Sen. Alex Padilla forcibly removed from press conference; military deployment in L.A. faces test in court

President Donald Trump responded to reports how his administration’s immigration policies are hurting hotel and agriculture industries by going after immigrant workers.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents chased farm workers in Ventura County on Tuesday morning, according to video from ABC 7.

On Thursday, Trump said in a Truth Social post that he’s heard from the agriculture and hotel industry how federal immigration sweeps are “taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to Trump’s social media post with his own post on X.

“Turns out, chasing hard working people through ranches and farms and snatching women and children off the streets is not good policy,” Newsom said.

Trump blamed the Biden administration in his social media post and claimed people with criminal records have found jobs in those industries. He promised to protect farmers, but also remove criminals from the country.

“Changes are coming,” Trump said, without elaborating.

Hours after Trump’s post, Newsom claimed victory and said that public outrage over the federal government’s immigration policies was having some impact.

“Trump just reversed course on immigration,” Newsom said in a social media post. “We’re watching closely — and we’ll hold him to it. This happened because you spoke up. Keep it going. Keep it peaceful. It’s working.”

The Dodger Stadium Express is scheduled to operate normally this weekend, even as the bus departs from and arrives at an area subject to curfew restrictions.

The service, which provides fans a free ride between Union Station and Dodger Stadium, “will be running per usual,” Metro senior director of communications Missy Colman said Thursday.

California Sen. Alex Padilla was handcuffed by federal agents Thursday after he interrupted a press conference held by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles.

About five minutes into a press conference at the Westwood federal building, Noem told the media that the Trump administration planned to “liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that the governor and the mayor have placed on this country.”

While publicly chastising groups protesting immigration raids, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell has offered support to officers in his Latino-majority department who may have mixed feelings about the Trump administration‘s crackdown.

In a department-wide missive sent out earlier this week as protests ramped up, McDonnell acknowledged some officers were “facing criticism from the community or wrestling with the personal impact” of recent events and needed support.

The Los Angeles Police Department arrested 81 people Wednesday and early Thursday morning in connection to protests in downtown Los Angeles.

Police arrested 71 people on suspicion of failure to disperse and seven on suspicion of violating an 8 p.m. curfew that extends around several city blocks on downtown, the LAPD announced in a news release. LAPD officers also arrested two people on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer and one person arrested on suspicion for resisting a police officer.

Police responded to reports of criminal activity after the curfew and found large crowds of people near Temple and Los Angeles streets. The majority of the crowd dispersed, police said.

Two LAPD officers were injured during their response to the protests. They received medical treatment, according to police. There was no estimate to how many civilians were injured when police used less-lethal munitions.

“No firmes nada,” a union organizer shouted into a bullhorn as he stood atop the flatbed of a truck outside Ambiance Apparel, doling out battlefield legal advice not to sign anything. “You have a right to a lawyer. You are not alone.”

Advocates and lawyers had arrived at the downtown store minutes after tips began to pop off at the hotline set up by the Los Angeles Rapid Response Network, a coalition of 300 volunteers and 23 labor unions and immigrant rights and social justice groups that was organized last year to respond to enforcement.

Masked federal agents detained at least 12 people from Downey businesses on Wednesday, but community members were able to discourage them from taking away one man.

The immigration sweep rolled across a gym, a car wash, Home Depot and even at some homes, Downey Councilman Mario Trujillo told news station KABC.

But one man was spared when residents intervened, according to video of the encounter. The unidentified man can be seen sitting on the ground, surrounded by masked men who chased him in several unmarked vehicles. The man spotted ICE at his job and rode away on his bicycle, but one of the masked men grabbed his tire, causing him to fall, according to reporting from KABC.

Melyssa Rivas, a local resident, recorded community members questioning the ICE agents, asking them why they were chasing after the man in the first place. They shouted that the man should not sign anything.

It’s unclear what prompted the agents to leave the man.

“It looked like a full on kidnapping scene out of a movie, it was scary,” Rivas told the station.

Trujillo said the immigration sweeps are taking a toll on the local economy as businesses are closed and people are too afraid to go out.

