Protests that began in Los Angeles over immigration enforcement raids spread to more cities on Tuesday with more planned into the weekend.
Protesters have begun gathering in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Dallas, Washington, and Chicago, calling for an end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids targeting illegal immigrants.
In some locations, the demonstrations clashed with law enforcement, and were arrested.
Police officers in Austin, Texas, used pepper balls and tear gas to disperse protesters gathered outside the J.J. Pickle Federal Building after they refused to leave. According to the Austin Police Department, some protesters began throwing rocks at officers, and one protester spat in an officer’s eye after the gathering was declared an unlawful assembly.
As law enforcement attempted to prevent dispersed protesters from returning to the federal building, some individuals also threw scooters and barricades into public roadways, endangering public safety, police said.
“Officers contained the situation near [Seventh] Street and Congress Avenue. Multiple arrests were made, and the remaining protestors eventually dispersed,” the department said in a June 10 statement.
Four officers were injured in the unrest.
Activists are planning more—and even larger—demonstrations in the coming days, with “No Kings” events scheduled across the country on Saturday.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on June 10 that the Trump administration remains committed to enforcing the country’s immigration laws despite the protests.
“ICE will continue to enforce the law,” Noem stated in a social media post. “If you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
In Philadelphia, about 150 people gathered at the Federal Detention Center on June 10 to protest ICE raids. Police said the protesters marched to ICE headquarters and used bicycles to obstruct officers.
According to police, protesters ignored orders to disperse, and the protest escalated when officers attempted to make arrests. Two officers were injured and treated at a hospital.
One protester was charged with aggravated assault, while 14 others were arrested for disorderly conduct. Two of them sustained minor injuries and received medical attention. Police also said that several officers used force during the arrests, and their conduct will be subject to a review.
Footage shared on social media shows a car driving into a crowd of protesters in Chicago on June 10, prompting some individuals to chase the vehicle before it speeds away.
It is unknown whether the driver has been arrested or if anyone was injured in the incident. The Chicago Police Department said in an emailed statement that no report had been generated for the incident so far.
In San Francisco, thousands of people took part in protests against ICE raids on June 9, which police described as “overwhelmingly peaceful” at the outset. The protests later turned violent when “two small groups broke off and committed vandalism and other criminal acts,” according to police.
The San Francisco Police Department said that nearly 150 people were arrested on June 9, including six juveniles, who refused to comply with orders.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said on June 10 that he had been briefed on the ongoing immigration enforcement actions occurring downtown, and he confirmed that local law enforcement is not involved in carrying out those actions.
“I have been and will continue to be clear that these federal immigration enforcement tactics are intended to instill fear, and they make our city less safe,” Lurie stated on social media.
Protests against ICE raids began in Los Angeles on June 6, following the arrest of dozens of immigrants in the city as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation operation. President Donald Trump deployed members of the National Guard and Marines to restore order in the city, despite objections from Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared a local emergency on Tuesday and imposed a curfew—from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time— in the downtown areas as riots entered their fifth consecutive day. Bass said the curfew’s duration will be decided in consultation with other city leaders, although it is expected “to last for several days.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced that a curfew would go into effect on areas of the city’s downtown as riots reached their fifth consecutive day.
“I have declared a local emergency and issued a curfew for Downtown Los Angeles to stop the vandalism, to stop the looting,” Bass said during a press conference.
Looting has been seen in areas like Compton; Bass said that 23 businesses had been looted the night before across the city. She also cited graffiti in areas affected by the riots that had caused “significant damages to businesses and a number of properties.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered remarks on the ongoing riots, condemning the strong presence of federalized National Guardsmen and Marines as unnecessary.
Newsom said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids on criminal illegal immigrants that prompted the protests had been “very different than anything we’ve seen before,” and said that state and local law enforcement would have been sufficient to keep the peace.
“Angelenos came out to exercise their constitutional right to free speech and assembly to protest their government’s actions,” Newsom said. “In turn, the state of California and the City and County of Los Angeles sent our police officers to help keep the peace, and with some exceptions, they were successful.”
President Donald Trump’s Border czar Tom Homan said the ICE agents were serving criminal search warrants related to customs fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering.
