Protests against immigration raids and the arrival of the National Guard in Los Angeles continued for a third day Sunday, with police declaring the downtown of the city an unlawful assembly area and President Trump calling to “Bring in the troops!”
Tensions escalated as thousands of protesters took to the streets, blocking a major freeway and setting self-driving cars on fire. Police responded with rubber bullets, flash bang grenades and tear gas to control the crowds, who were protesting President Trump’s extraordinary deployment of federal troops in the area, against the wishes of California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom. Several protesters were seen running from the scene and crying while there have been some reports of looting.
Sunday started quite quietly, according to a BBC reporter, with relatively small groups of people protesting the immigration raids. Things deteriorated when the crowds got much bigger, reaching thousands of people in the afternoon.
Many protesters dispersed as evening fell on Sunday local time, and police declared an unlawful assembly, a precursor to officers moving in and making arrests of people who don’t leave.
Around 300 National Guard troops arrived in Los Angeles Sunday after being activated by Trump, to quell the protests and protect federal buildings, including the downtown center where protesters concentrated. Their arrival spurred anger and fear among many Los Angeles residents. Also prepared to deploy are about 500 Marines.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump, who has been closely monitoring the situation, wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday that “things look really bad in LA,” and added: “Bring in the troops!”
On Saturday, Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, said that immigration raids would continue regardless of the protests.
The clashes came on the third day of demonstrations against Trump’s immigration crackdown in the region.
I have formally requested the Trump Administration rescind their unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles county and return them to my command.
We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while… pic.twitter.com/SYIy81SZdH
— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) June 8, 2025
The presence of the Guard was “inflaming tensions” in the city, according to a letter sent to Trump by Governor Gavin Newsom on Sunday afternoon. He formerly requested Trump to remove the guard members, which he called a “serious breach of state sovereignty.” Their deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state’s national guard was activated without a request from its governor.
The protests in Los Angeles began on Friday, after it emerged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were carrying out raids across the city.
According to CBS, operations took place in the Westlake district as well as in Paramount, south of LA, where the population is more than 82 percent Hispanic.
Immigration raids have ramped up under President Trump’s administration, which last month asked federal agents to arrest 3,000 people a day.
ICE later told CBS that 44 unauthorized immigrants were arrested in a single operation at a job site on Friday. Another 77 were also arrested in the greater LA area on the same day.
Following the raids, the Federal Building in downtown LA became the focus of protests after it emerged that detainees were allegedly being held there. Graffiti was sprayed on the building and objects were thrown at police, leading to an unlawful assembly declaration.
Protests continued into Saturday, prompting Trump to deploy the National Guard.
BREAKING: Rioters in Los Angeles are spitting on and setting fire to American flags while chanting “F*ck Trump.”
Get rid of them all.
pic.twitter.com/jCzcHhFBnK— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 9, 2025
