Trump Deploys National Guard Troops to Los Angeles

National Guard troops arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday as part of the Trump administration’s response to clashes between federal immigration officials and protesters following ICE raids of local businesses. Governor Gavin Newsom opposed the deployment, posting on social media Sunday that “Trump is trying to manufacture a crisis in LA County — deploying troops not for order, but to create chaos.” We’ll check in with local reporters and a legal expert about what’s happening on the ground in LA and how ICE sweeps are affecting immigrant communities in California.

This partial transcript was computer-generated. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.

Mina Kim: Welcome to Forum. I’m Mina Kim. Governor Newsom says California will sue the Trump administration over its deployment of the National Guard in response to weekend clashes between protesters and federal immigration authorities. Newsom tried to call out protesters destroying property and throwing rocks and explosives in an MSNBC interview last night, but put the blame for the escalation squarely on the president.

Gavin Newsom: They’re just playing right into Donald Trump’s hand, and they need to be called out. They need to be arrested. It is wrong to destroy other people’s property, and it is wrong to create the conditions that only exacerbate this, but Donald Trump, at the end of the day, is the sponsor of these conditions.

Mina Kim: Joining me first to talk about where those conditions stand is Saul Gonzalez, cohost of The California Report, who’s been all over the Los Angeles area covering the protests and the landing of Guard troops. Welcome, Saul.

Saul Gonzalez: Hey, Mina.

Mina Kim: So describe the scene and mood in downtown LA today.

Saul Gonzalez: Well, right now, at this very moment, things are pretty calm. There’s no protests happening that I know of — at least not large ones. But later today at noon, there is supposed to be a very large rally, co-organized by civil rights leaders and labor leaders, to draw attention to the Trump administration’s actions here in Los Angeles when it comes to immigration and to criticize those actions. That is kind of the big thing on tap today here in LA.

Mina Kim: Yeah. So calm now. Protest later. Last night, it was a very different scene. Tell us what you saw and learned.

Saul Gonzalez: Well, last night, yesterday, and Saturday — and Friday as well. So yesterday, the focal point of the protest was this federal complex in the LA Civic Center. You have a federal courthouse there. You have the federal lockup there. And some of the first contingent of 300 armed Guard troops were sent there to stand guard with their vehicles.

At first, really early in the morning, there were only journalists there and kind of social media types posting. But as the day continued, hundreds and hundreds of people showed up both outside that particular facility and on surrounding streets. Clashes broke out in the afternoon, and then law enforcement started shooting rubber rounds and tear gas at the protesters.

There were also incidents of vandalism in the area, and some cars were set on fire. And then on Saturday, about 20 miles south of LA in the community of Paramount, kind of the same thing happened — with federal agents clashing with protesters from the community. This was outside of a home supply store, and that went on for hours. I was there for three hours. It had already gone on before I got there and continued hours after I left.

Mina Kim: Yeah. Those protests — Saturday and also Friday — what led up to them? Tell us about the ICE raids.

Saul Gonzalez: Well, the initial spark — I mean, there have been ongoing ICE actions in California, in the Bay Area, and here in Los Angeles. We know about that. But the initial spark for all of this was raids conducted on Friday.

ICE agents went out, and they went out to really immigrant-heavy neighborhoods of Los Angeles like Pico Union, the Garment District, and they seemed to be targeting work centers — places where immigrant laborers gather looking for jobs. We’ve all seen these groups of guys out on the streets and people working in the garment industry. About 40-some-odd people were arrested. That quickly got the attention of activists and people in the community, and they came out to protest. That was kind of the ignition point for everything we saw happen after that.

I should say, by the way, immigration groups have these fast response teams that go out when they hear about an incident. They head out there, and their job is to let people who are threatened with arrest know about their constitutional rights. So those folks are out there as well.

Mina Kim: Well, Governor Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass said in separate comments they believed local police could handle those initial protests. But President Trump federalized the state’s National Guard and deployed them anyway. Here’s LA Mayor Karen Bass.

Karen Bass: It’s the last thing our city needs. Our city is still trying to recover from the wildfires. And you just think about how so many people were impacted by that, and that’s an example of where the administration was helpful. And to go from that situation to where we are now is just really tragic, and I think it’s so unfortunate. It’s the last thing Los Angeles needs.

Mina Kim: Saul, did you notice a shift in the intensity of the protests after the announcement that Trump was calling in the Guard and after some of them landed in LA Sunday?

