Trump Deploys National Guard to Quell LA Immigration Protests

Demonstrators Face Off Against Federal Agents for Second Day as Raids Continue

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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump's administration said it would deploy 2,000 National Guard troops on June 7 as federal agents in Los Angeles faced off against demonstrators for a second day following immigration raids.

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

The security agents confronted around 100 protesters in the Paramount area in southeast Los Angeles, where some demonstrators displayed Mexican flags and others covered their mouths with respiratory masks.

A second protest in downtown Los Angeles on the night of June 7 attracted some 60 people, who chanted slogans including "ICE out of LA!," referring to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

The White House said in a statement that Mr. Trump signed a presidential memorandum to deploy the National Guard troops to "address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester."

Mr. Trump's border czar Tom Homan told Fox News that the National Guard would be deployed in Los Angeles on the evening of June 7.

California Governor Gavin Newsom called the decision "purposefully inflammatory."

He posted on X that Mr. Trump was deploying the National Guard "not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle," adding: "Don't give them one. Never use violence. Speak out peacefully."

Mr. Newsom said it was "deranged behavior" for Mr. Hegseth to be "threatening to deploy active-duty Marines on American soil against its own citizens."