Homan has also reiterated in interviews that ICE will continue to meet its responsibility to enforce U.S. immigration laws as established by Congress, even if that means working through the “difficult” and “hazardous” conditions posed by those protesters who engage in violence.
The curfew on Downtown will begin at 8 p.m. local time and last until 6 a.m. Bass said that the duration of the curfew will be decided by consultation with other city leaders, “but we certainly expect for it to last for several days.”
“If you do not live in Downtown LA, avoid the area,” she said, warning that those who violate the curfew will be prosecuted.
The curfew affects only a small portion of the Downtown area, circumscribing the areas of the city between Interstate 5, Interstate 10, and Interstate 110, including neighborhoods like Skid Row, Chinatown, and the Fashion District.
Bass noted that this comes out to around one square mile, contrasting that with the 502 square miles which Los Angeles encompasses.
“I think it is … extremely important to know that what is happening in this one square mile is not affecting the city,” she said. “Some of the imagery of the protests and the violence gives the appearance as though this is a city wide crisis, and it is not.”
Currently, Trump has ordered around 4,000 National Guardsmen to deploy to the city, joined by around 700 Marines.
U.S. North American Command has said that of those guardsmen ordered to the city, around 1,700 are currently active as part of a coalition, dubbed Task Force 51, which also includes the Marines that have been deployed to the city.
Over the weekend, protesters were seen breaking off pieces of cinder blocks and cement structures to throw at law enforcement vehicles, tossing scooters and debris from freeway overpasses onto police cruisers, setting vehicles ablaze, setting off fireworks aimed at officers, and blocking roads.
Some masked protesters waved Mexican flags.
The Los Angeles Police Department arrested more than 150 protesters through the night of June 9. Some of the charges included attempted murder with a Molotov cocktail, assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon, looting, and failure to disperse. Several police officers have been injured.
A federal judge has denied California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s request for an emergency restraining order aimed at stopping President Donald Trump and the Department of Defense from federalizing the California National Guard and deploying U.S. Marines to Los Angeles, following violent clashes between immigration officers and protesters.
Newsom’s request for the temporary restraining order, filed on June 10 in federal court in California, argues that Trump’s June 7 memorandum invoking 10 U.S.C. § 12406—a provision that lets the president call the National Guard in cases of “rebellion” and situations where regular forces are unable to enforce U.S. laws—is unlawful.
The complaint cites a lack of a qualifying rebellion, improper bypass of the governor, and likely violations of the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the use of active duty armed forces and federalized National Guard for civilian law enforcement.
“There is no invasion or rebellion in Los Angeles,” Newsom’s filing reads. “There is civil unrest that is no different from episodes that regularly occur in communities throughout the country, and that is capable of being contained by state and local authorities working together. And nothing is stopping the President from enforcing the laws through use of ordinary, civilian mechanisms available to federal officers.”
The court filing accuses the Trump administration of overstepping its legal authority by deploying troops without the consent of the state, which Newsom’s legal team argues is explicitly required by the statute. The filing also claims that the deployments undermine California’s sovereignty, deprive it of vital resources, and escalate civil unrest.
The filing sought a temporary restraining order to be imposed by 1 p.m. on June 10 that would bar federal troops from participating in immigration enforcement actions, patrolling city streets, or performing any law enforcement activities beyond protecting federal buildings and personnel.
Attorneys for the Trump administration pushed back on the expedited schedule, requesting that the judge grant them a minimum of 24 hours to file a response.
In a scheduling order issued later on June 10, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer agreed with the Trump administration’s request for more time to file a response to Newsom’s request before ruling on it, giving it until 11 a.m. on June 11 to do so. At the same time, Breyer granted Newsom until 9 a.m. on June 12 to respond to the Trump administration’s response, and he set a hearing on the temporary restraining order request for later that day.
The Epoch Times has reached out to the White House and the Department of Defense with requests for comment.
Newsom’s restraining order request is part of a broader lawsuit filed on June 9 against Trump’s decision to federalize National Guard troops over the weekend in response to riots in Los Angeles County in opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.
