Tensions over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown escalated this weekend after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of National Guard troops to the Los Angeles area to quell protests that at times turned violent.
Dozens of demonstrators have been arrested for clashing with police over the past three days after federal immigration authorities conducted several raids in the city of over four million people, including in communities with large Latino populations.
Trump’s move to send in the National Guard has been condemned by California state and city officials who have accused the president of inflaming tensions unnecessarily.
Here’s how the situation has evolved since Friday.
Friday, June 6 – ICE raids spark protests
The unrest began Friday after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested immigrants in a series of operations throughout the Los Angeles area.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Sunday that those arrested included “some of the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens,” including alleged gang members with past criminal convictions for murder, assault, drug smuggling and other offences.
City officials and immigration rights advocates say street vendors and day labourers were picked up outside a Home Depot store, a garment factory, a warehouse and other locations in Los Angeles and nearby communities like Paramount and Compton, home to large Latino populations.
A total of 44 people were arrested for immigration violations Friday, a spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations told The Associated Press and Reuters.
Protesters descended Friday on a federal immigration detention facility in downtown Los Angeles, which prompted a standoff with police who made several arrests. Federal officials have shared photos online of threatening language against ICE spray-painted on the walls of the building.
Impromptu demonstrations also erupted at some of the raid locations earlier in the day. One organized labour executive, David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union of California, was injured and detained by ICE at one site, according to an SEIU statement.
Trump has pledged to deport record numbers of people in the country illegally and lock down the U.S.-Mexico border, setting ICE a goal of arresting at least 3,000 migrants a day.
Saturday, June 7 – Trump orders National Guard deployment
The protests grew on Saturday, with a few hundred demonstrators descending again near the immigration detention centre in Los Angeles, where local police declared an unlawful assembly and began to arrest people.
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Confrontations broke out near a Home Depot in Paramount where federal agents were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office nearby, sparking fears of another raid.
Agents unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls, and protesters hurled rocks and cement at Border Patrol vehicles.
As the protests continued to grow, Trump issued a memorandum deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops in response to what he called a “rebellion” against the federal government’s authority to conduct immigration enforcement.
The order federalized part of California’s National Guard under what is known as Title 10 authority, which places him, not the governor, atop the chain of command. It marked the first time a U.S. president has deployed the National Guard without a governor’s request in 60 years.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that the Pentagon was prepared to mobilize active-duty troops “if violence continues,” saying the Marines at nearby Camp Pendleton were “on high alert.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Trump’s move was an unnecessary escalation and urged protesters to refrain from violence.
Sunday, June 8 – National Guard troops arrive as protests grow further
Thousands took to the streets in Los Angeles on Sunday to protest Trump’s order, blocking off a major freeway and setting self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd.
U.S. Northern Command confirmed 300 National Guard troops were deployed in Los Angeles, Paramount and Compton on Sunday with the sole purpose of defending federal buildings and agents. A statement said about 500 Marines were prepared to deploy if necessary.
Starting in the morning, National Guard troops stood shoulder to shoulder, carrying long guns and riot shields outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles.
By the evening, police had issued an unlawful assembly order shutting down several blocks of downtown Los Angeles.
Los Angeles 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.
Newsom demanded the Trump administration rescind the “unlawful” National Guard order in a letter to Hegseth Sunday afternoon.
Separately, police in San Francisco said they arrested nearly 150 demonstrators during a protest Sunday night against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Monday, June 9, 2025 – California sues Trump administration
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced plans Monday to sue the Trump administration to roll back the National Guard deployment, which he argued violates the state’s sovereignty.
U.S. officials told The Associated Press there are currently about 1,000 National Guard members in the Los Angeles area as of Monday, and that the full 2,000 troops ordered by Trump should arrive by the end of the day.
The U.S. military is set to temporarily deploy about 700 Marines to the city while those additional National Guard troops arrive, a U.S. official told Reuters.
More demonstrations were expected in Los Angeles on Monday, including one led by the Service Employees International Union in support of its detained president Huerta.
Protests against Trump and in support of the Los Angeles demonstrations were held in Boston, Chicago, New York and other major cities.
Trump defended his decision in several comments to reporters and on social media Monday. He also said he would arrest Newsom for his immigration policies if given the chance.
“Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing,” he said while returning to the White House.
Newsom called the arrest threat an “unmistakable step toward authoritarianism” in a post on the social media platform X.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also condemned the violence at her daily press conference Monday, after protesters over the weekend were seen carrying Mexican flags.
Mexico Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente said Sunday at least 42 Mexicans were being held in four Los Angeles-area detention centres after the recent ICE raids and that four were deported.