Travel ban on 12 nations goes into effect today

It comes in response to clashes between immigration officials and protesters seeking to block them from carrying out deportations

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Agence France-Presse [e-mail] LOS ANGELES: National Guard troops arrived in Los Angeles (LA) on Sunday after being ordered there by US President Donald Trump, a rare deployment 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, an extraordinary move not seen for decades and deemed "purposefully inflammatory" by California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Helmeted troops carrying automatic weapons and with camouflaged vehicles could be seen in the Compton neighborhood of the California city early Sunday, ahead of more protests, including a call by organizers for a "mass mobilization" at City Hall at 2:00pm local time (2100 GMT).

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

Republicans lined up behind Trump on Sunday to dismiss warnings by Newsom and other local officials that the protests had been largely peaceful, and that the deployment was against their wishes and would exacerbate tensions.