SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
By Sandra Stojanovic and Omar Younis
Los Angeles: President Donald Trump’s administration will send 2000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles despite objections from California’s governor, after federal agents faced off against demonstrators for a second day in the city, in protests triggered by immigration raids.
The agents confronted about 100 protesters in the Paramount area in south-east Los Angeles on Saturday, where some demonstrators displayed Mexican flags and others covered their mouths with respiratory masks.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Saturday night (Sunday AEST) that Trump had signed a presidential memorandum deploying 2000 National Guard troops because “California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens”.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said the decision to send the National Guard was “purposefully inflammatory”, posting on social media platform X that such action “will only escalate tensions”.
He had warned earlier that Trump was moving to take over the California National Guard, even though local authorities were able to access law enforcement assistance at a moment’s notice, he said, and that there was currently “no unmet need” for such assistance.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: “If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can’t do their jobs, which everyone knows they can’t, then the federal government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”
The protests have pit Democratic-run Los Angeles, where census data suggests a significant portion of the population is Hispanic and foreign-born, against Trump’s Republican White House, which has made cracking down on immigration a hallmark of his second term.
Demonstrators shout at, and film, police during a protest in the Paramount section of Los Angeles.Credit: AP
In the late afternoon, authorities began detaining some protesters, according to Reuters. There was no immediate official information about any arrests. Video footage showed dozens of green-uniformed security personnel with gas masks lined up on a road strewn with overturned shopping carts as small canisters exploded into gas clouds.
“Now they know that they cannot go anywhere in this country where our people are, and try to kidnap our workers, our people – they cannot do that without an organised and fierce resistance,” protester Ron Gochez, 44, said.
Earlier in the day, Border Patrol personnel in riot gear and gas masks stood guard outside an industrial park in the city of Paramount, deploying tear gas as bystanders and protesters gathered on median strips and across the street, some jeering at authorities while recording the events on their phones.
“ICE out of Paramount. We see you for what you are,” a woman said through a megaphone. “You are not welcome here.”
Law enforcement officers stand with weapons raised towards the protesters.Credit: AP
One handheld sign said: “No Human Being is Illegal.”
Smoke rose from burning shrubbery and refuse in the street, and demonstrators kicked at a Border Patrol vehicle. A boulevard was closed to traffic as Border Patrol officers circulated through a community where 80 per cent of residents identify as Latino.
In explaining the decision to send in the National Guard, Leavitt said violent mobs had attacked immigration officers and federal agents while they were carrying out deportations essential to Trump’s efforts to halt and reverse “the invasion of illegal criminals”, and that lawlessness had been allowed to fester.
“The Trump administration has a zero tolerance policy for criminal behaviour and violence, especially when that violence is aimed at law enforcement officers trying to do their jobs,” she said. “These criminals will be arrested and swiftly brought to justice. The Commander-in-Chief will ensure the laws of the United States are executed fully and completely.”
A protester throws a rock amid a cloud of tear gas released by law enforcement.Credit: AP
On Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested more than 40 people while executing search warrants at multiple locations, including outside a clothing warehouse where a tense scene unfolded as a crowd tried to block agents from driving away.
The raids came after a judge found probable cause that the warehouse employer was using fictitious documents for some of its workers, according to Homeland Security Investigations and the US Attorney’s Office.
The Department for Homeland Security said 118 immigrants had been arrested in the raids on Friday and Saturday, including five people linked to criminal organisations and people with prior criminal histories.
Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner and the White House deputy chief of staff, wrote on X that Friday’s demonstrations were “an insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States.” On Saturday, he described the day’s protests as a “violent insurrection.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the immigration activity was meant to “sow terror” in the nation’s second-largest city.
In a statement, ICE acting director Todd Lyons chided Bass for the city’s response to protests.
“Mayor Bass took the side of chaos and lawlessness over law enforcement,” Lyons said. “Make no mistake, ICE will continue to enforce our nation’s immigration laws and arrest criminal illegal aliens.”
Protesters gathered late on Friday outside a federal detention centre in Los Angeles where lawyers said those arrested had been taken, chanting, “Set them free, let them stay!”
Some held signs that said, “ICE out of LA!” or scrawled graffiti on the building.
Federal agents carried out the search warrants at three locations, including the fashion district warehouse, after a judge found probable cause that the employer was using fictitious documents for some of its workers, according to representatives for Homeland Security Investigations and the US Attorney’s Office.