A White House spokesperson told The Epoch Times in response to the earlier filing that, rather than take legal action against the deployment, Newsom should instead seek prosecution of the “anti-ICE rioters who burned property and looted businesses in Los Angeles.”
“Newsom is more focused on saving face than protecting law enforcement and holding criminals accountable,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in an emailed statement. “As the President said, Newsom should thank him for restoring law and order.”
The Marines deployed to Los Angeles under Trump’s orders have not been directed to respond to immigration protests and are currently assigned only to safeguard federal personnel and property, the Marine Corps commandant said Tuesday.
Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith told lawmakers during a budget hearing Tuesday that the deployed battalion has not been assigned to any protests. While trained in crowd control, the Marines lack arrest authority and are present solely to protect federal property and personnel, he said.
Meanwhile, Trump has floated the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, a federal law that allows the president to deploy active-duty troops within the United States to quell unrest or enforce federal law under limited circumstances.
When asked whether he would invoke the act, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “If there’s an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We'll see.”
The president added: “If we didn’t get involved, right now Los Angeles would be burning just like it was burning a number of months ago.”
“We are not playing around,” he said.
Jack Phillips and Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
On Tuesday afternoon, ICE posted two pictures on social media, captioned, “Photos from today’s ICE Los Angeles immigration enforcement operation.” Both photos show officers apparently frisking and handcuffing two different men as armed agents stand guard. ICE provided no immediate additional details on those arrests.
The continued enforcement action follows large-scale anti-ICE protests after the June 6 arrests of 44 suspects from multiple locations. Authorities targeted those people as illegal immigrants who may have committed serious crimes.
In addition to the new arrests in Los Angeles, ICE also highlighted the work of at least two satellite offices. ICE-New Orleans deported a Honduran man convicted of assault. ICE-Salt Lake City arrested a Peruvian national who has been convicted of felony domestic violence and is now facing removal proceedings.
The agency also reported on Tuesday that it had arrested 25 illegal immigrants in Texas on June 4 at a pair of construction sites. ICE pointed out that investigations of worksites often uncover evidence of money laundering, worker and child exploitation, and trafficking.
Trump said in the Oval Office Tuesday that he called Newsom “a day ago” to “tell him ‘gotta do a better job,’ he’s doing a bad job.”
Newsom said this did not happen.
“There was no call. Not even a voicemail. Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to,” he posted on social media platform X.
“The State of Texas stands ready to deploy all necessary personnel and resources, including Texas Department of Public Safety troopers, to uphold law and order across our state,” Andrew Mahaleris, press secretary for Gov. Greg Abbott, told The Epoch Times in an email June 10.
“Peaceful protests are part of the fabric of our nation, but Texas will not tolerate the lawlessness we have seen in Los Angeles. Anyone engaging in acts of violence or damaging property will be swiftly arrested and held accountable to the full extent of the law,” Mahaleris added.
Protests have already occurred in Dallas and Austin.
Abbott posted on social media platform X just after midnight on June 10 that a dozen people had been arrested during the Austin demonstration. Videos showed graffiti condemning Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations to remove illegal immigrants.
“Peaceful protesting is legal,” Abbott stated. “But once you cross the line, you will be arrested.”
The Austin chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation organized hundreds of protesters that gathered near the Texas Capitol on Monday before moving to the federal building that houses an ICE office.
In Dallas, hundreds of demonstrators gathered at a city bridge for several hours before police determined the protest to be “unlawful.” Dallas police said one person was arrested and charges are pending.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
According to the press release, 96 people were arrested for failure to disperse from the downtown area, as well as one arrest each for assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest, and vandalism.
Additionally, 14 people were arrested for looting businesses in the area, and the two officers were transported to the hospital for treatment.
“I mentioned the sheriffs from Orange County, San Bernardino, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Ventura County, and a number of law enforcement departments around the county,” she said.
“So with them being fully deployed now, we're establishing a unified command under LAPD and Chief McDonnell, which will accelerate our ability to respond to hot spots when people splinter off and create pockets of trouble.”
“The graffiti that is just blanketing a number of blocks has been extensive,” she said at a press conference on Tuesday.
