National Guard In LA To Curb Immigration Protests
BBC News
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National Guard In LA To Curb Immigration Protests
BBC News
National Guard troops have arrived in Los Angeles following protests over raids on undocumented migrants – here's why Trump's decision to mobilise them is unusual
The speed with which Trump reacted, even while sitting ringside at a UFC match in New Jersey, suggests this is a fight his administration is prepared for, writes Anthony Zurcher
More protests are expected in LA today – one activist tells the BBC the National Guard won't stop her and she's "not afraid"
Trump says the National Guard can "temporarily protect" Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but California governor Gavin Newsom has called the move "purposefully inflammatory"
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BBC on the ground as National Guard set up in Los Angeles
Edited by Jake Lapham with Regan Morris in LA
We reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting director Todd Lyons blamed the LA Police Department (LAPD) for taking "over two hours" to respond to unrest on Friday.
The LAPD has denied this.
"Contrary to the claim that LAPD delayed its response for over two hours, our personnel mobilized and acted as swiftly as conditions safely allowed," the LAPD tells the BBC's US partner CBS News.
The police say their response time was "impacted by significant traffic congestion", "the presence of demonstrators", and "the fact that federal agents had deployed irritants into the crowd".
They say this "created a hazardous environment for responding officers", but adds that within 55 minutes of the call for help, officers had started to disperse the crowds.
The LAPD also says its response was affected because they had not coordinated with federal agencies in advance, and so could not "proactively plan" for possible unrest.
Last night's clashes between protesters and immigration officers came after similar confrontations the day before in downtown Los Angeles, where LA police faced off with demonstrators.
Responding to Friday night's unrest, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) calls the events "appalling".
"Our brave officers were vastly outnumbered, as over 1,000 rioters surrounded and attacked a federal building," Todd Lyons says in a statement.
He also suggests that Los Angeles police were slow to react, saying "it took over two hours for the Los Angeles Police Department to respond, despite being called multiple times".
Lyons criticises LA Mayor Karen Bass as well, arguing she has taken "the side of chaos and lawlessness over law enforcement".
The National Guard is a reserve force for the US military, usually working at the state level. In this case, it's the California National Guard in Los Angeles.
Many members have civilian jobs or go to college while training part-time with the military.
Normally, the National Guard is called in by a state's governor, but Donald Trump has used a provision that lets him take control himself.
"National Guard Soldiers serve both community and country. Our versatility enables us to respond to domestic emergencies, overseas combat missions, counterdrug efforts, reconstruction missions and more," their mission statement says.
Earlier, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that active-duty Marines could be called in if the violence in LA continues.
Now, a defence official says several hundred Marines have received orders to prepare for deployment in case they're needed in Los Angeles, according to BBC's US partner CBS News.
Meanwhile, US Northern Command – a combatant commands of the Department of Defense – says the California National Guard 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) has "deployed approximately 300 soldiers to three separate locations" in the greater Los Angeles area.
Earlier, we reported that the National Guard had started gathering outside federal buildings in LA.
Now, more photos are coming in showing troops and vehicles.
An LA official has said several protests are expected today.
Donald Trump’s “border tsar” Tom Homan has warned that someone could “lose their life” if clashes between protestors and immigration officers continue.
Homan, who was put in charge of US borders after Trump took office, tells NBC: “It’s a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt… If this violence continues, someone’s going to lose their life.”
He says Trump’s unusual move to send in the National Guard is needed “to help us protect public safety”.
According to Homan, the National Guard are there “not just to protect the law enforcement officers but to protect this community, because people are going to get injured”.
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Travelling with Donald Trump, in New Jersey
Donald Trump attends the UFC-316 mixed martial arts event in New Jersey last night
I'm in New Jersey, where President Donald Trump spent the night at his Bedminster property after going to the UFC fight in Newark last night.
Even as news of the National Guard deployment broke, we didn't hear directly from him, who seemed in good spirits as he entered the arena to thunderous applause and "USA" chants.
We may, however, hear from him today.
At 15:45 EST (20:45 BST), the president – along with the travelling press pool, including the BBC – will fly to Hagerstown, Maryland, before heading to Camp David for the night.
