Trump deploys National Guard to quell protests against ICE in Los Angeles

White House says the US President is deploying 2,000 guardsmen to address 'lawlessness' as protests against immigration raids continue.

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US President Donald Trump had ordered the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to the city of Los Angeles in California, where an immigration crackdown has triggered protests and clashes for a second day, Al Jazeera said yesterday.

The White House said in a statement on Saturday that Trump was deploying the guardsmen to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester” in the US’s second most populous city.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also warned that the Pentagon was prepared to mobilise active-duty troops “if violence continues” in Los Angeles, saying the Marines at nearby Camp Pendleton were “on high alert”.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, called the Republican President’s decision “purposefully inflammatory”.

He said on X that Trump was deploying the National Guard “not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle”.

He added, “Don’t give them one. Never use violence. Speak out peacefully.”

During Saturday's protests, security personnel in riot gear confronted hundreds of protesters in the Paramount area of southeast Los Angeles, deploying tear gas on a street strewn with overturned shopping carts, as the crowds called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to leave their city.

Some of the protesters waved the flag of Mexico and had their faces covered with respiratory masks. They hurled rocks, bottles and fireworks at security forces, while a car was set ablaze.

The confrontations followed reports of continued immigration raids near a home improvement shop in the area.

There had been clashes in Los Angeles the night before, too, when ICE agents raided several locations in the city and arrested at least 44 people on alleged immigration violations.