What happened on June 9 and 10 during the L.A. immigration raid protests

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.

The Los Angeles Police Department arrested 25 people on suspicion of violating curfew Tuesday evening as protests continued downtown for the fifth day in a row, according to a department spokesperson.

Shortly after 9 p.m., the LAPD announced on X that it was initiating “mass arrests” of those who continued to congregate on 1st Street between Spring and Alameda streets in violation of the curfew that took effect at 8 p.m.

The evening’s arrests came on top of 205 protest-related arrests made by the LAPD and the California Highway Patrol earlier in the day. The total number of arrests is likely to continue to grow as law enforcement works to clear the remaining protesters from downtown, the spokesperson said.

Mayor Karen Bass announced the curfew at a 5:30 p.m. news conference, saying it was a necessary step to stem the slew of vandalism and property damage downtown. The curfew zone spans from the 5 Freeway to the 110 Freeway and from the 10 Freeway to where the 110 Freeway and the 5 Freeway merge.

Limited exceptions apply to members of the media, law enforcement, emergency personnel and those who live or work downtown.

“My message to you is, if you do not live or work in downtown L.A., avoid the area,” said Bass. “Law enforcement will arrest individuals who break the curfew, and you will be prosecuted.”

Metro temporarily suspended many of its bus and train routes through downtown Los Angeles as curfew took effect at 8 p.m. Tuesday, leaving many riders high and dry.

Just 12 minutes before the curfew was set to begin, Metro announced on X that nine train stations located within the curfew footprint would be closed. Then, just one minute before curfew, Metro announced that service on 10 bus lines would also be suspended downtown.

The closures affect people trying to get home from work as well as those trying to obey curfew orders and exit the area, prompting a large outcry online and raising concerns about how disabled people would navigate the sudden service suspensions.

Then at 9 p.m., Metro reversed course and resumed normal service throughout downtown.

Joseph Cohen May was riding the Metro E Line home to downtown from Santa Monica when at 8:15 p.m. he and his fellow passengers were abruptly booted from the train at the LATTC/Ortho Institute station in South Central L.A.

He attempted to use a Lime scooter to travel home but said that service was also suspended.

“I’m a young, able-bodied person, so it’s not a huge impediment for me,” he said. “But there are thousands of people who live downtown, there are thousands of people who are still going to need to go to work tomorrow early morning.”

He ended up safely walking the one and half miles to his apartment but noted that walking alone at night could be dangerous for folks.

“This was executed horribly,” he said. “It seems like the mayor and City Council aren’t aware that there are people who live downtown.”

California

Bass enacts curfew in downtown L.A. to stem chaotic protests

Mayor Bass announced Tuesday that a curfew would be put into place for one square mile of downtown Los Angeles from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

June 10, 2025

Mayor Bass announced the 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew at a 5:30 p.m. news conference Tuesday in an effort to curb ongoing vandalism and violence at the protests in downtown L.A.

The curfew applies from the 5 Freeway to the 110 Freeway and from the 10 Freeway to where the 110 Freeway and the 5 Freeway merge. Law enforcement, emergency and medical personnel, residents, people traveling to and from work and credentialed members of the media are exempt.

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.”

Los Angeles City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto said Tuesday that the city of L.A. was exploring legal avenues to remove National Guard troops and U.S. Marines from Los Angeles.

Feldstein Soto said that the demonstrations had been confined to just a small portion of the city and the arrival of the troops and military was unnecessary.

“There’s no basis for them to come in. If it were a war zone, that’s where the military belongs,” Feldstein Soto told The Times.

“It seems like it’s taking an elephant gun to a flea.”

President Trump ordered state and federal officers into the city over the objections of both Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass following clashes between protesters and police over federal immigration enforcement.

Any legal action by the city would follow a lawsuit brought by the state of California this week that challenges 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.

Bonta has also asked a federal court to immediately intervene to halt the deployment of the state and national forces.

Feldstein Soto said the city was researching whether to file a “complaint in intervention,” which would make L.A. a party in the state’s action; bringing its own action; or doing something else.

Feldstein Soto called Bonta’s lawsuit “very clean” but said the city’s standing and issues were less clear.

She said L.A. had “harm and damages that the state does not have because all of this unconstitutional activity is taking place in our city against our residents.”

Asked about those damages, Feldstein Soto said the city had incurred “a lot” of overtime costs.

Jessica Levinson, who teaches constitutional law at Loyola Law School, said the city could seek to file a separate, parallel lawsuit against the Trump administration.

“But it seems to be that the wiser and more sound legal strategy,” Levinson said, “is to seek to intervene in the suit already brought by the State against the Trump administration.”

If Los Angeles seeks to intervene, and the judge grants that request, then they become a party to the suit, said Levinson. The city could also support Bonta’s suit by filing an amicus brief, she said.

Feldstein Soto, in the interview, urged Angelenos to know their legal rights and expressed dismay about the president’s actions.

“The really dangerous escalation of the tactics being used across L.A. undermines the trust between our immigrant communities and our government,” she said. “It makes us all safe less safe. We all know that.”

As Feldstein Soto spoke, police sirens and helicopters could be heard outside the City Hall media rooms as demonstrators spilled onto the 101 Freeway in another day of protests.

After days of fiery protest against federal immigration raids, Los Angeles residents and officials braced for the arrival of hundreds of U.S. Marines on Tuesday in what some called an unprecedented and potentially explosive deployment of active-duty troops with hazy mission objectives.

As Trump administration officials vowed to crack down on “rioters, looters and thugs,” state and local officials decried the mobilization of 700 troops from the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, calling it a clear violation of law and civility. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass even likened the deployment to “an experiment” that nobody asked to be a part of.

After four days of protests, shopkeepers in downtown Los Angeles began Tuesday to sweep up glass, board up windows and try to make sense of the violence that erupted during the demonstrations against immigration raids near the heart of the city.

Around Little Tokyo and other downtown L.A. neighborhoods, workers and business owners woke Tuesday to fresh graffiti on government buildings and businesses, shattered shop windows and an increased police presence. Many businesses remained closed during the protest. Some reopened for the first time Tuesday.

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.”

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.

As protesters swarmed downtown Los Angeles to denounce ICE raids in their communities and the deployment of the National Guard, a potent image kept flashing across television screens and social media: officers in riot gear facing off against flag- and sign-waving demonstrators in front of a strikingly resonant, red mural posing a series of queries interrogating the very nature of power and control.

Barbara Kruger’s 30-by-191-foot “Questions” takes up the entire side wall of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Geffen Contemporary warehouse building, facing Temple Street and — notably — the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building. Like many of Kruger’s most iconic images, including her famous 1989 abortion rights poster, “Your Body Is a Battleground,” the mural features words in starkly clear graphic design — in this case, white letters on a red background asking nine now-prophetic questions:

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.

President Trump promised a new “golden age” for America, but it’s been anything but that for Los Angeles, with its dependence on trade and immigrant labor — two backbones of the region’s economy.

First, the president’s tariffs cut deeply into traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and now his push to arrest undocumented immigrants at work sites, which has spurred massive protests as Trump deploys the National Guard, threatens a one-two punch to a region just starting its recovery from January’s firestorms.

Saraí Ortiz’s father, Jose, worked 18 years for Ambiance Apparel, rising to become a floor manager at the sprawling fast-fashion warehouse in downtown Los Angeles.

His tenure ended Friday, when federal authorities raided the company, arresting Jose Ortiz and more than 40 other immigrant workers as Saraí watched.

Several hundred protesters spilled onto the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon, temporarily blocking traffic in both directions as the California Highway Patrol used batons to push them back, detaining scores of people in the process.

CHP Assistant Chief Kyle Foster said officers detained 67 people on suspicion of failing to disperse and refusing to follow police orders.

The CHP had closed the on-ramps to the 101 Freeway near Commercial Street, but around 3:45 p.m. dozens of protesters squeezed through holes in the fence and walked into the southbound lanes near the Mission Road exit, grinding traffic to a halt.

Around 300 protesters gathered on the freeway at the peak of the takeover, disrupting the flow of cars in both the north and southbound lanes as drivers responded with a chorus of honks. The crowd was met with lines of CHP officers who used batons to push them back. Some protesters lobbed water bottles.

A firework went off on the freeway amid the chaos, and at least one protester was detained by the CHP.

At 4:10 p.m., a stream of CHP cruisers poured down the southbound lanes, pushing protesters off the freeway and nearby embankment without making arrests.

CHP officers cornered a group of people pushed off of the freeway at Commercial Street. A CHP supervisor yelled, “If you don’t have a press pass, you’re going to jail!”

