Trump deploys National Guard to quell protests

PARAMOUNT, California — US President Donald Trump is deploying some 2,000 California National Guard troops to LA over the objections of Governor Gavin Newsom as protests over immigration raids continue over the weekend between hundreds of protesters and federal immigration authorities in riot gear that kept tensions high.

Newsom said the federal government was "moving to take over the California National Guard" and warned that it would only escalate tensions. Additional details were not immediately available.

Tear gas and smoke filled the air on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles on Saturday as confrontations extended into the second day.

Confrontations broke out on Saturday near a Home Depot store in the heavily Latino city of Paramount, south of Los Angeles, where federal agents were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office nearby.

Agents unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls, and protesters hurled rocks and cement at Border Patrol vehicles. Smoke wafted from small piles of burning refuse in the streets.

It came after two days of confrontations during which federal agents fired flash-bang grenades and tear gas toward crowds angry at the arrests of dozens of migrants in a city with a large Latino population.

"It's up to us to stand up for our people," said a Los Angeles resident whose parents are immigrants, declining to give her name.

"Whether we get hurt, whether they gas us, whatever they're throwing at us. They're never going to stop us. All we have left is our voice," she told Agence France-Presse.

Tensions were high after a series of sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day as the weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the city climbed past 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement.

Trump signed a presidential memorandum to deploy the National Guard troops to "address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester," the White House said in a statement. It wasn't clear when the troops would arrive.

Trump 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, according to Newsom's office.

Newsom, a Democrat, said in a post on the social platform X that it was "purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions".

He posted on X that Trump was deploying the National Guard "not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle," adding: "Don't give them one. Never use violence. Speak out peacefully."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to deploy the US military.

"If violence continues, active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert," Hegseth said on X.

Newsom said it was "deranged behavior" for Hegseth to be "threatening to deploy active-duty Marines on American soil against its own citizens".

Trump's order came after clashes in Paramount and neighboring Compton, where a car was set afire. Protests continued into the evening in Paramount, with several hundred demonstrators gathered near a doughnut shop, and authorities holding up barbed wire to keep the crowd back.

A first round of protests kicked off on Friday night after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducted enforcement operations in the city and arrested at least 44 people on alleged immigration violations.

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 caught up people legally residing in the country, including some with permanent residence, and has led to legal challenges.

Agencies Via Xinhua