“I think this places my community in fear. Instead of providing public safety. We’re creating chaos and fear which will definitely impact the economy of my city,” he said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted a series of immigration sweeps starting Friday afternoon and into the weekend that sparked an outpouring of protests in the heart of Los Angeles and caused a flurry of disinformation online.

Over the last several days, rumors of extreme scenarios have seeped into the public discourse about ICE raids at school graduations, local Home Depots and at hotels where agents are staying.

Federal agents arrested a man in connection to a video allegedly showing him distributing face shields to protesters in Los Angeles.

United States Attorney Bill Essayli joined FBI agents during the arrest Thursday morning. Federal agents in tactical gear arrested Alejandro Orellana on suspicion of conspiracy to commit civil disorders, Fox News reporter Matt Finn said in an X post.

Essayli claimed Orellana is part of an organized and coordinated group behind the civil unrest in Los Angeles.

“We have made it a huge priority to try and identify, locate and arrest those who are involved in organizing, supporting, funding, or facilitating these riots that have been going on,” Essayli said. “So we want to understand who these people are and where this organization is coming from. Today was one of those first arrests — key arrests — we did.”

U.S. National Guard troops assisted in the arrest, according to Finn.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to say Thursday whether he would abide by a possible legal ruling about the federal government’s authority to deploy the Marines to Los Angeles.

“We should not have local judges determining foreign policy or national security policy for the country,” he said in response to repeated questions by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) during a House Armed Services hearing that lasted more than five hours.

OXNARD, Calif. — At 6 a.m. Wednesday, Juvenal Solano drove slowly along the cracked roads that border the fields of strawberry and celery that cloak this fertile expanse of Ventura County, his eyes peeled for signs of trouble.

An eerie silence hung over the morning. The workers who would typically be shuffling up and down the strawberry rows were largely absent. The entry gates to many area farms were shut and locked.

Still, Solano, a director with the Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, felt relieved. Silence was better than the chaos that had broken out Tuesday when immigration agents raided fields in Oxnard and fanned out across communities in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties that grow a considerable portion of the state’s strawberries, avocados and celery.

A number of Latinx musicians have expressed their solidarity and support for immigrant communities via social media in the wake of immigration raids that have resulted in the arrest of 330 people in Southern California and the Central Coast.

The clashes between National Guard troops, police and protesters in recent days have evoked memories for some Angelenos of the deadly riots that erupted after LAPD officers were acquitted of brutally assaulting Black motorist Rodney King in 1992.

But leaders who were involved in dealing with the uprising more than three decades ago say what has unfolded with President Trump’s deployment of soldiers to Los Angeles and surrounding communities bears no resemblance to the coordinated response that took place then.

• Downtown Los Angeles remained under an overnight curfew for a second night at the behest of Mayor Karen Bass in an effort to quell violence and vandalism from the protests. As the night darkened, the streets of downtown L.A. were calmer and quieter than earlier in the day when hundreds rallied. Law enforcement cleared protesters lingering in downtown Los Angeles around 9 p.m. Tuesday — an hour after the mayor’s curfew in the area came into effect.
  

• A court hearing set before U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco is scheduled for Thursday to hear arguments over the Trump administration’s deployment of both state National Guard forces and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles amid mass protests over sweeping federal immigration enforcement efforts. California asked the court Tuesday for a temporary restraining order blocking the deployments.

• At least five car washes in Los Angeles and Orange counties were targeted by immigration raids in recent days, according to CLEAN Carwash Worker Center, a local labor advocacy nonprofit. Chaos also broke out Tuesday when immigration agents raided fields in Oxnard and fanned out across communities in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties that grow a considerable portion of the state’s strawberries, avocados and celery.

WASHINGTON — The mission of President Trump’s extraordinary deployment of U.S. Marines and National Guardsmen to Los Angeles depends on whom you ask — and that may be a problem for the White House as it defends its actions in court on Thursday.

The hearing, set before U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco, will set off a rare test over the legality of a military deployment on American soil.

VIDEO | 01:39

How has protesting shaped Gen Z’s coming of age?