When a man tried to pass a line of helmeted officers, the supervisor grabbed him, hurled him to the ground and said he was under arrest. CHP officers held another man face down on the sidewalk as they handcuffed him.

Protesters previously shut down the 101 Freeway for several hours on Sunday, during which time the CHP made 19 arrests, according to agency spokesperson Officer Alec Pereyda.

By 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, freeway traffic appeared to be moving freely in the northbound lanes and slowly in the southbound lanes.

Shortly before 5 p.m., dozens of protesters stood against the fence lining the 101 Freeway with their wrists cuffed behind their backs, vastly outnumbered by the CHP officers who were detaining them. Officers emptied the detainees’ pockets and put their belongings in paper bags before loading them onto buses.

Federal agents fired several less-lethal rounds at protesters and detained at least one man as they worked to push demonstrators away from the Metropolitan Detention Center on Tuesday afternoon.

Using clear shields, agents from Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security advanced into the crowd shortly before 2 p.m., forcing them onto Alameda Street to clear the driveway for an armored vehicle. Some in the crowd pushed back on troops, and one soldier was seen firing several rounds of what appeared to be pepper balls, causing several in the crowd to start coughing.

“We were peaceful!” One of the protesters yelled out.

The agents then returned to form a line around the entrance of the Metropolitan Detention Center and began to put on gas masks. About 20 minutes after, the federal agents once again forced the crowd into the street, shoving several with their shields.

About a dozen troops were seen running toward a man across the street wearing a Mexican flag handkerchief across his neck. It’s unclear what prompted the troops to rush toward him.

The man was taken to the ground, detained and escorted back across the street toward the center.

“What did he do? What did he do?” one protester yelled out.

“Where is he going?” Another yelled at troops. “Why is he being detained?”

Moments later, a line of about 200 police officers who were lined at Commercial Street moved onto Alameda Street, forcing the crowd south.

Police fired less-lethal rounds at the crowd, striking several protesters as they began to run down the street. Several of the officers appeared to be equipped with zip ties, and multiple patrol cars and vans followed.

Meanwhile, up the street at City Hall, a line of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in tactical gear stood at the top of the steps as the protesters below held up signs. A police drone buzzed over the group of protesters while an LAPD helicopter circled overhead.

Natalie Quintero stood on the steps wearing knee and elbow pads, holding up a Mexican flag that she says represents her family and their struggle in the United States.

“It’s so aggravating to see ICE go after hardworking people,” she said. “Being in California, it’s almost ironic that this fear mongering is being directed at us because this used to be Mexico. All of our streets are in Spanish.”

She watched news reports about the federal immigration activities and the protests. She felt angry.

“I figured I should do something with that frustration,” she said. “It’s a scary time right now but it would be so much more scary if we don’t say anything.”

She was joined by Andres Vera Rios, who said he’s frustrated that the federal government would try to undo all the hard work immigrants have done. That includes his father, a Mexican immigrant, who has been in the U.S. for 26 years and recently became a U.S. citizen.

“It’s upsetting that they would try to take that away from him,” he said. “I’m here for my family because they sacrificed so much already.”

Vera Rios is a first generation American citizen who knows that other parts of the country are focusing on the violence that has erupted from the protests.

“But we’re here and just trying to be chill, just making sure people know we’re not going anywhere,” he said.

Vanh Gonzalez drove to City Hall from Montebello on his lunch break. He felt compelled to be there so he could advocate for a peaceful protest and try to humanize the situation as much as possible.

“Our message needs to be unified,” he said. “We have to remind people that the federal government is trying to undue the rightful process that so many immigrants have enjoyed.”

He asked for people to remain peaceful as the sound of a passing police siren drowned out his words.

California’s two U.S. senators pushed top military officials Tuesday for more information about how hundreds of U.S. Marines were deployed to Los Angeles over the objections of local leaders and what the active-duty military personnel will do on the ground.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla asked the Pentagon to explain the legal basis for deploying 700 Marines amid protests and unrest over immigration raids across Southern California.

President Trump told U.S. Army troops at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina on Tuesday that he deployed thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines to Los Angeles “to protect federal law enforcement from the attacks of a vicious and violent mob.”

“Some of the radical left, they say, ‘Oh, that’s not nice,’” Trump said. “Well, if we didn’t do it, there wouldn’t be a Los Angeles. It would be burning today, just like their houses were burning a number of months ago.

“Generations of Army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third-world lawlessness here at home, like is happening in California,” Trump said. “As commander in chief, I will not let that happen. It’s never going to happen.”

The crowd cheered.

“What you are witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and on national sovereignty carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags with the aim of continuing a foreign invasion of our country — we’re not going to let that happen,” Trump said. “Remember, millions of people were allowed to come into our country totally unchecked and unvetted by stupid people, or radical left people, or sick people.”

He continued: “Open border policy, the dumbest policy yet, I would say even dumber than men playing in women’s sports, transgender for everyone. Even dumber than that.”

MEXICO CITY — It began as a softball question Tuesday to President Trump in the Oval Office: Did he have any reaction to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s comments about the unrest in Los Angeles ?

“What did she say?” Trump asked.

A convoy of U.S. Marine vehicles has arrived at Orange County’s Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, following orders from the Trump administration to assist federal authorities with immigration raids and crowd control in Los Angeles.

Buses, tactical vehicles and trucks left the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms late Monday and began arriving at Seal beach overnight, according to local police who escorted the vehicles onto the compound.

“The Marines are on the base,” said Lt. Chris Hendrix of the Seal Beach Police Department. “That started last night.”

Hendrix couldn’t give any further information on whether the Marines were arriving at intervals or all at once.

“Our involvement was just with the convoy. That request actually came from the Sheriff’s Department,” Hendrix said. The officers have been given no further instructions on an exit plan for the convoy.

A spokesperson for U.S. Northern Command confirmed Tuesday that 700 members of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines had arrived in the Greater L.A. area, but declined to give specific information. It wasn’t immediately clear whether all 700 Marines were at the weapons station, or just some of them.

Gen. Gregory Guillot confirmed that some of the Marines were now stationed at the Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach, but they could also be at other locations across the greater Los Angeles area, mentioning the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos.

The mobilized Marines and National Guard members “will be stationed all across Los Angeles ... that includes Seal Beach, Los Alamitos and a number of National Guard armories across the city,” Guillot said.

The Marine activation follows several days of tense confrontations between demonstrators and law enforcement in Los Angeles. Local officials have decried the use of Marines and National Guard troops without the state’s approval.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers Tuesday that the 60-day deployment of troops is needed “because we want to ensure that those rioters, looters and thugs on the other side assaulting our police officers know that we’re not going anywhere.”

Under the Posse Comitatus Act, troops are prohibited from policing U.S. citizens on American soil. Invoking the Insurrection Act, which allows troops to do that, is incredibly rare, and it’s unclear whether President Trump plans to do it.

The commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Eric Smith, told lawmakers at a separate budget hearing Tuesday that the Marines who have arrived in Los Angeles have not yet been called on to respond. He said they have no arrest authority and are there only to protect federal property and federal personnel.

The Associated Press contributed to this post.

An immigrants-rights leader in Los Angeles said about 300 people had been detained by federal authorities in California since sweeps began last week.

Angelica Salas, director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said her group used interviews with family members, conversations with elected officials and direct reporting from the ground to confirm detentions.

“Our communities are being terrorized. We’re in a state of terror. People are outraged at what’s happening,” she told the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday.

“I have never seen anything like this,” added Salas, who has worked in immigrants rights for 30 years.

Salas said her group confirmed raids at two locations of Ambiance Apparel, numerous car washes throughout the region, and a doughnut shop. A group of roofers in Westminster was also targeted by federal agents, she said.

Edwin Carmona-Cruz, co-executive director at the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, said his organization did not have information on the number of arrests in Los Angeles but that in Northern and Central California, dozens of immigrants had been detained over the last two weeks after immigration court or routine ICE check-ins.

Federal officials confirmed that hundreds of immigrants have have been arrested by ICE officers and agents since Friday.

At least two people detained Friday have already been deported to Mexico, according to Yliana Johansen-Méndez, chief program officer for the Immigrant Defenders Law Center.

“We heard our first case of someone that had been picked up that morning that we were trying to meet with, and by 7 p.m., the family reported to us that they were calling from Tijuana that they had already been deported,” Johansen-Méndez said during a virtual press conference on Tuesday.

“I was in disbelief. I thought surely this was a mistake. And then the next day, it happened again.”

Another family, she said, reported that one of their relatives had been picked up by immigration authorities on Saturday and was in Tijuana that night.

These are the only two confirmed cases that the organization is aware of, she said, largely because they don’t know where people are — the detainee locator may not have the individuals in their systems yet, and attorneys don’t often have the identification number that can be used to follow a case — and people are being moved very quickly, she said.

