Trump sends National Guard to Los Angeles amid chaos in the streets as protesters clash with ICE agents

Trump’s border czar has said the National Guard is mobilizing to enter the city of Los Angeles within hours amid tense standoffs between protesters and ICE agents. 

The dramatic move by the Trump administration came amid rising tensions between locals and immigration authorities as raids targeting illegal migrants take place at businesses across the city. 

‘We are going to bring the National Guard in tonight,’ Tom Homan, President Trump’s point man on border security, said on Fox News on Saturday evening. 

‘We are making Los Angeles safer. Mayor (Karen) Bass should be thanking us.’ 

But California Governor Gavin Newsom suggested the Trump administration was deliberately inflaming the situation and sending the National Guard would only make matters worse.

‘The federal government is moving to take over the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers. That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions,’ Newsom tweeted.

‘LA authorities are able to access law enforcement assistance at a moment’s notice. We are in close coordination with the city and county, and there is currently no unmet need. The Guard has been admirably serving LA throughout recovery. This is the wrong mission and will erode public trust.’

Minutes later, Trump himself warned Newsom and Mayor Bass to take charge of the situation in a post on his Truth Social.

‘If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can’t do their jobs, which everyone knows they can’t, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!’, Trump wrote. 

Federal agents clashed with angry protestors in the Los Angeles area for a second day Saturday, shooting flash-bang grenades into the crowd just after 4pm, shutting part of a freeway amid raids on undocumented migrants.

The standoff took place in the suburb of Paramount, where demonstrators had gathered near a Home Depot that was being used as a staging area by federal immigration officials.

They were met by federal agents in riot gear and gas masks, who lobbed flash-bang grenades and tear gas at the crowd. The mob was warned to leave in both Spanish and English.

Tear gas and smoke filled the air as confrontations between immigration authorities and demonstrators extended into a second day with top Trump administration officials vowed to prosecute anyone who interferes with enforcement.

The agents appeared to include members of Border Patrol, the US Marshals Service and Homeland Security Investigations. 

In his Fox News interview, Homan said those arrested included child sex offenders, gang members and national security threats.

‘They arrested a lot of bad people yesterday and today,’ Homan asserted.. ‘We’re making Los Angeles safer.’

Homan also remarked that ICE agents were often wearing masks as they conducted raids because they were worried about their families being doxxed.

Border Patrol personnel in riot gear and gas masks stood guard outside an industrial park in the city of Paramount, deploying tear gas as bystanders and protesters gathered on medians and across the street. Some jeered at officers while recording the events on smartphones.

‘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,’ said protester Ron Gochez, 44. 

‘ICE out of Paramount. We see you for what you are,’ a woman said through a megaphone. ‘You are not welcome here.’ 

One handheld sign read, ‘No Human Being is Illegal.’

On Saturday, amid chants for ICE agents to get out, some protestors waved Mexican flags while others set a US flag on fire.

Cement blocks and overturned shopping carts from Home Depot served as crude roadblocks.

A crowd swarmed a US Marshals Service bus exiting a nearby freeway, with authorities later closing on and off ramps to keep protesters from taking over the highway.

Smoke rose from burning shrubbery and refuse in the street, and demonstrators kicked at a Border Patrol vehicle.

A boulevard was closed to traffic as Border Patrol agents circulated through the area.

Paramount Mayor Peggy Lemons said she was not informed about the Home Depot raid in advance. She urged the crowd to stay calm to avoid violence.

She said the Department of Homeland Security was deliberately targeting Home Depots across the county in search of undocumented residents.

‘We don’t know what was happening, or what their target was. To think that there would be no heightening of fear and no consequences from the community doesn’t sound like good preparation to me,’ she told the LA Times. 

‘Above all, there is no communication and things are done on a whim. And that creates chaos and fear.’

In a statement on Saturday about the protests in Paramount, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office said: ‘It appeared that federal law enforcement officers were in the area, and that members of the public were gathering to protest.’ 

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted a message on social media addressing ‘LA rioters’ and warning that interference with immigration enforcement will not be tolerated.

‘You will not stop us or slow us down,’ Noem said on the X platform. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ‘will enforce the law. And if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.’ 

The immigration raids are part of Trump‘s ongoing crackdown on undocumented immigrants. 

Following the latest clashes in Los Angeles, authorities vowed to prosecute offenders and warned of an escalating security presence.

Trump was elected to a second term largely on a promise to crack down hard on the entry and presence of undocumented migrants who he likened to ‘monsters’ and ‘animals.’

Following the latest clashes in Los Angeles, authorities vowed to prosecute offenders and warned of an escalating security presence.

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said multiple arrests had been made following Friday’s clashes.

‘You bring chaos, and we’ll bring handcuffs. Law and order will prevail,’ he said on X.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers executed search warrants at multiple locations Friday, including outside a clothing warehouse in the fashion district.

The action came after a judge found probable cause that the employer was using fictitious documents for some of its workers, according to representatives for Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Attorney´s Office.

A tense scene unfolded outside as a crowd tried to block agents from driving away.

Advocates for immigrants’ rights said there were also migration detentions outside Home Depot stores and a doughnut shop.

DHS said in a statement that recent ICE operations in Los Angeles resulted in the arrest of 118 immigrants.

Following the Friday arrests, protesters gathered in the evening outside a federal detention center, chanting, ‘Set them free, let them stay!’

Some held signs with anti-ICE slogans, and some some scrawled graffiti on the building.

‘An insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States,’ White House deputy chief of staff and anti-immigration hardliner Stephen Miller said on X, sharing a video of protesters marching Friday outside Los Angeles’s federal detention center.

Trump has pledged to deport record numbers of people in the country illegally and lock down the US-Mexico border, with the White House setting a goal for ICE to arrest at least 3,000 migrants per day.

But the sweeping immigration crackdown has also included people legally residing in the country, including some with permanent residence, and has led to legal challenges.

Television news footage earlier on Friday showed caravans of unmarked military-style vehicles and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation.

The LAPD did not take part in the immigration enforcement. It was deployed to quell civil unrest after crowds protesting the deportation raids spray-painted anti-ICE slogans on the walls of a federal court building and gathered outside a nearby jail where some of the detainees were reportedly being held.

Mayor Karen Bass condemned the immigration raids in a statement on Friday.

‘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.’

In response, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons chided Bass for the city’s response to the protests.

‘Mayor Bass took the side of chaos and lawlessness over law enforcement,’ Lyons said. ‘Make no mistake, ICE will continue to enforce our nation’s immigration laws and arrest criminal illegal aliens.’  

The Department of Homeland Security also criticized Democratic politicians including Mayor Bass, saying their anti-ICE rhetoric was contributing 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 DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.

Among those arrested at the protests was David Huerta, regional president of the Service Employees International Union. Justice Department spokesperson Ciaran McEvoy confirmed that he was being held Saturday at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles ahead of a scheduled Monday court appearance.

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for his immediate release. In a social media post, he cited a ‘disturbing pattern of arresting and detaining American citizens for exercising their right to free speech.’

Los Angeles, the second-most populous city in the United States, is one of the most diverse metropolises in the country.

The suburb of Paramount, home to about 50,000 people, is 82 percent Hispanic or Latino, according to US Census data.