LA Riots

Riots in Los Angeles against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carrying out deportations are entering their fourth day.

With tensions escalating, state authorities have sought to push back against President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration in the sanctuary city, including by deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen, with more on standby.

Many have already been arrested in connection with crimes committed during the riots, which have largely centered around downtown Los Angeles. 

As Gov. Gavin Newsom and local authorities have taken sides against the administration’s immigration enforcement, the issue threatens a showdown over state versus federal authority. 

Here’s what to know about the unfolding events in America’s second largest city. 

The protests and riots began Friday after ICE agents arrested dozens of illegal immigrants in the longtime sanctuary city. 

On Saturday, the protests escalated, leading police to begin deploying tear gas and flashbang grenades to disperse protests that had been declared as illegal or riotous. The same day, Trump ordered the National Guard to deploy to the city. 

Sunday, the third day of protests against the administration, members of the National Guard faced off with demonstrators, leading to tear gas being fired at a growing crowd near a federal complex in the city, according to video footage.

The confrontation broke out in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, as a group shouted insults at members of the guard lined shoulder to shoulder behind plastic riot shields.

As the sun set over the city Sunday evening, riots continued. Near downtown, at least four Waymo self-driving cars were set on fire; flashbang crowd control grenades were deployed throughout the evening.

On Saturday, Trump expressed frustration with Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and indicated that National Guardsmen would step in if the two refused to act. 

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that if Newsom and Bass “can’t do their jobs … then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”

The same day, he announced that he was deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to Los Angeles to quell the protests, without a request from Newsom—marking the first time since 1965 that a president has activated a state’s guardsmen without a request from the governor. 

​​Members of California’s National Guard were seen staging early Sunday at the federal complex in downtown Los Angeles that includes the Metropolitan Detention Center, one of several sites where confrontations involving hundreds of people have taken place over the last two days.

The troops included members of the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, according to a social media post from the U.S. Northern Command that showed dozens of National Guard members with long guns and an armored vehicle.

On Sunday, NORTHCOM announced that Marines were on standby to be deployed to the city. 

In addition to approximately 300 additional National Guardsmen, NORTHCOM said in a press release, “approximately 500 Marines from 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines at Twentynine Palms, California, are in a prepared to deploy status should they be necessary to augment and support the DoD’s protection of federal property and personnel efforts.” 

In a statement on Sunday, Newsom asked for withdrawal of the guardsmen.

“I have formally requested the Trump Administration rescind their unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles county and return them to my command,” Newsom said.

“We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved,” he said. “This is a serious breach of state sovereignty—inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed.”

Bass, meanwhile, said that the deployment of guardsmen to the city was a “chaotic escalation.” 

She said during an appearance on CNN that the Los Angeles Police Department “could control things happening here and … there was no need to federalize troops.”

With the Marines on standby and both sides becoming entrenched, questions remain about whether Trump will activate the Insurrection Act of 1807 to end the protests in the city. 

Under the Posse Comitatus Act, active duty military can only be deployed in specific circumstances. The Insurrection Act—which Trump has not yet committed to using—lists these exceptions, which include things like suppressing insurrections, enforcing federal authority, and protecting civil rights when state authorities fail to act.

The NORTHCOM statement makes clear that no final decision has yet been made on whether or not to declare the ongoing riots in violation of the Insurrection Act.

On June 8, reporters asked Trump whether he would activate the legislation to restore order and enforce deportations by ICE in the city.

“It depends on whether or not there’s an insurrection,” Trump said.

In a post on Truth Social in the early hours of June 9, Trump indicated that such a decision may be imminent. 

“Looking really bad in L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!” Trump wrote. 

Such a move wouldn’t be without precedent: The last use of the Insurrection Act came in 1992, when President George H.W. Bush deployed 3,500 federal troops to Los Angeles to quell the Rodney King riots. 

—Joseph Lord 

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