“We don’t know what’s happening with the majority of people,” Johansen-Méndez said. “People have been deported, but we don’t know the true impact on all of those who have been detained.”

Johansen-Méndez also said immigration officials in Los Angeles have severely restricted attorney access to detainees in ways attorneys have never seen, including limiting the number of attorneys allowed to enter detention centers or barring attorneys from bringing in laptops or phones.

With the recent rallies and protests in Los Angeles over immigration raids, you’ve probably seen a number of flags representing Mexico and other Latin countries being waved. Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano talks about why you tend to see these flags at immigration rallies.

VIDEO | 02:03

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

• Share via Close extra sharing options

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Threads
  • Reddit
  • WhatsApp
  • Copy Link URL Copied!

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Tuesday that she is considering enacting a curfew for downtown L.A. following additional vandalism in the area Monday night.

VIDEO | 01:23

Bass considers a downtown curfew to quell violence

• Share via Close extra sharing options

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Threads
  • Reddit
  • WhatsApp
  • Copy Link URL Copied!

“There would be no need for a citywide curfew,” she said. “But again, this is just preliminary discussions.”

Bass characterized the violence and vandalism in some downtown neighborhoods as “unacceptable” but also reiterated that it was limited to a small geographic area.

“Unfortunately, the visuals make it seem as though our entire city is in flames, and it is not the case at all,” she said.

California

All of L.A. is not a ‘war zone.’ We separate facts from spin and disinformation amid immigration raids

What’s actually happening during the ICE sweeps and protests across Los Angeles.

June 14, 2025

Continued damage would not be tolerated, Bass said. She also called on all Angelenos to help with the cleanup effort downtown.

The mayor decried President Trump’s move to send hundreds of Marines into L.A.

“People have asked me, what are the Marines going to do when they get here? That’s a good question. I have no idea.”

Asked about what her message would be for Trump, Bass said she would beseech him to stop the raids.

“I want to tell him that this is a city of immigrants. I want to tell him that if you want to devastate the economy of the city of Los Angeles, then attack the immigrant population,” she said.

She also spoke to the terror and uncertainty rippling through communities.

“We never know when, we never know how long,” she said of the government sweeps. “But that very notion creates such a terrible sense of fear in our city, and it’s just not right to do that to a population who’s trying to survive.”

A federal judge will hear arguments in open court Thursday 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, arguing the Trump administration intended for the military forces to “accompany federal immigration enforcement officers on raids throughout Los Angeles” and “must be stopped, immediately.”

Rep. Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills) introduced a resolution Tuesday along with other members of the California Republican delegation to condemn unrest in Los Angeles and stand with law enforcement.

“Peaceful protests are a constitutional right, but vandalism, looting, violence, and other crimes are not,” Kim said in a statement.

She added: “I hope Governor Newsom can come together with President Trump to stop the riots, lower the temperature, and keep our communities safe.”

The resolution recognizes the right to assemble and protest peacefully, condemns violence against law enforcement, and calls on local and state elected officials to work with the federal government to restore peace.

“Local and state leadership failed to contain the rapidly escalating disorder, failing to support overwhelmed law enforcement personnel,” the resolution states.

The resolution reflects the opinions of House members but does not have legal teeth.

L.A. Police Chief Jim McDonnell said Monday that the deployment of 700 Marines by the Trump administration without coordination poses a “significant logistical and operational challenge” to law enforcement’s efforts to protect the city.

Earlier, Trump ordered National Guard troops into L.A. despite objections from Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.

Joining Kim in introducing the resolution were Reps. Ken Calvert (R-Corona), Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield), Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall), Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin), Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale), Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove), Jay Obernolte (R-Big Bear Lake), and David Valadao (R-Hanford).

As the number of immigration raids has increased across Southern California over the last week, there are more questions than ever about how to handle an interaction with federal agents.

Here is what you can do if you or a loved one gets detained by ICE.

VIDEO | 01:20

What to do if ICE detains you

• Share via Close extra sharing options

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Threads
  • Reddit
  • WhatsApp
  • Copy Link URL Copied!

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.

During a news conference Tuesday morning at the U.S. Capitol, 16 House Democrats from California condemned the Trump administration’s actions in Los Angeles, accusing the president of attempting to incite unrest, test the limits of executive power and distract from the failures of his own leadership.

Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles) led the news conference after arriving back in Washington from Los Angeles, where he was denied entry Saturday to the immigration detention facility inside the Roybal Federal Building.

Gomez told reporters he attempted to conduct a lawfully permitted oversight inspection after receiving reports of immigrants being held in basement cells for up to 24 hours without food, water or sunlight.

On Tuesday, Gomez said that what’s happening in California could happen in any state.

“The chaos is the bait and the switch is a constitutional crisis,” he said. “President Trump created this political distraction to divide us and keep our focus away from his policies that are wreaking havoc on our economy and hurting working families.

“He’s not keeping us safe; he’s not restoring order. He’s ratcheting up the tension, wishing for it to reach a boiling point – and we all knew that this day would come.”

Rep. Norma Torres (D-Pomona), a former 9-1-1 dispatcher, recalled the violent unrest of 1992 following the police beating of Rodney King.

“During that time, the city of Los Angeles did request the National Guard,” she said. “They were standing in corners without weapons, in uniform, trying to show support for the community, show stability and bring calm to the situation. That is what we need.”

Another time that leaders asked for the National Guard, recalled former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), was when a pro-Trump mob descended on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The riot left around 150 police officers injured and one person dead.

A bipartisan Senate report found that at least seven people lost their lives in connection with the Jan. 6 attack.

Upon his return to office, Trump pardoned those convicted of crimes by the Biden administration.

“We begged the President of the United States to send in the National Guard,” Pelosi recalled. “He would not do it.”

Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) said the protests were inevitable. Chu and other California lawmakers went to the Adelanto ICE processing center Sunday to conduct Congressional oversight after learning that some immigrants who were arrested during the raids in Los Angeles had been taken to the facility, which is north of San Bernardino.

Federal agents refused to let them in, she said.

“What is happening in Los Angeles is a manufactured crisis by Trump, all done while flaunting the law,” she said. “He is the one that conducted these massive raids…without names on these warrants.”

The lawmakers repeatedly said that while they support peaceful protest, those who are acting unlawfully should be punished.

Pelosi cautioned that any time there is a large gathering, “anarchists see it as an opportunity.”

“Whether you see a burned car, a broken window or whatever it is – it may be the exuberance of the moment, but it may be the anarchists setting in,” she said.

The images published by news outlets show only “a small portion of downtown” where violence occurred, said Rep. Nanette Barragan (D-San Pedro).

Rep. Luz Rivas (D-North Hollywood) said those images show people “hijacking this for their own cause.”

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) warned that martial law could come next.

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.

Local law enforcement sources said coordination between police and the feds has been limited, a distinct contrast to other times troops have hit the streets of L.A. including in 2020 during George Floyd demonstrations and amid the 1992 riots. Such a large federal force has raised eyebrows because most of the clashes have occurred in a relatively small part of downtown Los Angeles as opposed to scattered across the city. L.A. police commanders have at times felt stretched as they deal with rowdy crowds at night that vandalize and steal from buildings, the sources said, but they believe local authorities are much better equipped to bring order than outside forces.

The deployment of National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles will cost at least $134 million and last at least the next 60 days, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and a senior defense official told lawmakers Tuesday.

“We stated very publicly that it’s 60 days because we want to ensure that those rioters, looters and thugs on the other side assaulting our police officers know that we’re not going anywhere,” Hegseth told members of the House appropriations defense subcommittee.

After persistent questioning from members of Congress, Hegseth turned to his acting comptroller, Bryn Woollacott MacDonnell, who provided the total and said this “is largely just the cost of travel, housing and food.”

Agents were spotted Monday at a courthouse and library in Whittier, Home Depots in Huntington Park and Santa Ana and businesses in Fountain Valley, according to officials and media reports.

A Home Depot in the Westlake District of Los Angeles was targeted last Friday.

Federal officials have provided few details about how they are choosing targets and how long the operation will last.

Los Angeles school police will set up a safety perimeter around campuses and school events — including graduations — to keep federal immigration agents away from students, employees and families, school officials said Monday.

The announcement by Supt. Alberto Carvalho comes amid widespread immigration raids in Los Angeles — including one on Monday at a Home Depot adjacent to Huntington Park High School — after a weekend of isolated but intense downtown clashes between police and protesters, some of whom set self-driving Waymo cars on fire and threw rocks and fireworks.

Police continued to clash with a small group of agitators in downtown Los Angeles into early Tuesday morning.