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404 Gen Zer Rebecca Castillo talked to some of the Gen Z crowd in downtown L.A. to learn more about their relationship with protesting.

Law enforcement cleared protesters lingering in downtown Los Angeles around 9 p.m. Tuesday — an hour after the mayor’s curfew in the area came into effect.

One of the remaining protesters was seen bolting down 2nd Street as officers chased after him, tackling him to the ground and placing him in handcuffs.

The evening’s arrests came on the sixth day of protests against ongoing federal raids targeting immigrants without documentation.

As the night darkened, the streets of downtown L.A. were calmer and quieter than earlier in the day when hundreds rallied. A column of LAPD officers on horseback marched away from the scene as police drove detained protesters toward jail.

Some groups of protesters continued to gather later in the night. Around 10 p.m. in Koreatown, police cornered about 50 people, targeting two who had allegedly pointed a laser at a helicopter, according to reporting from KTLA.

A handful of residents were spectating nearby.

“This is like wasting tax money — for what?” Hines Buchanan, 48, said to The Times as he gestured to officers clutching weapons as they stood in the parking lot of a Korean supermarket. “It’s kind of silly.”

The Department of Homeland Security released a poster on social media Wednesday urging members of the public to report “foreign invaders.”

The poster depicts Uncle Sam hanging up a sign that reads, “Help your country ... and yourself ...” and includes an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hotline.

In the caption, DHS asks people to use the phone number to report criminal activity and help the government “locate and arrest illegal aliens.” The graphic was also shared on the White House Instagram account.

“It’s disgusting that they are turning this image of the nation into an anti-immigrant spokesperson,” said American cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, who created “La Cucaracha,” the first nationally syndicated, politically themed Latino comic strip. He said the poster took a symbol that is meant to symbolize all Americans and turned it into a “white supremacist meme.”

Uncle Sam posters were originally employed as a tool to urge Americans to enlist in the Army during WWI. The posters were revived during WWII to once again recruit soldiers and spread other government messages such as promoting war bonds and warning against foreign espionage.

Veteran California GOP strategist Mike Madrid described the image as “pretty horrible, but kind of where we’re at, right?”

Madrid has studied the Latino electorate for more than three decades and recently wrote a book on how the Latino vote is transforming American politics.

“It reminds me of the America First movement of the 1930s. Clearly. Blatantly. They’re not even hiding it. That’s the overt message now,” he said. “There’s no design to be civilized or human anymore. It’s designed to be the personification of the U.S. turning on itself.”

Despite Madrid’s disillusionment with the Republican Party under the Trump administration, he remains a registered party member and says his fundamental conservative values have not changed.

“I have not changed one bit of who I was when I joined the Republican Party,” he said. “The fact so many of those folks have proven to lack character doesn’t change that fact.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment on the origin of the Uncle Sam poster.

As the sun set on the sixth consecutive day of protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, the Los Angeles Police Department geared up to arrest the remaining protesters gathered downtown.

The first unlawful assembly of the day was declared and protesters ordered to disperse about 6:25 p.m. Officers began firing rubber bullets into the crowd at 7 p.m., prompting many to flee.

At 7:30 p.m. the LAPD announced they would be arresting all protesters who remained downtown. Fifteen minutes later, the protest had dwindled to a few dozen demonstrators corralled outside the county courthouse.

Protesters, seemingly resigned to their fate, began to sit on the road and write the number of bail support on their arms. More than a hundred law enforcement officers surrounded them on the block.

On Tuesday, Mayor Karen Bass enacted a curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. for most of downtown L.A. in an effort to quell violence and vandalism from the protests. That night, 17 people were arrested on suspicion of violating curfew, police said.

The first dispersal order of the night in downtown Los Angeles came around 6:20 p.m.

After hundreds of protesters had marched Wednesday evening from Pershing Square to City Hall, L.A. police warned protesters to leave the area. Dozens of LAPD officers, backed by L.A. County sheriff’s deputies, declared the gathering an unlawful assembly.

