LOS ANGELES: US President Donald Trump ordered National Guard troops to Los Angeles, a rare deployment expected Sunday against the state governor’s wishes after sometimes-violent protests against immigration enforcement raids.
Trump took federal control of California’s state military to push soldiers into the country’s second-biggest city, a decision deemed “purposefully inflammatory” by California Governor Gavin Newsom and of a kind not seen for decades according to US media.
The development came after two days of confrontations that had seen federal agents shoot flash-bang grenades and tear gas towards 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 AFP as emergency services lights flashed in the distance.
An AFP photographer saw fires and fireworks light up the streets during clashes, while a protester holding a Mexican flag stood in front of a burnt-out car that had been sprayed with a slogan against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
“President Trump has signed a Presidential Memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, blaming what she called California’s “feckless” Democratic leaders.
“The Trump Administration has a zero tolerance policy for criminal behavior and violence, especially when that violence is aimed at law enforcement officers trying to do their jobs.”
Trump congratulated the National Guard for “a job well done” shortly before midnight on Saturday in a post on Truth Social.
However, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said on social media platform X the troops had not yet been deployed, while AFP journalists have so far not seen them on the ground.
Trump took a swipe at Bass and Newsom, saying in his post they were “unable to handle the task”, drawing a comparison with deadly fires that hit the city in January.