It's possible he'll speak to reporters before boarding, or during the hour-long flight, as he did on the way here.
If he does, we're likely to hear him condemn the protests in Los Angeles, echoing what we've heard from other officials and on his Truth Social posts.
We'll bring you the latest as we get it, so stay with us.
Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter
I have spoken to one of the protesters in Los Angeles, a Mexican activist named Kuali Linda Aleman, who’s lived in the city for most of her life.
On Friday, Kuali was protesting in downtown Los Angeles, using a megaphone and shouting, “stop the arrests”.
On Saturday, she joined a protest in the Paramount district, where she says there were helicopters overhead and hundreds of police on the ground.
“We did not provoke anything,” she says. “They were continually spraying us with tear gas, but we were able to wash our faces and get on with it.”
“The police were very organised and there were tonnes of vehicles,” she adds.
Kuali plans to protest again today outside City Hall. She says the National Guard won’t stop her and she’s “not afraid”.
“We want ICE to stop the arrests, and we want innocent families to come home,” she says. “Even though Trump is making these threats, we won’t back down.”
National Guard troops have been deployed in Los Angeles by Donald Trump
A senior Los Angeles city official has told CBS, the BBC's US partner, that the National Guard is deployed at the federal buildings in downtown LA and Westwood.
"There are going to be several protests today in the city of Los Angeles. The city and police are monitoring those," the official says.
The official also says the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has made 29 arrests, almost all for failing to disperse, which is a misdemeanour offence.
They add that city officials "are supportive of immigrant rights" and called the situation a "no win" for the police.
If federal officials ask for help with public safety, LAPD will respond, the official says.
But they add: "They will not respond or engage in any immigration policy enforcement issue."
Christal Hayes
Reporting from Los Angeles
Many waking up in the Los Angeles area are startled by the news of the National Guard arriving here.
There have been protests on multiple days this week, all in areas where immigration raids were happening. But the LA area is huge and these protests were fairly isolated in small pockets of the city.
The county has nearly 10 million residents and covers 4,000 sq miles.
Many of my friends around town were going about their normal Saturday nights unaware of the unrest or Trump's rare move of using presidential authority to go around the governor to deploy troops here.
The areas where the protests happened both Friday and Saturday were isolated to a part of downtown LA and to Paramount, a small city in south Los Angeles County where raids were happening.
Paramount is a heavily Latino area where 82% of residents are Hispanic, external.
I live close to that area and could hear the echo of "booms" as protests raged.
The National Guard last came for unrest in 2020 – amid protests after George Floyd's death – but it was not a deployment made under presidential authority.
Our mayor made the request to our governor for troops to help quell the unrest. Troops more recently came here for a natural disaster after the LA fires raged earlier this year.
The National Guard arrives in Los Angeles following weekend protests; photo taken on 7 June
Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent
On the campaign trail last year, Donald Trump promised that he was not going to tolerate left-wing lawlessness on American streets and would use the full force of his presidential powers in response.
The protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforcement efforts in California on Saturday night gave him an opening to follow through on that promise.
Never mind that the Los Angeles Police Department said that the protests were largely peaceful or that the ones that were more disruptive involved just a few hundred individuals at most.
Over Governor Gavin Newsom’s objection, Trump federalised the 2,000 California National Guard soldiers, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that US Marines were on “high alert” to also deploy – which would mark a rare use of active duty US military on American soil.
By Sunday morning, Trump was declaring victory and thanking the National Guard for restoring peace, even though the guard had yet to assemble.
The speed with which Trump reacted, even while he was sitting ringside at a UFC match in New Jersey, suggests that this is a fight his administration is prepared for – and even eager to have.
The White House believes that law and order and aggressive immigration enforcement are winning issues for him. His actions will thrill his core base of supporters and could sway political independents concerned about public safety.
Bernie Sanders condemns Donald Trump's decision to call in the National Guard to LA
On US breakfast shows this morning, politicians have been reacting to clashes in LA between protesters and immigration officials.
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders tells CNN that Trump is "moving this country rapidly into authoritarianism" after involving the National Guard without the consent of California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Sanders says the decision shows Trump "thinks he has the right to do anything he wants".