There was far less chaos Monday night compared to Sunday, when vehicles were set on fire and businesses robbed.

On Monday night, police pushed people out of the civic center and into downtown L.A. Significant numbers of arrests were made but no details were available.

There were some reports of a small number business being broken into late Monday.

Monday’s protests were, for the most part, calmer than Sunday’s melees, which left a wake of foam bullets around the city’s center and many protesters injured from the munitions.

The number of National Guard troops in Los Angeles has reached 1,700, the U.S. Northern Command said.

The Trump Administration promised 2,000 troops Saturday. Since then, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the White House has ordered up 2,000 more.

California has sued to end the deployment.

The federal government has also dispatched hundreds of Marines to L.A.

• The Pentagon approved the deployment of 700 U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton to Los Angeles with a mission of helping to protect federal agents and buildings. On Monday evening, a military convoy was seen traveling from Twentynine Palms toward Los Angeles.

  Gov. Gavin Newsom called the deployment a “blatant abuse of power” and said the state would sue to challenge the move. Newsom’s announcement concerning the Marines comes on the heels of a federal lawsuit the state filed Monday morning over the mobilization of the state’s National Guard during the weekend’s immigration protests.
  

• President Donald Trump also ordered the mobilization of an additional 2,000 California National Guard troops to L.A. on Monday night. Newsom criticized the action on X, calling it “reckless.”
  
• Monday’s protests were calmer than Sunday’s. By midnight, ongoing immigration protests in downtown L.A. and Santa Ana had largely dispersed. Officers used less-lethal munitions and tear gas as they clashed with a few dozen people who remained in downtown Los Angeles. Earlier in the day, a crowd several hundred strong had rallied in front of the federal building.

The crowd near Los Angeles City Hall had by Sunday evening reached an uneasy detente with a line of grim-faced police officers.

The LAPD officers gripped “less lethal” riot guns, which fire foam rounds that leave red welts and ugly bruises on anyone they hit. Demonstrators massed in downtown Los Angeles for the third straight day. Some were there to protest federal immigration sweeps across the county — others appeared set on wreaking havoc.

By 11 p.m. Monday, law enforcement had largely dispersed ongoing immigration protests in downtown L.A. and Santa Ana.

Monday’s protests were, for the most part, calmer than Sunday’s melees, which left a wake of foam bullets around the city’s center and many protesters injured from the munitions.

As midnight approached, officers used less-lethal munitions and tear gas as they clashed with a few dozen people who remained in downtown Los Angeles. Earlier in the day, a crowd several hundred strong had rallied in front of the federal building.

Officers moved in the late afternoon to push the throng away from the buildings that had been the focus of Sunday’s protests and steadily pushed them into Little Tokyo, with the crowd thinning with each push.

A few dozen protesters remained scattered around Little Tokyo around 10 p.m. Officers were shooting flash-bangs and less-lethal munitions, while the protesters tried to erect a barrier with recycling bins.

At least one car window was shattered, sending glass shards shooting into the crowd.

Down the coast, the Santa Ana Police Department used tools such as tear gas, pepper balls and rubber bullets to clear crowds following reports of protesters throwing objects at police.

“What began as a lawful assembly around the Civic Center Plaza, has escalated into objects being thrown towards officers and other members of the public, posing a risk to public safety, property, and the well-being of our community,” the Santa Ana Police Department said in a statement on X.

VIDEO | 01:16

The rhythms of protest

• Share via Close extra sharing options

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Threads
  • Reddit
  • WhatsApp
  • Copy Link URL Copied!

Over the last few days, people have taken to the streets of downtown Los Angeles to protest ICE raids, filling the air with chants and songs. How does music play into protesting?

When Cinthia Soriao, Edgar Hernandez and Sesarin Hernandez set up their aguas frescas stand with an extra gallon of milk on Sunday morning, they never imagined they’d be using it to quell the burn of tear gas hours later.

The trio sells hot dogs and aguas frescas off the historic LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, next to the Church of Our Lady Queen of Angels. Most weekends their customers consist of churchgoers after service or a baptism. On Sunday they were protesters locked in a dramatic clash with the Los Angeles Police Department and the National Guard over a series of Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps occurring across L.A. And in the process of serving them, Soriao and the Hernandez brothers ducked fireworks, hid beneath their food stand and poured surplus milk into the eyes of protesters who had inhaled tear gas.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday evening that the state of California would sue to stop the deployment of Marines in Los Angeles, which he called a “blatant abuse of power.” The Pentagon earlier Monday approved the deployment of 700 U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton to Los Angeles — their mission to help protect federal agents and buildings.

The troops were set to arrive in L.A. on Monday night, according to a spokesperson for U.S. Northern Command. In the evening, a military convey was seen traveling from Twentynine Palms toward Los Angeles.

Newsom’s announcement concerning the Marines comes on the heels of a federal lawsuit the state filed Monday morning over the mobilization of the state’s National Guard during the weekend’s immigration protests. That suit accuses President Trump of overstepping his federal authority and violating the U.S. Constitution in sending the troops without Newsom’s approval.

Politics

California sues Trump over ‘unlawful, unprecedented’ National Guard deployment

California officials on Monday filed a federal lawsuit over the mobilization of the National Guard during the weekend’s massive immigration protests.

June 9, 2025

“The Secretary of Defense is illegally deploying them onto American streets so Trump can have a talking point at his parade this weekend,” said Newsom in a statement on X. “We will sue to stop this.”

White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly pushed back on Newsom’s lawsuit threat, saying he should focus his attention on prosecuting violent protesters and thank Trump for “restoring law and order.”

“Gavin Newsom should march back to his Attorney General’s office to prosecute the anti-ICE rioters who burned property and looted businesses in Los Angeles,” she said in a statement. “It’s pathetic that Newsom is more focused on saving face than protecting law enforcement and holding criminals accountable.”

Trump and the White House say the military mobilization is legal under Section 12406 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code on Armed Forces, which gives the president the authority to federalize troops in the case of “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States.” However, in the past this has only taken place at the request of a state’s Governor.

Staff writers Laura J. Nelson and Kevin Rector contributed to this report

Angelenos without documentation are used to operating under the threat of immigration enforcement, but the recent series of raids has elevated the danger of everyday actions, like simply going to work and school.

Some migrant workers are now avoiding areas that are perceived as high risk — such as downtown Los Angeles and stores including Home Depot and Food for Less, said Megan Foronda. The 32-year-old is secretary general of Migrante, an alliance of Filipino worker and migrant organizations.

Foronda said some children have also been staying home from school because they’re scared their families or parents will be taken from them.

“A lot of Filipinos are caregivers and have even decided to stay inside the facilities and care homes that they work in and not leave,” Foronda said. “There’s just a lot of fear that people are having and wanting to avoid even going to public places, so that’s something we’ve been seeing. People want to keep a low profile.”

Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Alberto Carvalho said that school police would block immigration agents from more than 100 graduation-related events scheduled for Monday and Tuesday across L.A. schools. Around 7,500 students in the district do not have documentation, according to a report from the United Teachers Los Angeles union.

Jorge-Mario Cabrera, the communications director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights L.A. (CHIRLA), said that many immigrant community members are continuing to go about their daily lives as they do not want to miss work or keep their children from getting an education.

“They’re assessing what to do should they encounter ICE, but they’re not necessarily keeping themselves from going on with their lives,” he said. “This is why the Trump administration’s actions are the most cruel and exceedingly unwarranted, because they’re attacking working men and women. They’re attacking people who are deeply rooted in their communities.”

For some workers, missing even one or two days of wages is not an option, he said.

“People are committed to doing what they came here to do, which is to work and fight for a better future for them and their families,” said Cabrera. “This is not going to deter them. It is probably going to frighten many.”

On Monday morning, Foronda went to Eagle Rock Plaza in response to reports of a possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid and said that the migrant workers at the mall looked very scared. The report later proved to be a false alarm.

“We’ve been going door to door and trying to talk to people,” she said. “That has been giving some sense of relief. A lot of people are really afraid and afraid of even gathering in group settings out of fear.”

Foronda also said that Filipinos, who count Roman Catholicism as an important part of their culture and history, have been finding sanctuary at church, seeing it as a place of safety and prayer.

“We’ve been trying to show people that there are ways to protect ourselves and our safety,” she said. “Our safety is founded in us coming together as a community, and that’s how we’ve been able to push back when ICE was trying to detain people.”

Cabrera said CHIRLA had been ramping up its efforts to educate immigrants on how to protect themselves and had seen a significant uptick in requests from local businesses to host “know your rights” workshops for their employees.

“What we tell people is to ensure that they know their rights and to also ensure that they know how to exercise them,” he said, “because often fear makes people say things that they shouldn’t say.”