"I am calling on business leaders, community leaders, faith leaders, to come together downtown in the next few days to talk about how we are going to clean up the city,” she added.
“Obviously, city workers are already out there removing the graffiti, but this is so extensive it's going to take community-wide involvement."
Bass said that the violence and vandalism are “unacceptable.”
“If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We'll see,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office before heading to North Carolina to deliver a speech at Fort Bragg.
“I could tell you there were certain areas of Los Angeles that you could have called it an insurrection,” Trump said. “It was terrible. But these are paid insurrectionists. These are paid troublemakers. They get money.”
Trump spoke about the deployment of the National Guard and Marines to quell unrest and prevent further damage, criticizing California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The president said that if he hadn’t intervened and sent forces there, Los Angeles would be “on fire” and “burning down” right now.
He said the National Guard will remain in Los Angeles “until there's no danger.”
Trump also said any protesters disrupting the June 14 Army parade in Washington will be met with “very big force.”
“Let me be clear: ANYONE who vandalized Downtown or looted stores does not care about our immigrant communities. You will be held accountable,” she posted on social media platform X.
Testifying at a House Appropriations Committee hearing on June 10, acting Pentagon comptroller Bryn Woollacott MacDonnell said the funds for the deployment would be drawn from Defense Department operations and maintenance accounts.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, also testifying at the hearing, said the department has planned for a 60-day response period “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.”
“I remain concerned about ongoing ICE operations throughout CA and will continue my conversations with the administration—urging them to prioritize the removal of known criminals over the hardworking people who have lived peacefully in the Valley for years,” he posted on social media platform X.
ICE has prioritized deporting criminal illegal immigrants, especially violent ones.
The 700 or so Marines deployed to Los Angeles, he said, are equipped with shields and batons and were deployed to support law enforcement.
"They do not have arrest authority," Smith said. "They are there to protect federal property and federal personnel."
Smith added that all Marines are trained in crowd control in the event they need to protect embassy buildings or provide similar duties.
Smith's comments were made in response to a series of questions by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) about the possibility that the Marines could be called upon to exercise lethal force against Americans.
Blumenthal, who served in the Marine Corps Reserve, said he is concerned that a deadly clash between the Marines and American protesters could stain the honor of the force and undermine American trust in the military.
The bill “delivers much needed reinforcement” to ICE, according to Johnson, including funding to hire 10,000 new ICE agents and expand ICE detention facilities, as well as additional money for deportations—“starting with the dangerous illegal aliens.”
The bill is currently being considered in the Senate.
White House border czar Tom Homan said on Monday that he has “no intention to arrest” California Gov. Gavin Newsom after the Democratic governor dared him to arrest him as protests and riots persist in Los Angeles.
Homan told CBS News that talk about arresting Newsom has “been taken out of context” and that Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass “haven’t crossed a line yet.”
“If you cross that line, I don’t care who they are—the governor, the mayor, whatever—and when you commit a crime against ICE officers, we will seek prosecution,” Homan added, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In another interview with NewsNation, Homan said that “there is no threat to arrest Gov. Newsom” but that a previous comment about arresting anybody who impedes ICE efforts to enforce laws against illegal immigrants still stands.
“If he crosses that line of impeding ICE enforcement efforts, if he knowingly harbors and conceals an alien, that’s a crime,” he told the outlet.
“We would ask … the attorney general to seek prosecution,” he added. “My words were taken out of context, but it is what it is.”
At one point on Sunday, Newsom was asked by an NBC News reporter about the possibility of being arrested. “Come and get me, tough guy,” he replied.
And when a reporter at the White House asked President Donald Trump on Monday about Newsom being arrested by Homan, the president said, “I'd do it if I were Tom,” adding: “Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing.”
The Trump administration and Newsom have been sharply critical of one another in the handling of unrest in Los Angeles over the past several days, which was sparked by protests against ICE efforts across the city. Trump and Homan have said that Newsom hasn’t been able to quell the violence, prompting the president to deploy the National Guard and Marines over the past several days.
In response, Newsom said that the troop deployments are a form of overreach and that Trump’s actions are an incitement to more violence. The state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the deployment on Monday.