Democrat Senator Corey Booker agrees, telling NBC that Trump's decision breaks "generations of tradition" and is "only going to incite the situation".
He also warns that Trump is "sowing chaos and confusion" by arresting people "who are trying to abide by the law" at immigration hearings.
But, Republican Senator James Lankford suggests to NBC that Trump is only seeking to "de-escalate all the tensions".
He says that it is clear that LA's police forces are "being overwhelmed". "We want to make sure those protests actually don't spiral out of control," he explains.
US President Donald Trump has said earlier that protests that stop immigration laws being enforced "constitute a form of rebellion" against the US government.
Under Title 10 of the US Code – the collection of the general and permanent federal laws – presidents can federalise the National Guard – meaning to order the state-based troops to active duty – when there is "a rebellion or danger of a rebellion" against government authority. Trump has used this power to send 2,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles.
In a statement from the White House, Trump said National Guard members would "temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal actions".
The statement also says they will be deployed for 60 days, with the final decision resting with the US secretary of defence.
As we've reported, National Guard troops have arrived in Los Angeles.
We’re seeing pictures of guardsmen setting up at the Edward R Roybal federal building, which is next to the Metropolitan Detention Centre.
Take a look at the images below to see what's happening.
Amy Walker
Live reporter
Trump’s decision to federalise the National Guard, which is normally under state control, is unusual.
The military force’s website says it was brought under federal control using Title 10 of the US Code – the same law Trump used – during the Civil Rights era.
Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson used the National Guard to help enforce civil rights and keep public order.
The Guard was also federalised during the 1967 Detroit riot, in riots after the killing of Martin Luther King Jr in 1968, and during the New York postal strike in 1970.
According to CNN, the last time a president federalised the National Guard was during the 1992 LA riots, external, after four white police officers were acquitted over the videotaped beating of a black motorist.
Regan Morris
Reporting from Los Angeles
We can confirm that California National Guard troops have now arrived in Los Angeles.
The first group got here a few hours ago from San Bernardino county.
They’re currently gathering outside the downtown LA detention centre, where illegal immigrants are taken after being detained.
Stay with us for more updates on their movements.
As the US wakes up to news of clashes between protesters and immigration enforcement, here's a quick recap of what happened overnight on the west coast.
We'll have further updates from the scene as soon as our reporters arrive. Stay with us.
Protests have erupted in Los Angeles after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the area.
ICE is the federal agency that identifies people in the US illegally and carries out arrests and deportations.
Donald Trump returned to power in January, promising mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. Since then, arrests have increased.
Data from CBS, the BBC's US partner, shows ICE arrests during Trump's second term have now passed 100,000.
A White House press release said: "In recent days, violent mobs have attacked ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles, California."
On Saturday, Trump's "border tsar" Tom Homan, who travelled to LA to supervise the ICE operations, said there would be "zero tolerance" for any violence or damage to private property during the protests.
A digital content creator at local television station Fox News 11 Los Angeles tells the BBC News channel there’s a “big disconnect” between local and national officials over immigration enforcement.
KJ Hiramoto says immigration enforcement is not seen as a “top tier” priority locally, adding, “immigration is a big, big, big, identity when it comes to Los Angeles”.
Unrest started when federal agents, described as “law enforcement with no local ties”, arrived in the city and were met by demonstrators.
But he says the situation has now “calmed down” as the city moved into the early hours of Sunday morning.
One person has been arrested and several detained following protests in the wider Los Angeles county yesterday, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) tells the BBC.
The department did not confirm what the arrest was for but said that acts of violence witnessed during the unrest in LA since Friday include fireworks being set off and bottles thrown.
They add that two deputies were injured and transported to hospital for non-life threatening injuries and have since been released.
The statement shared with the BBC says that a Hyundai car was burned, while a fire at a local strip mall was quickly extinguished.
Los Angles Police Department, which polices the city of Los Angeles, said earlier "multiple people" who allegedly disobeyed a dispersal order in downtown LA would be arrested following their detainment.
We are yet to hear more from police following last night's protests but we'll bring you the latest developments as we get them. Stay with us.
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