With a contingent of Marines set to arrive in Los Angeles on Monday, L.A. Police Chief Jim McDonnell said the deployment poses a “significant” challenge to law enforcement’s efforts to protect the city.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass also decried the deployment saying, “We didn’t need the National Guard, why on earth? What are they [Marines] going to to?”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth first suggested on Saturday that Marines could be mobilized as part of the federal government’s response to the ongoing immigration protests. On Monday afternoon, the Pentagon approved the deployment of 700 Marines from Camp Pendleton to the L.A. area.

The Marines will work together with the National Guard to protect federal personnel and property, according to an announcement from U.S. Northern Command.

McDonnell issued a statement Monday afternoon saying that the department had not received any formal notification that the Marines would be arriving in L.A.

“The possible arrival of federal military forces in Los Angeles — absent clear coordination — presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us tasked with safeguarding this city,” he said. “The Los Angeles Police Department, alongside our mutual aid partners, have decades of experience managing public demonstrations, and we remain confident in our ability to do so effectively and professionally.”

The National Guard troops and Marines have been trained in deescalation, crowd control and rules for the use of force, according to U.S. Northern Command. Their role is confined to protecting federal buildings and agents.

Bass questioned why the Marines were necessary on top of the hundreds of National Guard troops already on the ground.

“Do you know what the National Guard is doing now? They are guarding two buildings,” she said at an evening news conference. “They are guarding the federal building here in downtown, and they are guarding the federal building in Westwood.”

“So they need Marines on top of it?” she continued. “I don’t understand that. That’s why I feel like we are part of an experiment we didn’t ask to be a part of.”

President Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, defended Trump’s decision to send in the Marines in a Monday evening interview with CNN.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen tonight — it seems like, at night, the crowds get bigger, the violence peaks. So, we want to be ahead of the game,” he told the station. “We’ll be well prepared for the military here to protect government property and protect officers’ lives.”

Newsom also posted on X, calling the sending of Marines “un-American” and saying that they “shouldn’t be deployed on American soil facing their own countrymen to fulfill the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial President.”

The last time the U.S. National Guard and the Marines were deployed to Los Angeles in a similar manner was in 1992 to help respond to riots that erupted after the Rodney King verdict. In that case, the troops were sent at the request of California’s then-Gov. Pete Wilson and L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley.

California Republican Party chair Corrin Rankin blamed Democrats for the violence in L.A. and criticized protesters who attacked police officers.

“We must fully support law enforcement,” Rankin said in a video message Monday. “Arrest and prosecute every criminal. And replace the Democratic politicians who encouraged this to happen. That is how we restore order and protect Californians.”

Rankin is the latest California Republican to take aim at Democrats following protests sparked by federal immigration sweeps in Los Angeles.

“Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass have a real habit of letting Los Angeles burn,” Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa of Bonsall posted on X on Saturday.

“Democrats and the media think riots that try to injure or kill law enforcement are ‘mostly peaceful,’” he wrote in another post.

Rankin, in her video, accused protesters of attacking officers, police horses and property with fireworks, rocks and other weapons. Several images of protesters waving Mexican flags have circulated in the media and Rankin criticized demonstrators for “waving the flags of foreign nations like conquerors in our streets.”

Democratic politicians have also criticized protesters for throwing rocks and objects at officers in Southern California on Sunday and urged peaceful demonstrations. The same politicians blame President Trump for escalating tensions between law enforcement and protesters by calling in National Guard troops against the wishes of Gov. Gavin Newsom and others.

On Monday, the Trump administration announced that 700 Marines would be moved to L.A. from Camp Pendleton.

Democratic politicians “gave illegal immigrants false hope that they could stay regardless of their crimes,” said Rankin, appearing to reference California sanctuary policies which generally seek to bar local enforcement from helping with federal immigration deportation efforts.

Republicans make up roughly a quarter of registered voters in California.

Trump remains deeply unpopular in California, according to a recent UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by The Times.

The poll, conducted during the last week of April, found that 68% of registered voters in California disapprove of the president’s job performance and believe the country is on the wrong track.

In all, 65% of registered voters across the state believe that Trump’s actions have “gone beyond his constitutional authority as president,” including 24% of Republicans and 63% of independents, the poll found.

After hours of mostly peaceful protests, the situation outside the federal building in downtown Los Angeles deteriorated around 6 p.m. Monday as officers shot less-lethal munitions into a crowd that was hurling water bottles.

For most of the afternoon, National Guard and Border Patrol officers had stood guard in front of the building, which houses offices for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and other agencies, as protesters milled around chanting.

The crowd, smaller and quieter than the group on Sunday, was concentrated mainly in a one-block area. At one point, a water bottle was lobbed from deep within the crowd at police officers. Immediately, other protesters began to yell, “Peaceful protest!” One protester in a keffiyeh shouted, “No throwing water! It’s for the protesters.” But the damage had been done.

Police were on the move. They rushed into the plaza with less-lethal weapons drawn. They routed several dozen protesters down a side street as fireworks and flash-bangs filled the air.

Some of the protesters raised their hands in the air and continued chanting, “Peaceful protests” as they backed away from the building and toward Temple and Los Angeles streets. Others began to hurl bottles toward the line of law enforcement officers holding batons and launchers.

An NBC4 News van was spray-painted in graffiti and anti-ICE messages. Two protesters were seen hurling skateboards at the van windows.

VIDEO | 00:06

Two people smash van with skateboards

• Share via Close extra sharing options

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Threads
  • Reddit
  • WhatsApp
  • Copy Link URL Copied!

An NBC News van was vandalized Monday.

At 7 p.m., the LAPD advised the public to avoid the Civic Center area of downtown L.A., as protesters had moved into surrounding streets.

By 8:30 p.m., officers had winnowed the protest down to a group of around 50 contained on Alameda and Third Streets and were threatening to make arrests.

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell announced Monday afternoon that the department was on “tactical alert.”

This allows the command staff of the department to call on off-duty officers to work, extend the hours of officers and to redeploy police who are not normally on the streets.

Although McDonnell stopped short of announcing a citywide curfew, he told reporters at an evening news conference that that remained a possibility.

“That’s always a tool we can employ,” he said.

When four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King, President George H.W. Bush expressed the shock and horror many Americans felt.

“What you saw and what I saw on the TV video was revolting,” Bush said in a nationally televised speech from the Oval Office. “I felt anger. I felt pain. I thought: How can I explain this to my grandchildren?”

Some protesters threw eggs, bottles of water and punches at a man who walked through the thick of the protest on Los Angeles Street while wearing a camouflage-style “Make America Great Again” hat.

While some protesters threw punches, another group of protesters ran to protect the man, keeping others away from him and urging them not hurt him.

“Don’t lose focus!” one man could be heard yelling as the unidentified man with the MAGA hat ran away and blocked punches with his arms.

Another woman raised her hands as protesters ran after the man with the MAGA hat.

“It makes us look bad!” she yelled.

The man was at one point cornered in the driveway to a parking lot while protesters threw a broken piece of a gutter, and yellow street cones at him.

The crowd pursued the man to Judge John Aiso Street, until a patrol car arrived. Officers warned the crowd to get back, and the man in the MAGA hat and protesters yelled at one another as five officers tried to keep about 30 protesters at bay.

“Let me tell you something, Trump is your president,” the man in the hat yelled.

Paramedics were seen treating the man at the scene.

A federal magistrate judge on Monday ordered labor leader David Huerta released on a $50,000 bond after he was charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to impede an officer in connection with his alleged actions during an immigration enforcement sweep last week.

Huerta, 58, had been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles since Friday and made his initial appearance in federal court Monday afternoon.

The president of Service Employees International Union California, Huerta faces a felony charge that carries up to six years in federal prison, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in L.A.

“People are fighting for justice across this country,” Huerta said as he stood in stocking feet outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building following his release around 2:30 p.m. “I had a lot of time to think in there and I thought, both of what I would tell President Trump and I thought about prayer.”

“What I would tell President Trump, Vice President Vance, the director of Homeland Security [Kristi Noem]... [White House deputy chief of staff] Stephen Miller: They are not making America great again. This is not making America great again.”

Huerta grew teary-eyed and embraced loved ones outside the jail as a crowd clapped and chanted “Si se puede.” He told reporters that he didn’t intend to be arrested Friday.

Huerta talked at length about fellow inmates who had taken care of him during his stint at “5 South,” his nickname for the Metropolitan Detention Center.

He criticized the lack of resources for inmates, like medical services, toothpaste and deodorant.

He talked about immigrants he met who were detained, including one who he said fears being deported back to Mexico and getting recruited into a cartel or a gang.