As they rushed toward the protesters, they fired less-lethal munitions, causing the crowd to scatter. Police on horseback charged into the crowd, and several demonstrators fell to the ground. Officers pushed hundreds of protesters into Gloria Molina Grand Park, where they gathered and began chanting, “Shame.”

Saul Barnes, 22, had wandered up to see the spectacle from the hotel his family owned downtown. It had been an impossible week. The hotel workers, many of whom were Mexican, were terrified of the ICE raids. Many of the businesses next to him had been destroyed in the protests.

“It’s very disruptive to day-to-day life,” he said as he jogged away from a police officer on a horse.

“The raids, the protest — everything is destroyed,” he said. “Who the hell wants to work in a state like this?”

Meanwhile, in nearby Boyle Heights, the atmosphere was radically different.

After some opening remarks at Salazar Park, about 100 demonstrators took to the streets, passionately condemning federal immigration enforcement in Los Angeles with music, dance and chants.

“Migra [immigration authorities] out of East Los,” chanted community members as they entered the crosswalk of Whittier Boulevard and Alma Avenue.

Centro CSO, a grassroots immigrant-rights organization, organized the protest Wednesday after an individual was arrested by federal agents on suspicion of assaulting an agent. Federal agents rammed and trapped the car, which held a man, a woman and a child.

Matthew Hunter, who has been involved in Centro CSO demonstrations before, said the organization had been preparing to organize protests since President Trump’s election.

“Trump is obviously increasing the fascist pressure on these communities,” Hunter said. “It’s definitely one of those things where the entire community across L.A. County is feeling it — everybody is feeling it.”

“Whose streets? Our streets,” the demonstrators chanted as they crossed into the road and blocked traffic on Alma Avenue. A sheriff’s helicopter circled overhead briefly but quickly left.

At times, the Boyle Heights action resembled a celebration more than a protest.

Organizers and demonstrators The Times spoke with said they sought to maintain a peaceful atmosphere to combat media depictions of violent protests.

“The media is only depicting us as being negative like we’re criminals,” said Verica Topete, an organizer with Centro CSO.

The mood of the demonstrators remained positive, with some holding signs that read “ICE out of LA,” and “We’re all here illegally” as they accommodated passing vehicles. Cheers sounded as cars passed by honking in support of the protests.

“I think it’s very beautiful that everybody’s getting together,” said Julieta Cruz, her words nearly drowned out by music. “This is people’s getaway here in Boyle Heights, East L.A. … We feel comfortable here.”

“All eyes are on Los Angeles right now,” Topete said. “A lot of our family members and friends, some of them are still undocumented. … it’s really important for us to show our community that they’re not alone.”

Abraham Márquez, a reporter with the nonprofit investigative news startup Southlander, was filming a tense standoff between Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and immigrant rights protesters in Paramount on Saturday night when he saw a deputy aim a “less-lethal” launcher in his direction.

Sensing a confrontation, Márquez said, he raised his press credential and “kept yelling press, press, press,” even as he turned and began running in the opposite direction. He barely made it a few feet before he felt a stinging pain as first one foam round, then another slammed into his buttocks and his back.

On Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of protesters near the federal building at Aliso and Temple streets in downtown L.A. seemed determined to avoid what happened in the early afternoon on Tuesday, when chaos descended.

Around 4:30 p.m., Najee Gow, 27, began leading hundreds of protesters far away from the federal building, which was lined with National Guard troops, and away from the freeway exits, blocked off by law enforcement.

“We’re going to remain peaceful,” warned Gow repeatedly as he led a crowd of a few hundred around downtown’s Civic Center and into Chinatown.

“F— these agitators.”

Gow, wrapped in a Mexican flag, said he was determined to put a stop to the stone-throwing and theft that he believed played into President Trump’s plan to flood the area with armed forces.

“We need to be smarter than him and out-think him, right? He wants us to be violent, so he can have an excuse to send more military, more Marines in here.

“But we’re too smart that,” Gow said as he led the crowd away from any signs of law enforcement.

The Mermaid hasn’t turned a profit since Saturday.

