Trump Deploys National Guard on LA Streets in Dramatic Escalation

President Accused of 'Hoping for Chaos' Amid Immigration Crackdown

- Edward Helmore Lauren Gambino

US national guard troops were deployed in Los Angeles yesterday on orders from Donald Trump after police used teargas against protesters during an immigration crackdown over the weekend.

In a move that sent shockwaves through American politics, the US president signed off on the order to send 2,000 troops to the Californian city on Saturday night following clashes between federal immigration authorities and protesters seeking to block them from carrying out deportations.

The decision marked a dramatic escalation in a broad crackdown on immigrants in the United States following raids across the country. Trump's federalisation of the guard troops was the first time an American president has used such power since the 1992 LA riots, when the city erupted in unrest after the acquittal of four white police officers for brutally beating a black motorist.

Last night, as local television stations broadcast video of military trucks and troops with helmeted soldiers wearing green camouflage uniforms, carrying assault rifles and handing out riot shields, there were an estimated 300 troops deployed in Los Angeles, a number that was expected to rise.

Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California, yesterday urged protesters to remain peaceful, saying that Trump was trying to "manufacture a crisis" and calling on them not to rise to the bait. "He's hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control.