“He doesn’t want to go back because he doesn’t want to be killed and he doesn’t want to have to kill anyone,” Huerta said. Another, he said, arrived 18 years ago from El Salvador and has become a skilled drill press operator.

“The companies he works for see the value in him, unfortunately, his country doesn’t see the value in him,” Huerta said.

“There’s more honor on 5 South,” than the White House, said Huerta, using an expletive.

“Our movement needs to be one of nonviolence,” Huerta said, adding that “violence begets violence.”

“We should be fighting against the evil, in my opinion, that is happening right now in this moment in time in this country,” Huerta said.

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom resisted a fight with President Trump over transgender youth in women’s sports. He forced his way onto a runway tarmac to make peace with the Republican leader after the Los Angeles wildfires.

Just last week, he hesitated before speaking out when rumors swirled about a massive federal funding cut to California.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the Trump administration is sending another 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles amid unrest over federal immigration raids.

“I was just informed Trump is deploying another 2,000 Guard troops to L.A.” Newsom said on X Monday afternoon. “The first 2,000? Given no food or water. Only approx. 300 are deployed — the rest are sitting, unused, in federal buildings without orders.”

“This isn’t about public safety. It’s about stroking a dangerous President’s ego. This is Reckless. Pointless. And Disrespectful to our troops,” Newsom said.

The move by President Trump to activate nearly 2,000 guardsmen over the weekend marked the first time since 1965 that a president has deployed a state’s National Guard without a request from that state’s governor.

Earlier Monday, California officials said they would file a federal lawsuit over the mobilization and accused President Trump of overstepping his federal authority and violating the U.S. Constitution.

Law enforcement arrested at least 74 people on suspicion of vandalism, looting, violence and more during the Los Angeles protests over the weekend, authorities said.

The Los Angeles Police Department arrested 29 protesters for allegedly failing to disperse at demonstrations Saturday night. The department then arrested an additional 21 people in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, alleging attempted murder with a Molotov cocktail, assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, looting, failure to disperse and other crimes.

The California Highway Patrol made 19 arrests as officers cleared protesters from the 101 Freeway on Sunday, said CHP spokesperson Alec Pereyda.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department made two arrests at Saturday’s protests in Paramount and three arrests at Sunday’s protests in downtown L.A., according to a department spokesperson.

The LAPD will continue to use body camera footage to identify and arrest those involved in criminal activity at protests, police said.

“The numbers of arrests we’ve made pale in comparison to what will be made,” said L.A. Police Chief Jim McDonnell on Sunday evening. “There are video accounts of what happened everywhere.”

L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman echoed this statement, saying that his office will respect and protect 1st Amendment rights but prosecute those who “cross the line and commit criminal acts.”

“I want to make it crystal clear, you can hurl insults at whoever you want,” Hochman said in a statement. “However, if you hurl cinder blocks, light vehicles on fire, destroy property and assault law enforcement officers, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The LAPD deployed more than 600 rounds of less-lethal munitions alongside tear gas to disperse protesters over the course of the weekend’s protests. Five LAPD officers and five horses sustained minor injuries during confrontations with protesters, police said.

Newsom’s office said that more than 640 Highway Patrol officers had been deployed, including 400 additional officers in Los Angeles to support the LAPD.

A little more than 300 of the 2,000 National Guard members called up by President Trump are on the ground in Los Angeles, according to Newsom’s office.

The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department has provided more than 200 deputies to help the LAPD respond to the protests.

Mutual aid is also being deployed from several regional law enforcement agencies.

This includes 20 deputies from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, 83 deputies from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, 32 deputies from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, 44 deputies from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and 80 officers from municipal police agencies within L.A. County.

“This collaboration ensures a unified response and reinforces public safety efforts across the region,” said L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna in a statement. “The Department remains committed to leveraging all available mutual aid channels to protect our communities and support our regional partners during the ongoing civil unrest.”

In Santa Ana, about 120 protesters gathered outside a federal building near City Hall on Monday afternoon.

Multiple raids had been conducted across Santa Ana that morning, including at Home Depots and restaurants and in industrial areas of the city.

“I feel enraged,” said Councilmember Jessie Lopez, standing with the crowd. “If [U.S. Atty.] Bill Essayli cares about criminals, he should start at the White house.”

Essayli last week sent a letter to Santa Ana, warning the sanctuary city about its proposal to pass a resolution that would require the Santa Ana Police Department to inform residents whenever they received a courtesy call from Immigration and Customs Enforcement alerting them about upcoming raids.

Bethany Anderson was with a group of friends from Fullerton, where they had been receiving calls Monday. They were standing in front of a driveway that led to a small gated garage where unmarked white vans had been driving in and out all day.

“I knew they would bring people here” to the federal building, said Anderson, who is accredited by the Department of Justice as a legal representative. “This is not a jail, so we have no idea about the quality of conditions inside, so that’s very worrisome.

Suddenly, she saw movement in the driveway and grabbed the bullhorn hanging from her shoulder. “We see you!” Anderson shouted as protesters screamed, “Shame!” and rushed to see what was going on.

“We see you, private security guards! You don’t have to do this!”

The Orange County Rapid Response Network posted addresses and photos of locations where ICE had conducted raids in Fountain Valley. The group’s co-director, Casey Conway, said he was happy to see so many people show up in Santa Ana.

“But this isn’t just today. This has been every day for three weeks. We’re super overwhelmed right now.”

The crowd held pro-immigrant and anti-Trump signs and waved Mexican flags.

Someone passed around bottled waters and masks as a young woman chanted on a bullhorn, “Move ICE, get out the way!” to artist Ludacris’ song “Move.”

Federal police stood by the building’s entrance, where some took photos of the crowd. When they went back inside, the crowd started chanting, “¡Quiere llorar!” — “He wants to cry,” a common insult among Mexican soccer and rock fans.

Alicia Rojas looked on from the edge of a sidewalk. The Colombian native had her amnesty application denied in the federal building as a child.

“This is all triggering,” said the 48-year-old artist.

Now a U.S. citizen, Rojas grew up in Mission Viejo during the era of Prop. 187 and remembered all the racism against people like her at the time.

Seeing so many young people out to protest made her “hopeful, but I’m also worried. I’ve seen how the response has been to these peaceful protests. This administration has no capacity to be American.”

She looked on. “I feel rage inside, but this is the healthiest thing to do. More than anything. I’m here to look after the kids.”

As the vans came in and out throughout the afternoon, activists at first blocked them but later backed down when federal agents shot pepper balls into the ground. Among those hit was Conway, who rushed to the side to have their reddened eyes washed out with water.

“I need someone to be on deescalation,” Conway gasped. The task fell to Tui Dashark. Dressed in neon green Doc Martens, an olive hat and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirt, he led the crowd through chants including “No firman nada” (Don’t sign anything).

“Please stop throwing water bottles,” Dashark said at one point. “They’re just water bottles to us. But to them, it’s assault with a deadly weapon.”

The crowd calmed down.

“I’m proud of you guys for not escalating,” Dashark said. “You’re the f— real ones.”

He turned to the gate driveway, where federal agents had quietly returned.

“You’re so cool man,” Dashark said in a sarcastic voice as the crowd laughed. “ I wonder, what kind of person is up thinking, ‘I want to lock up kids as a career?”

As the day continued, the situation eventually evolved into the old children’s game of Red Rover: Protesters would get too close and throw water bottles, federal agents would shoot pepper balls and eventually escalate to flash-bang grenades and tear gas. After a couple of hours, the crowd moved a couple of hundred feet to the east to Sasscer Park, named after a Santa Ana police officer killed in the 1960s by a member of the Black Panther Party. Local activists call it Black Panther Park.

By 5 p.m., the protesters numbered at least 500. T-shirts emblazoned with logos of beloved Santa Ana Chicano institutions colored the scene: Suavecito. Gunthers. Funk Freaks. Santa Ana High. El Centro Cultural de México. People took turns on bullhorns to urge calm and to unite. But then another protester saw federal agents gathering at the federal building again.

“We gotta make them work overtime!” a young woman proclaimed on a bullhorn. “They don’t make enough money. let’s go back!”

The crowd rushed back to the federal building. Eventually, Santa Ana police officers arrived to create a line and declare an unlawful assembly.

For the next four hours, the scene was akin to a party broken up occasionally by tear gas and less-than-lethal projectiles. Cars cruised on nearby streets blasting Rage against the Machine, sierreño music and the tunes of Panteón Rococó, a socialism-tinged Mexican ska group. Someone used AutoTune to shout profanities against the police, drawing giggles from the overwhelmingly Gen Z crowd.

A Latina woman who gave her name only as Flor arrived with her teenage daughter. It was their first protest.