The aquatic-themed Little Tokyo bar is typically open daily and a hub for regulars, community events and off-duty workers of the hospitality industry, all bathed in soft blue lighting meant to replicate the ocean’s waves. But the Mermaid is closing. Many restaurants and bars in downtown’s hot zones for anti-ICE protests who are coping with an 8 p.m. curfew are closing or pivoting to other business models, or trying new hours of operation to weather the fallout from ongoing unrest spurred by widespread immigration raids.

If you are looking to support families that have been affected by the recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids as well as local immigrant communities in need, you have a number of donation options, including organizations that can accept monetary contributions, supplies and volunteer time.

The ICE raids over the past several days have impacted several communities in Los Angeles County, including the city of Los Angeles, Paramount, Culver City and Boyle Heights.

The Department of Homeland Security said border patrol agents will provide security for Saturday’s FIFA Club World Cup opener between Inter Miami and Egyptian club Al Ahly at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.

“Let the games begin,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection wrote in a social media post Tuesday. “The first FIFA Club World Cup games start on June 14 in Miami, FL at the Hard Rock Stadium. CBP will be suited and booted ready to provide security for the first round of games.”

Roberto Recinos, a 21-year-old downtown Los Angeles resident, works at It’s Boba Time right by the Metropolitan Detention Center, where protests have been going on for six days.

Recinos said the demonstrations and curfew had resulted in far less foot traffic in recent days. By 2 p.m, the shop usually would have sold around 120 drinks, but on Wednesday, fewer than 40 had been sold.

Los Angeles County’s top prosecutor brought charges against eight people who allegedly attacked police, vandalized buildings and robbed stores during recent protests against immigration sweeps.

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman vowed to “fiercely protect people’s rights to peacefully assemble” but also warned that those who engaged in violence, theft or property destruction would face severe consequences.

Hundreds of eighth-graders in freshly ironed button-down shirts and flowing dresses filed into Andrew Carnegie Middle School with their families Tuesday morning in high spirits.

But the graduation festivities at the school in Carson had an ominous undertone, as word had spread ahead of the event that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement might make an unwanted appearance.

When Mayor Karen Bass on Tuesday issued a curfew for downtown L.A. after the chaos of some ICE protests over the weekend, an unwelcome side effect took hold: Arts organizations inside the curfew zone had to cancel performances, notably “Hamlet” at the Mark Taper Forum and the final night of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Seoul Festival — which also happened to be the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s last evening at Walt Disney Concert Hall this season.

The curfew remains in effect Wednesday, and Center Theatre Group has again been forced to cancel director Robert O’Hara’s world-premiere adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic, starring Patrick Ball from the hit Max show “The Pitt.”

Driverless Waymo vehicles, coated with graffiti and engulfed in flames. Masked protesters, dancing and cavorting around burning American flags. Anonymous figures brazenly blocking streets and shutting down major freeways, raining bottles and rocks on the police, while their compatriots waved Mexican flags.

The images flowing out of Los Angeles over nearly a week of protests against federal immigration raids have cast America’s second most populous city as a terrifying hellscape, where lawbreakers rule the streets and regular citizens should fear to leave their homes.

Maj. Gen. Niave F. Knell, the deputy commanding general for the U.S. Army North, said in a court filing made public Wednesday that the California National Guard’s presence in the Los Angeles area included 2,112 troops and 256 vehicles.

Knell said the troops are protecting federal workers and property “through security patrols, observation posts and outer cordon security perimeter of buildings.”

“They are not performing law enforcement or any other functions,” Knell said.

The U.S. Marines are under her command, she said, and are “currently training in preparation to conduct similar protection operations.”

Amid a new curfew and signs that the unrest in downtown Los Angeles was easing, the sweeping federal immigration crackdown that sparked days of protests appeared to be gaining steam across many parts of the region — from suburban retail centers to farmland in Ventura County.

The White House confirmed on Wednesday that 330 people have been taken into custody by federal authorities since immigration sweeps began last week in Los Angeles. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said of those, 113 individuals, or about a third of the group, had prior criminal convictions.

At least five car washes in Los Angeles and Orange counties were targeted by immigration raids in recent days, according to CLEAN Carwash Worker Center, a local labor advocacy nonprofit.

