Key Points
- Donald Trump deploys hundreds of National Guard troops amid protests over immigration raids in LA.
- California Governor Gavin Newsom called the deployment “purposefully inflammatory”.
- Protesters told AFP the troops were used to intimidate, and that their community wants to feel safe.
Hundreds of National Guard troops have taken up positions in Los Angeles on the orders of United States President Donald Trump, a rare deployment over the head of the state governor, after protests against immigration raids.
The US military said 300 soldiers from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team had been sent to three separate locations in the greater Los Angeles area, and were “conducting safety and protection of federal property & personnel” overnight (Sunday local time).
Helmeted troops in camouflage gear and carrying guns could be seen in front of a federal complex — including a detention centre — with the phrase “Our City” spray-painted on it in downtown LA.
The deployment overrode the protests of local officials — an extraordinary move not seen in decades that California Governor Gavin Newsom criticised as “purposefully inflammatory”.
It came ahead of more planned protests in the city, which has a large Latino population, including a call by organisers for a “mass mobilisation” at City Hall on Monday (Sunday afternoon local time).
A separate Pride parade in support of LGBTIQ+ rights — also under assault by the Trump administration — also began in Hollywood, with organisers posting on Instagram that they were working with local law enforcement to keep the celebrations safe.
Politicians clash over party lines
“Trump is sending 2,000 National Guard troops into LA County — not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis,” Newsom posted on X.
“He’s hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control. Stay calm. Never use violence. Stay peaceful.”
Newsom’s warning came after LA was rocked by two days of confrontations that saw federal agents firing flash-bang grenades and tear gas toward crowds angry at the arrests of dozens of migrants.
Republicans lined up behind Trump to dismiss the pushback by Newsom and other local officials against the National Guard deployment.
“I have no concern about that at all,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told ABC’s This Week program, accusing Newsom of “an inability or unwillingness to do what is necessary”.
As for threats by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday (Saturday local time) to send in active-duty Marines on top of the Guard troops, Johnson said he did not see that as “heavy-handed”.
“We have to be prepared to do what is necessary,” he argued.
Response labelled an ‘intimidation tactic’, ‘escalation’ by demonstrators
Demonstrators told AFP the purpose of the troops was not necessarily to keep order, with one person describing them as an “intimidation tactic”.
“These protests have been peaceful. There’s no one trying to do any sort of damage right now and yet you have the National Guard with loaded magazines and large guns standing around trying to intimidate Americans from exercising our first amendment rights.”
“This is our community, and we want to feel safe,” another person told AFP.
“Trump deploying the National Guard is ridiculous. I think he’s escalating, he’s trying to make a show for his agenda.”
A protester holds a sign as Border Patrol personnel in riot gear and gas masks stand guard outside an industrial park in Paramount, Calif., on Saturday, 7 June 2025. Source: AAP / Eric Thayer
Vermont senator Bernie Sanders said the move demonstrated “Trump’s authoritarianism in real time”.
“Conduct massive illegal raids. Provoke a counter-response. Declare a state of emergency. Call in the troops,” he wrote on social media, adding: “Unacceptable”.
Trump’s immigration crackdown
The National Guard — a reserve military — is frequently used in natural disasters, and occasionally in instances of civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local authorities.
Trump has delivered on a promise to crack down hard on undocumented migrants — who he has likened to “monsters” and “animals” — since taking office in January.
Raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in other US cities have triggered small-scale protests in recent months, but the LA unrest is the biggest and most sustained against Trump’s immigration policies so far.
A CBS News poll taken before the LA protests showed a slight majority of Americans still approved of the immigration crackdown.
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum defended migrants living north of the border.
“Mexicans living in the United States are good men and women, honest people who went to the United States to seek a better life for themselves and to support their families. They are not criminals! They are good men and women!” she said.