Newsom said that the deployment of Marines, which was confirmed by U.S. Northern Command on Monday, is a form of escalation that he described as “completely unwarranted, uncalled for, and unprecedented.”
Homan has told media outlets that ICE agents were serving criminal search warrants at a Los Angeles worksite last week as part of a probe into customs fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering.
Speaking to the “Dr. Phil” show, Homan said that 41 people were arrested and that the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Internal Revenue Service were also involved.
“We took a lot of bad people off the street that day,” he told NewsNation in another interview, adding that those enforcement measures were “targeted” instead of being a random sweep.
In a directive on Saturday, Trump invoked a legal provision allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”
The Northern Command said in its Monday statement that the 700 or so Marines “will seamlessly integrate” with troops “who are protecting federal personnel and federal property in the greater Los Angeles area.”
Meanwhile, Monday’s demonstrations were far less raucous, with thousands peacefully attending a rally at City Hall and hundreds protesting outside a federal complex, which includes a detention center where some illegal immigrants are being held following workplace operations across the city.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
“I think that things have calmed slightly, John, because of the leadership of President Trump,” she told CNN’s John Berman.
Trump has authorized the deployment of 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles.
“The chaos is the bait, and the switch is a constitutional crisis and power grab,” Gomez said during a press conference on Capitol Hill.
“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.”
Barger, a Republican, called the violent protesters “anarchists.”
She lamented what she said was a lack of communication between local and federal officials.
“If I didn’t ‘SEND IN THE TROOPS’ to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now,” he said.
“They will be punished,” he said. “Law enforcement is doing its job, literally, 24 hours a day to get this situation under control.”
Hochman said that if federal agents had created perimeters, the situation would be better.
He said that “part of the problem ... is that we do not have those smooth lines of communication between the federal immigration authorities and the local law enforcement officers.”
LAPD is prohibited from cooperating with ICE.
"The FBI is investigating any and all monetary connections responsible for these riots," Patel told media outlet Just the News.
Dozens of people have been arrested amid the violent protests.
“Thousands of people participated in today's demonstrations, which were overwhelmingly peaceful,” the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) said in a statement posted on social media platform X.
There was some violence, however.
“At the very end of the night, two small groups broke off and committed vandalism and other criminal acts. SFPD developed and coordinated a plan to detain multiple individuals who refused to comply and made arrests, and one situation is currently being resolved,” SFPD said.
- There have been four days of protests and riots since they broke out in Los Angeles on June 6.
- President Donald Trump has now federalized and deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell the violence.
- Trump has also deployed 700 Marines to Los Angeles to help the Los Angeles Police Department tame the violent protests.
- There have been dozens of arrests since the protests and riots broke out.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other top military officials are heading to Capitol Hill to testify before House committees, where lawmakers are all but certain to ask them about their response to the violence.
The FBI has identified a masked protester who is accused of assaulting a federal officer during heated demonstrations against federal immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles over the weekend.
In a June 9 post on social media platform X, the FBI stated that it had identified the man as Elpidio Reyna, 40, of Compton, California. A reward of up to $50,000 is available for anyone with information leading to his arrest or conviction, the post stated.
“That guy has just been identified, and they are doing a search warrant on his house, as we speak. And he has been identified ... his name is [Reyna]. He is going to be on the Most Wanted list,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said during an appearance on “Hannity” with Fox News on June 9.
“So, you can run, you can’t hide. We are coming after you federally. If you assault a police officer, if you rob a store, if you loot, if you spit on police officers, we’re coming after you.”
On June 7 at around 3:30 p.m., the protester allegedly threw rocks at law enforcement vehicles on Alondra Boulevard in Paramount, California, which injured one federal officer and damaged government vehicles.
The announcement follows a day of tension across the city as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted a series of enforcement actions at multiple businesses, sparking protests and confrontations between demonstrators and federal officers.
According to acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, the protestors largely outnumbered officers, as more than 1,000 individuals surrounded a federal building, with some committing violent actions, while Los Angeles police took over two hours to respond, despite being called multiple times.