Westchester Hand Wash, Culver City Express Hand Car Wash and Detail, Crenshaw Imperial Car Wash, Touch and Glow Car Wash in Whittier and Magnolia Car Wash in Orange County were among the businesses targeted.

The Trump administration argued in federal court Wednesday that any judicial intervention to curtail its deployment of military troops to Los Angeles would endanger federal immigration agents and undermine the president’s authority to keep American cities safe.

Attorneys for President Trump called California’s request Tuesday for a temporary restraining order barring those deployments a “crass political stunt endangering American lives” amid violent protests over immigration raids in the city.

Federal agents rammed and trapped a white sedan in Boyle Heights on Wednesday that contained a man, woman and child. Agents extracted the man, who was driving, before leaving behind the woman and child.

The Los Angeles Police Department responded to the scene to investigate the traffic collision, said Officer Tony Im, a department spokesperson. He referred all other inquiries to the Department of Homeland Security.

Flanked by more than two dozen local lawmakers from across the Southland, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass decried the continuing immigration raids in the region and military escalation from the federal government.

“Maybe we are part of a national experiment to determine how far the federal government can go in reaching in and taking over power from a governor, power from a local jurisdiction, and frankly, leaving our city and our citizens, our residents, in fear,” the mayor said Wednesday morning, standing in front of a City Hall podium as fellow elected officials crammed into the space behind her.

All of the mayors, vice mayors and city council members standing with Bass represented cities where “immigrants are key” and in some cases make up the majority of the population, she said.

She called the presence “of federalized troops on the heels of these raids” a “drastic and chaotic escalation” that was unnecessary.

“Our communities are not battlegrounds, deploying military forces and conducting militarized ICE raids in immigrant neighborhoods is not about public safety,” Huntington Park Mayor Arturo Flores said.

“It is about political theater that is rooted in fear.”

Flores, a military veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, spoke directly to any of the Marines stationed in Los Angeles who might be watching the newscast.

“When we lifted our hands and we swore the oath to defend the Constitution, to defend this country, that oath was to the American people. It was not to a dictator, it was not to a tyrant, it was not to a president, it was to the American people,” Flores said, adding that any people the Marines might encounter in Southern California communities were Americans, “whether they have a document, or they don’t.”

Former Downey Mayor Mario Trujillo said his community had been targeted by immigration authorities that morning.

“They raided the Home Depot, the L.A. Fitness and I understand they arrested an elderly man in front of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a place of worship. He was dropping off his granddaughter,” Trujillo said.

WASHINGTON — Immigration agents have arrested 330 immigrants in Los Angeles since Friday, the White House confirmed Wednesday.

The numbers came from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who also slammed Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, saying they — not President Trump — “fanned the flames” of violence in Los Angeles.

At first, there was a trickle of cancellations at Sampa restaurant in downtown after Friday’s protests over federal immigration enforcement in L.A.

By Sunday, the modern Filipino restaurant in the Arts District had lost more than 50% of its business, with reservations canceled and brunch walk-ins slowed to a halt.

“I think most of our diners travel to us and they get spooked,” said co-owner Jenny Valles. “They get really scared, like, ‘Well, I don’t know if I’m going to get caught up in the protests or the street closures, so we’re just going to stay away.’

“While 99% of L.A. is doing fine and living their lives, people don’t realize that 1% is greatly affected by this.”

On Tuesday evening, when Valles and her business partners — husband Peter Rosenberg and chef Josh Espinosa — learned of downtown’s 8 p.m. curfew, they canceled most of the night’s reservations and closed early to allow staff to return home safely. The restaurant is within the curfew zone.

Now they’re pivoting their business hours, hoping that running the weekend brunch menu on weekdays and starting dinner at 3 p.m. can help them sustain.

“We’re a small business, we can’t afford to close,” Valles said. “Our strategy is just: stay open, make money where we can, make sure we keep our lights on, make sure we keep our staff on.”

Espinosa estimates that the restaurant makes 80% of its revenue between the hours of 6 and 10 p.m.