“We live in a MAGA-ass town and saw this on television,” Flor said. “I grew up just down the street from here. No way can we let this happen here.”

Nearby, Giovanni Lopez blew on a loud plastic horn. It was his first protest as well.

“I’m all for them deporting the criminals,” said the Santa Ana resident. He wore a white poncho bearing the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. “But that’s not what they’re doing. My wife is Honduran and she’s not a citizen. She’s scared to go to her work now even though she’s legal. I told her not to be afraid.”

The Santa Ana police slowly pushed the protesters out of Sasscer Park. Some, like Brayn Nestor, bore bloody welts from the rubber bullets that had hit them.

“Does someone have a cigarette?” he asked out loud in Spanish. The Mexico City native said he was there to “support the raza, güey.” He was in obvious pain, but the trademarks arachidonic humor of his native city still bubbled through.

“It’s chido [cool] that they hit me,” he proclaimed to anyone who would listen. “Es perro, güey [it’s cool, dog]. So the world knows what jerks those pigs are.”

America’s best-known hardware store chain, Home Depot, has found itself at the center of the federal immigration raids in Los Angeles, and the subsequent protests.

On Friday, a Home Depot in the Westlake neighborhood was among several locations hit by federal agents, who also raided Ambiance Apparel in the garment district in downtown L.A. as part of a crackdown that led to the arrests of dozens of people.

President Trump is not listening, California Democratic leaders say. If he cared about Angelenos and was trying to maintain law and order, they say, then Los Angeles would have his ear.

“He would listen to our local law enforcement. He would be listening to California residents,” said Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister). “Instead, Trump wants chaos.”

State lawmakers representing Los Angeles County and legislative leaders lambasted the president at a Monday news conference, saying he incited violence by activating the California National Guard without local authorities’ or Gov. Gavin Newsom’s consent.

Members of the L.A. County legislative delegation, chaired by Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Hawthorne), railed against the mobilization, calling it inflammatory, and urged protesters to demonstrate peacefully and communities not to “take the bait.”

“Mr. President, stand down the use of any federalized National Guard troops in L.A. County,” McKinnor said. “L.A. County is not your political punching bag.”

“Trump claims to be concerned about the safety of Angelenos, but that is a lie,” Rivas said, maintaining that the president wanted to distract from what he said are the administration’s failed domestic policy actions.

Rivas denounced the arrest and charges against David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union California, saying they are politically motivated, and that the president’s threat to arrest Newsom was “reckless.”

“And let me be clear, if Donald Trump wants to jail our Governor for defending our Constitution, for protecting the people of California, then he’ll have to arrest me too, and I will gladly and proudly stand with our governor in that jail cell,” Rivas said.

As Immigration and Customs Enforcement carries out raids across Los Angeles, former daytime talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw and his TV network MeritTV are covering the actions and protests in the city.

McGraw conducted an interview Friday with White House border advisor Tom Homan, who was leading the agency’s raids. A portion of the interview was posted on MeritTV’s website and the network plans to air a conversation between the men that was “taped the day before and the day after the L.A. operation” in two parts beginning Monday at 5 p.m. PT, according to a network spokesperson reached via email. MeritTV, which launched late last year, primarily features McGraw’s show “Dr. Phil Primetime,” where he comments on the news and interviews figures ranging from New York City Mayor Eric Adams to businessman and former L.A. mayoral candidate Rick Caruso.

The autonomous ride-hailing service Waymo has suspended operations in downtown Los Angeles after several of its vehicles were set on fire during protests against immigration raids in the area.

At least five Waymo vehicles were destroyed over the weekend, the company said. Waymo removed its vehicles from downtown but continues to operate in other parts of Los Angeles.

Federal immigration agents targeted businesses across a wide swath of Southern California on Monday.

Agents were spotted at a courthouse and library in Whittier, Home Depots in Huntington Park and Santa Ana and businesses in Fountain Valley, according to officials and media reports.

“We saw videos on social media of people being detained really aggressively by what looked to be both masked and armed ICE agents and others that were in full military gear,” said Orange County Supervisor Vincent Sarmiento.

The supervisor urged members of the public who might engage in protests to use their “energy positively and peacefully so we don’t change the narrative here and make the victims out to be the villains.”

According to Casey Conway of the Orange County Rapid Response Network, immigration enforcement agents were also seen detaining people at a doughnut shop, a warehouse, restaurants, and gyms.

The immigration advocacy group operates a hotline and received several calls around 8 a.m. about sweeps. The group sent representatives to several locations to confirm the federal activity, Conway said.

People were also being detained outside a Home Depot in Huntington Park.

Huntington Park Mayor Arturo Flores said President Trump’s immigration enforcement “has nothing to do with public safety.”

“Federal agents have entered peaceful communities and have arbitrarily targeted Latino communities and left a trail of destruction,” Flores said in a statement. “We will stand together as a community, united, and denounce the federal government’s continued campaign of domestic terrorism.”

Thousands of union members, immigrants’ rights activists and supporters gathered in Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles on Monday afternoon to demand the release of David Huerta, the California union president arrested and injured during Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids last week.

The protesters were peaceful and boisterous. They sang, chanted, and held signs with slogans such as, “Warm Margaritas B-Cuz F— ICE.” Their presence was in stark contrast to the downtown surrounding them, which was quiet, heavily vandalized and lined with police and National Guard vehicles.

VIDEO | 00:40

David Huerta released from custody

• Share via Close extra sharing options

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Threads
  • Reddit
  • WhatsApp
  • Copy Link URL Copied!

David Huerta, president of Service Employees International Union California, was released from custody after Federal authorities on Monday charged him in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to impede an officer in connection with his alleged actions during an immigration enforcement raid last week.

As protests continued Monday morning in downtown L.A., U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff urged calm and said that President Trump is reveling in the standoffs.

“He’s more than happy to see violent protests. It gives him something to talk about, something other than his big, ugly bill that’s going to blow a hole in the deficit, take away people’s healthcare,” said Schiff, referring to Trump’s proposed legislation.

“For him this is a wonderful distraction, but for the people who live here, this is anything but,” Schiff said.

Schiff turned up at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building on Monday, ahead of labor leader David Huerta’s initial court appearance that afternoon.

Federal officials charged Huerta, president of Service Employees International Union California, with conspiracy to impede an officer in connection with his alleged actions during an immigration enforcement raid last week.

Huerta, 58, has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown L.A. since Friday. He faces a felony charge that carries up to six years in federal prison, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in L.A.

Schiff referred to Huerta as “a very prominent union leader in Los Angeles, a very respected voice.”

The senator also called for an end to the violence in L.A., stating that “violence against law enforcement is never justified.”

“But these indiscriminate raids also need to come to an end,” he said. “The administration committed that it was going to go after violent criminals. That is not what it’s doing. It is showing up at schools and at hospitals. It’s showing up at Home Depots, it’s going into workplaces.”

Schiff said people are showing up for their court appointments and immigration proceedings as they’re supposed to, “and instead being grabbed.”

“All of this is designed to create a climate of fear. It is designed to intimidate, it is not designed to be an effective way to enforce immigration laws,” he said. “What we’re seeing here in Los Angeles is Donald Trump doing what he does best, which is sow chaos and create disorder with little regard for the people who live here.”

A senior Trump administration official told The Times that a deployment of Marines is on its way to Los Angeles.

“In light of increased threats against federal officers and federal buildings, 500 active-duty U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton will be deployed to Los Angeles to help protect federal agents and buildings,” the source said.

The source later updated the figure to 700.

Hundreds of National Guard troops are already in L.A., and officials say 2,000 will eventually be on the ground.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Northern Command said that the Marines were set to arrive in Los Angeles on Monday.

They will “seamlessly integrate” with members of the National Guard who are protecting federal personnel and property in the Greater Los Angeles area, according to a new release from U.S. Northern Command. Both the Marines and National Guard troops have been trained in de-escalation, crowd control and rules for the use of force, according to the release.

Read more about the standoff between President Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Times staff writer Christopher Buchanan contributed to this report.

In the overcast light — on a chilly, gray Monday morning in June — a cluster of city workers quietly gathered outside Los Angeles City Hall to assess the damage.

After thousands of demonstrators converged downtown over the weekend to protest the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants in the country without documentation, the granite walls of the towering Art Deco seat of city government were marked up with fresh graffiti, with the same four-letter expletive preceding the word “ICE” in about a dozen places.

MEXICO CITY  — As images of chaos in Los Angeles dominated Mexican media, President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the weekend clashes but refrained from any direct denunciation of Washington’s hard-line immigration tactics — while urging Mexican citizens in California to eschew violence.

