city, with its four million residents, remains largely unaffected.
Their arrival follows skirmishes near a Home Depot store in Paramount, a city with a large Latino population located south of Los Angeles.
As protesters attempted to block Border Patrol vehicles – some throwing rocks and chunks of cement – federal agents responded with tear gas, flash-bang explosives, and pepper balls.
Tensions were already elevated following a series of immigration enforcement sweeps the previous day, bringing the week’s total of immigrant arrests in the city to over 100.
A prominent union leader was arrested while participating in the protests, accused of obstructing law enforcement.
On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated that the National Guard’s role would be to “maintain peace and enable individuals to protest while upholding law and order.”
Reflecting the administration’s assertive stance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also threatened to deploy active-duty Marines “if violence continues” in the region.
This action was taken over the objections of Governor Gavin Newsom, marking the first instance in decades of a state’s National Guard being activated without a request from its governor, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Governor Newsom, a Democrat, described President Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard as “purposefully inflammatory.”
He characterized Secretary Hegseth’s threat to deploy Marines on American soil as “deranged behaviour.”
President Trump’s order was issued following clashes in both Paramount and the neighboring city of Compton, where a vehicle was set on fire.
Protests persisted into the evening in Paramount, with several hundred demonstrators gathering near a doughnut shop, while authorities used barbed wire to control the crowds.
Crowds also reassembled outside federal buildings in central Los Angeles, including a detention center, where police declared an unlawful assembly and initiated arrests.