With L.A. Mayor Karen Bass weighing more curfews, they’re concerned that they cannot afford to close for even one hour between brunch and dinner service.

At least 14 people are facing federal charges tied to immigration protests that have roiled L.A. in recent days, with alleged crimes ranging from assaults on officers and possession of explosive devices to conspiracy to impede arrests.

Some are charged in criminal complaints with extremely serious offenses — including hurling a Molotov cocktail at Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies last weekend or throwing cinder blocks at federal law enforcement — but others face prison time for extremely minor skirmishes with immigration agents that one former federal prosecutor called “sad and pathetic.” No one has been indicted thus far.

Federal immigration authorities have deported a 9-year-old Torrance Elementary School student and his father to Honduras after the pair showed up for a routine immigration hearing last month.

Mártir García-Banegas, 50, and his son, Mártir García Lara, are in the capital of Honduras, reeling from their removal of their lives in the United States.

National Guard troops and Marines in Los Angeles are only there to defend property and not make arrests, nor do they have that power, Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of the U.S. Northern Command, told The Times in an interview.

“They are not law enforcement officers, and they do not have the authority to make arrests,” Guillot said. “There are very unique situations where they could detain someone if detaining was necessary to defend, but they could only detain that person long enough to hand it off to a proper law enforcement official.”

He clarified that such a situation could arise in a rare circumstance, such as if someone was throwing rocks or an explosive and detaining them would limit the potential threat or injuries. Approximately 700 Marines and 2,100 National Guard troops are in the greater Los Angeles area, he said.

While the troops were focused on defending the federal buildings and personnel, all the National Guard members and Marines were “trained in what we call the standing rules for the use of force, they’re trained in civil disturbance operation, which includes deescalation and crowd control, and they’re trained in using non-lethal or less-than-lethal force,” Guillot said. “Those are requirements that I have before they can assume any of the duties [in Los Angeles].”

As of Tuesday, he said National Guard members have already been mobilized to defend three federal buildings and to protect ICE agents as they go on missions. Marines had not yet been mobilized on such missions, but he expected that to begin Wednesday.

“They aren’t part of the ICE operations in terms of arresting anybody, because that’s a law enforcement mission,” he said. “Their role is solely to protect the ICE members while the ICE officials conduct the law enforcement missions.”

AUSTIN, Texas — Protests that sprang up in Los Angeles over immigration enforcement raids and prompted President Trump to mobilize National Guard troops and Marines have begun to spread across the country, with more planned into the weekend.

From Seattle to Austin to Washington D.C., marchers have chanted slogans, carried signs against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and snarled traffic through downtown avenues and outside federal offices. While many were peaceful, some have resulted in clashes with law enforcement as officers made arrests used chemical irritants to disperse crowds.

A Republican senator from Missouri threatened an investigation on Wednesday into one of Los Angeles’ most established immigrant organizations, accusing it of “bankrolling the unrest.”

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights should “cease and desist any further involvement in the organization, funding, or promotion of these unlawful activities,” said Sen. Josh Hawley in a letter to Angelica Salas, head of the organization.

Hundreds of people were arrested in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday, as protests continued over federal immigration sweeps and a curfew went into place for parts of downtown, police said.

The LAPD said there were 203 arrests for failing to disperse. There were also 17 arrests for violating the curfew ; three arrests for possession of a firearm; one arrest for assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer; and one arrest for discharging a laser at a LAPD helicopter, according to the police department.

Mayor Karen Bass declared a curfew starting at 8 p.m. Tuesday for all or parts of the Civic Center, Historic Core, Little Tokyo, Chinatown, and other neighborhoods.

The order came after four days of escalating protests that defaced landmarks and government buildings and damaged local businesses.

The LAPD said that officers used “numerous” less-lethal munitions on the crowd Tuesday and that two officers were injured and treated.

National Guard troops, Homeland Security officers, and numerous other local law enforcement agencies are also in downtown L.A.

Bass said that she expects the curfew to remain in place for several days and will consult with law enforcement and elected leaders before lifting it. She said it was necessary to curb the actions of “bad actors who do not support the immigrant community.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said hundreds of people have been taken into custody during federal raids that started last week.