“What took place in Los Angeles yesterday was appalling. As rioters attacked federal ICE and law enforcement officers on the LA streets, Mayor Bass took the side of chaos and lawlessness over law enforcement,” Lyons said in an emailed statement to NTD, a sister outlet of The Epoch Times.
“The brave men and women of ICE were in Los Angeles arresting criminal illegal aliens including gang members, drug traffickers and those with a history of assault, cruelty to children, domestic violence, robbery, and smuggling,” he said.
Lyons said that violent rioters will be held accountable for harming federal officers as ICE continues to enforce the nation’s immigration laws.
“Sanctuary politicians would do well to remember that impeding our efforts only endangers their communities, law enforcement officers, and the detainees they claim to support,” he stated.
In a statement to NTD sent on June 7, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, “Rioters are assaulting ICE enforcement officers, slashing tires, defacing buildings and taxpayer funded property,” noting that 800 protestors had surrounded and at one point breached the first layer of a federal law enforcement building in Los Angeles.
“Mayor Bass must call on this violence to end. The violent rhetoric of politicians has gone too far. This violence against ICE must end.”
In a June 6 statement posted on X, Mayor Karen Bass expressed her disagreement with the “federal immigration enforcement actions.”
“As Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place,“ she wrote. ”These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city.”
The mayor condemned violence in the protests in subsequent posts while blaming the Trump administration for the unrest.
“We will always protect the constitutional right for Angelenos to peacefully protest,” she wrote on June 8. “However, violence, destruction and vandalism will not be tolerated in our City and those responsible will be held fully accountable.”
Responding to Bass’s criticism of ICE’s operations, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller posted on X, “Federal law is supreme and federal law will be enforced.”
Other city leaders, including 11 of the 15 members of the Los Angeles City Council, issued a joint statement calling the actions “an egregious escalation.”
Federal authorities have recently increased immigration arrests nationwide as part of President Donald Trump’s pledge to carry out mass deportations of criminal illegal immigrants. Lyons said the agency averages about 1,600 arrests daily, targeting those identified as “dangerous criminals.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
From NTD
Officers, who all appeared to be from the Los Angeles Police Department, used flash bangs and shot projectiles into the crowd as they pushed the protesters through a crowded, popular commercial area where bystanders and restaurant workers rushed to get out of their way.
Some protesters set off fireworks and threw water bottles at the officers, yelling “Shame!” or chanting, “ICE out of LA.”
The protesters had been dispersed by police earlier in the evening from a downtown federal detention center.
Northcom added that the Pentagon has “activated the Marine infantry battalion that was placed in an alert status over the weekend,” and that those 700 Marines requested by the president will now be directed to “seamlessly integrate” with approximately 2,000 state National Guard who have been requested to form “Task Force 51.”
“The activation of the Marines is intended to provide Task Force 51 with adequate numbers of forces to provide continuous coverage of the area in support of the lead federal agency,” Northcom said.
“Task Force 51 is comprised of approximately 2,100 National Guard soldiers in a Title 10 status and 700 active-duty Marines. Task Force 51 forces have been trained in de-escalation, crowd control, and standing rules for the use of force.”
Since the public disorder started, President Donald Trump has requested two California National Guard units, totalling 4,100 soldiers, to be ready for orders to assist state law enforcement, in addition to the 700 Marines.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been critical of the president’s deployments, said in a post on X, “Trump is trying to provoke chaos by sending 4,000 soldiers onto American soil.”
Newsom then said those “foolish agitators” who commit acts of violence or disobey orders from law enforcement “will be held accountable.”
He filed suit on Monday against the Trump administration for activating his state’s National Guard without seeking his input.
Asked by Fox host Sean Hannity if there’s any evidence showing that the protesters were paid, in light of reports saying that they were being provided with equipment such as face shields and bricks, Noem said “Absolutely.”
“These are organized. These are people that are being paid to do this. You can follow how they behave, the signals they give to each other in these crowds and these protests to instigate violence,” she said. “This is an operation, and it’s professionally done. They’ve done it before, and we’re going to stop it and make sure that we prosecute every single one of them.”
In a social media post, Noem also said: “A message to the LA rioters: you will not stop us or slow us down. @ICEgov will continue to enforce the law.”