Sheinbaum, who has won widespread acclaim for her deft handling of incendiary pronouncements by President Trump on tariffs, drug smuggling and other issues, again sought to walk a fine line: She called on U.S. authorities to “respect the human dignity” of “hard-working” and “honest” Mexican immigrants, while denouncing unlawful acts.

Federal authorities on Monday charged David Huerta, president of Service Employees International Union California, in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to impede an officer in connection with his alleged actions during an immigration enforcement raid last week.

Huerta, 58, had been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles since Friday and made his initial appearance in federal court Monday afternoon. He is facing a felony charge that carries up to six years in federal prison, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in L.A.

Federal authorities have streamed through Pasadena for months ever since the Eaton fire burned through nearby Altadena.

Now, the city is being targeted by protesters after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were spotted staying at a Pasadena hotel.

News of federal agents in the community circulated on social media, but as of Monday morning there were no federal immigration raids in the city, officials said.

Pasadena City spokesperson Lisa Derderian confirmed federal agents are staying as guests in at least two hotels and were spotted at a local coffee shop.

“As you’re aware, ICE does not coordinate with our City so we quickly wanted to dispel rumors that we were not aware of any ‘raids,’” Derderian said.

“We ask the public to please not assume every marked federal vehicle is connected to ‘raids’ as we have a long road to helping our community that has been deeply impacted by the fire too.”

Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo told the news outlet Pasadena Now that they were aware of the federal agents in the city. “We understand the anxiety and fear that these reports can create for many in our community,” Gordo said

A spokesperson for ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

City officials, including Councilman Rick Cole, were among those who attended a Sunday rally outside the hotel.

“People have gathered across from the AC Hotel to make clear their vicious attack on workers and families are not welcome in Pasadena,” he said in a Facebook post. “I stand with them. Reasonable people can disagree about Federal immigration policy, but raids as a policy designed to terrorize our neighbors and deport them to often hellish conditions is an attack on American values.”

By Monday morning, there was a quiet hum of traffic passing on Colorado Boulevard outside the AC Hotel. A hotel employee, who declined to give his name, said it was quiet overnight with no additional protests outside the building.

A lone flyer was placed on a third-floor balcony that read - “ICE out of LA.”

An aide to Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado has been placed on unpaid leave after being arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon at an anti-ICE protest, Jurado and her staff said Monday.

Luz Aguilar, 26, who serves as Jurado’s deputy for economic innovation and community growth, was arrested around 7 p.m. Sunday and booked several hours later, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department inmate records.

VIDEO | 00:56

Trump suggests Gov. Newsom should be arrested

• Share via Close extra sharing options

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Threads
  • Reddit
  • WhatsApp
  • Copy Link URL Copied!

In a televised interview with reporters Monday afternoon eastern time, President Trump suggested that California Gov. Gavin Newsom should be arrested. A reporter first told Trump that Newsom is “daring” border czar Tom Homan to come and arrest him, then asked the president if Homan should “do it.”

The reporter was referencing a Sunday night interview Newsom had done with MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff, where Newsom did, in fact, dare Homan to arrest him.“I would do it if I were Tom,” Trump said, pursing his lips as he appeared to consider the question.

“I think it’s great.”The White House is not actively discussing or planning Newsom’s arrest. But Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told The Times in an interview Monday that the governor would be vulnerable to charges if he “obstructed” the Trump administration’s efforts.

Well, what did you expect?

When la migra raids workplaces and tries to enter schools and is vowing to do even more, L.A. ain’t going to roll out the red carpet and throw roses at them.

Mexican officials say at least 42 Mexican nationals were detained during the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that occurred over the weekend.

During a Monday morning press conference in Mexico City, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned two things: the violent acts that were committed during protests in Los Angeles and arrests that occurred during the anti-ICE protests — arrests that she described as human rights violations.

Sheinbaum implored Mexicans in Los Angeles to “act peacefully and not fall for provocations.”

At this time the Mexican government has activated all consular support systems for those who have been detained by ICE officials in the Los Angeles area.

At least 37 Mexican men and five women are being held in four detention centers, according to Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Mexico’s foreign minister. Of the 42 men and women who were detained, four of them were deported.

Ramón de la Fuente did not clarify where the individuals were specifically detained. Nor did he not disclose the locations to which the four people were deported.

Officers from nearly a dozen local police forces were seen staging on Main Street in downtown Los Angeles late Monday morning, just before a protest convened by union leaders was set to begin in nearby Grand Park.

One officer from a police department in southern L.A. County who was not authorized to speak publicly told The Times that “every” department he knew of had been summoned to perform mutual aid for the Los Angeles Police Department.

He and the other officers from his local department had zip ties hanging from their belts.

“South Pas ? How many guys do you have total?” a Beverly Hills Police officer asked a cluster of South Pasadena Police officers standing outside their vehicles.

After making notes on a piece of paper, the Beverly Hills officer walked farther up the block, toward a South Gate police officer in a bulletproof vest. He greeted him with a handshake hug.

Other law enforcement agencies in downtown L.A. Monday morning came from South Gate, Bell, Whittier, Long Beach, San Marino, Inglewood, Culver City and Vernon.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that more than 800 law enforcement officers are headed to Los Angeles County to help deal with the fallout from the immigration raids and protests.

The deployment includes about 640 members of the California Highway Patrol, including about 400 to support the Los Angeles Police Department and more than 250 others to be deployed to streets and freeways, Newsom’s office said.

Office workers and tourists gawked at the police presence in downtown L.A.

Eric Wright and his wife, Margaux Cowan-Banker, vacationers from Knoxville, Tenn., were jogging downtown — past scores of police vehicles — when they paused at about 9:30 a.m. to take a few photos of the graffiti-covered Federal Building at 300 N. Los Angeles, which houses offices for numerous agencies.

The couple — who laughed about being red-state denizens in L.A. during this time — said that it was bizarre seeing the city portrayed on the news and social media as a place of total chaos on the news when most of Los Angeles was carrying on as it would on any other summer weekend.

The couple said that they had an idyllic Los Angeles Sunday visiting a food festival, the L.A. Pride March in Hollywood and Grand Central Market.

“People back where we live are going to completely be horrified,” said Cowan-Banker, a 42-year-old personal trainer. “I’m sure they think it’s a war zone here.”

“And in the grand scheme, they should be protesting,” Wright added. “They’re stealing people off the streets from their families. This is America. To send the National Guard was intentionally inflammatory.”

“This feeds right into his voters,” Wright said of Trump.

“And they’re the people we go home to,” Cowan-Banker said. “I’m kind of glad we’re here to carry information, though no one’s gonna listen.”

The couple, at the halfway point of their five-mile morning run, kept on after snapping their photos, past a line of police cars.

WASHINGTON — The governor and the president are talking past each other.

The two men, despite their politics and ambition, have worked together before, through devastating fires and a pandemic. But as immigration raids roil Los Angeles, President Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom cannot even agree on how they left their last conversation, late on Friday evening on the East Coast, as protests picked up around the city.

California officials on Monday filed a federal lawsuit over the mobilization of the state’s National Guard during the weekend’s immigration protests in Los Angeles, accusing President Trump of overstepping his federal authority and violating the U.S. Constitution.

As thousands of people gathered in the streets to protest raids and arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Trump mobilized nearly 2,000 members of the National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said that state officials could handle the situation and that Trump was sowing chaos in the streets for political purposes.

Federal immigration arrests taking place in Los Angeles at peak graduation season are prompting school leaders to speak out and take safety measures.

L.A. schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho said Monday that L.A. School Police would establish a safety perimeter around graduation venues where immigration enforcement activity might occur, based on reports of agents.

He also said that lines into venues would be minimized and that families could remain inside venues for as long as necessary should agents initiate a raid outside or in the neighborhood.

“I’m addressing you, there are two schools in our community that within a couple of blocks we see federal vans parked,” said Carvalho. “No action has been taken, but we interpret those actions as actions of intimidation, instilling fear that may lead to self deportation. That is not the community we want to be, that is not the state or the nation that we ought to be.”

Carvalho runs Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest school district. Some 100 graduation-related events are scheduled on Monday and Tuesday.

Carvalho said that a virtual option would be provided when possible for families to watch a graduation ceremony online.

A flier circulated earlier Monday calling for students to walk out of class to protest immigration arrests.

Carvalho said that students’ rights to protest would be respected but he asked families to ask their students to remain on campus when expressing themselves for safety reasons.

Carvalho also defended the basic mission of the nation’s second-largest school system, saying that L.A. Unified is following the law when it provides an education to all students.

It is vital that families update their contact and emergency information with their school, Carvalho said. He also advised families to prepare backup plans should caregivers be taken into custody.