But it’s not clear exactly how many people have been arrested. An immigrants rights leader in Los Angeles said about 300 people have been detained by federal authorities in California.

VIDEO | 02:03

Why fly the Mexican flag at rallies in the United States?

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Read more: Why waving the Mexican flag at immigration rallies isn’t wrong

Los Angeles City Council members sparred with Police Chief Jim McDonnell on Tuesday over the LAPD’s handling of protests against President Trump’s immigration crackdown, with some challenging the department’s relationship with its federal counterparts.

The chief appeared before the council to discuss the Los Angeles Police Department’s attempts to control the protests that have erupted mostly downtown every day since Friday, sometimes descending into chaos.

• Mayor Karen Bass issued a regional curfew order on Tuesday in an effort to restore order. The curfew is in place from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. across most of downtown Los Angeles. As of 9 p.m. Tuesday, 25 protesters had been arrested in downtown L.A. on suspicion of violating curfew, according to an LAPD spokesperson.

• A lawsuit brought by the state of California this week challenged President Trump’s decision to send in the National Guard. The suit, filed by Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta on behalf of California and Gov. Gavin Newsom, states that the Trump administration violated the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which spells out the limits of federal power.

• 700 Marines arrived in the Greater Los Angeles area by Tuesday afternoon. At least one convoy of U.S. Marine vehicles from Twentynine Palms had arrived at Orange County’s Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach under police escort. The mobilized Marines and National Guard troops will be stationed in facilities across the region, including Seal Beach, Los Alamitos and a number of National Guard armories.

• Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot told The Times on Tuesday that the Marines in Los Angeles were limited in their authority, deployed only to defend federal property and federal personnel. They do not have arrest power, he said.

U.S. Marines arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday amid growing concerns about a lack of coordination and communication between local police and the federal forces.

The Trump administration has vowed to send 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles to protect immigration agents and federal buildings from protests, some of which have turned violent. But there remains something of a mystery about exactly where the forces are being stationed and exactly what they will do.

SACRAMENTO — With federal troops occupying the streets of downtown Los Angeles and immigration agents carrying out indiscriminate raids across the city, Gov. Gavin Newsom forcefully rebuked President’s Trump claim that militarization was necessary to control the protests and offered an alternative vision of leadership for a nation in turmoil.

“Donald Trump’s government isn’t protecting our communities — they’re traumatizing our communities,” Newsom said in a speech Tuesday shared on social media during the prime-time hour. “And that seems to be the entire point.”

Alarm spread through California agricultural centers Tuesday as panicked workers reported that federal immigration authorities — who had largely refrained from major enforcement action in farming communities in the first months of the Trump administration — were showing up at farm fields and packinghouses from the Central Coast to the San Joaquin Valley.

“Today we are seeing an uptick in the chaotic presence of immigration enforcement, particularly the Border Patrol,” said Elizabeth Strater, vice president of the United Farm Workers. “We’re seeing it in multiple areas.”

Following four days of escalating protests that defaced landmarks and damaged property in downtown L.A., Mayor Karen Bass imposed a regional curfew on Tuesday in an effort to restore order.

When and where does the curfew take place?

Los Angeles had its quietest night in a week on Tuesday, as a combination of a city curfew and faith leaders’ calls for nonviolent resistance appeared to quell furious protests against the Trump administration’s sprawling immigration raids, for at least one evening.

Mayor Karen Bass ordered the curfew to be in effect from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. in downtown Los Angeles, which houses City Hall, the main county criminal courthouse, LAPD headquarters and federal buildings that have been the target of protests leading to hundreds of arrests and assorted property damage.

Mayor Karen Bass has announced a curfew will be put into effect for a wide swath of downtown Los Angeles following four nights of sporadically chaotic protests during which law enforcement arrested around 300 people.

The curfew will extend from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. It will apply to the area of downtown from the 5 Freeway to the 110 Freeway and from the 10 Freeway to where the 110 Freeway and the 5 Freeway merge, Bass said.