Saul Gonzalez: Well, sure. Yeah. I mean, I think the proof in the pudding was what happened on Saturday, where there were also people who noticed the unloading of some kind of federal helicopter. I saw Blackhawk helicopters in the air — which, you know, is kind of a rare sight here in Los Angeles.

Then the arrival of the Guard early yesterday morning led to these very intense clashes. Absolutely. Of course, President Trump is saying, well, you know, I sent the Guard in to protect our ICE personnel and to protect federal facilities. He’s been very active on social media justifying what he’s done in usual Trumpian fashion.

He says Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated if he had not sent the troops in. And he’s also called the protesters “paid protesters.” Of course, there is no evidence of that. And as I look out my window, Los Angeles is still very much here — and I don’t think that’s because the National Guard was sent here.

Mina Kim: Let me invite listeners into the conversation. Listeners, how are you reacting to Trump’s National Guard deployment in Los Angeles? What questions do you have about it? What questions do you have about the ICE raids taking place in California? Have you or someone you know witnessed or been the target of one? Are you protesting? Or maybe you think the protests are not appropriate. You can email your comments, opinions, and questions to forum@kqed.org.

So, Saul, what role have you seen the National Guard play so far?

Saul Gonzalez: So far, a very limited one. I mean, basically just standing guard — like in this federal facility we just spoke about — just standing guard outside of the entrance to the parking garage. And I think that’s kind of symbolically loaded because this is a place where immigrants who were arrested were taken for processing and were being kept there — or maybe still are.

So that’s all I saw personally with my own eyes yesterday — about 30 National Guard troops. I don’t know where the other 270 are, but about 30 troops were standing guard.

As the day wore on and more people gathered and words got heated, you started to see federal law enforcement personnel come out. Then they came out with tear gas agents and other things that could be used for crowd control. And quickly after that, the LAPD came out.

Now, the LAPD says, “We are not cooperating with ICE on immigration raids. We are not doing that.” But you will see us at these protests because it’s all about crowd control, street control, and kind of keeping civic order.

The LAPD came out, and things got really rough when they used the mounted patrols to push back the crowd. I personally saw this happen right in front of my eyes. One guy got whacked again and again by an LAPD officer who was on a horse. The crowd quickly moved out of the area.

I think the fear, looking ahead in the coming days, is that we will see more of that. And the protesters — what they want is very simple to understand. They want ICE out of our communities, and they want ICE not to be a threat to our families. Because when you talk to the protesters, so many of them are just one or two generations away from people who are in this country illegally.

Mina Kim: Yeah. So it sounds like you’re saying that the bulk of the clashes have been among federal agents — not necessarily the federalized National Guard — and the Los Angeles Police Department and probably county sheriffs as well. And this escalation came after the announcement of the deployment of the National Guard.

So LA is no stranger to a National Guard deployment, right? When’s the last time?

Saul Gonzalez: Oh, well — hey. I have some gray in my hair, so I could talk until the cows come home about this. My first memory of the Guard coming to LA was 1992, after the civil unrest. We had a heavy National Guard presence. We actually had the Marines come up the 5 Freeway from Camp Pendleton — which I know the Trump administration threatened to do now.

We tend to forget recent history, but after George Floyd’s murder, there was civil unrest here in Los Angeles. The Guard again came out on the streets. And of course, they come out after natural catastrophes — after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. They came out this year.

Earlier this year, in January and February, I was out with National Guard personnel as they were manning checkpoints into fire zones — to keep those neighborhoods safe and to prevent looting.

So we’ve seen this a time or two before in Los Angeles — but this is the only time where the governor has not requested the Guard’s presence. Local officials have not requested the Guard’s presence.

Basically, you have a cadre of state and local leadership right now saying: We do not want these troops here. All they’re doing is inflaming the situation. And local leaders believe that’s what President Trump wants. He wants a crisis atmosphere here in Los Angeles. And at least as of right now, he’s gotten what he wants — if that’s correct.

Mina Kim: Well, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Face the Nation yesterday said otherwise. Let’s hear what she had to say.

Kristi Noem: Governor Newsom has proven that he makes bad decisions. The president knows that he makes bad decisions, and that’s why the president chose the safety of this community over waiting for Governor Newsom to get some sanity.

Mina Kim: After the break, we’re going to get into the legality of this administration’s actions around the Guard deployment. But before we go, I know you spoke with Congressmember Maxine Waters — LA Congresswoman Maxine Waters — yesterday. Saul, tell us what she said.

Saul Gonzalez: Basically, she just said: “Trump hates us.” Those were her first words to me, followed by her belief that, again, he is trying to incite this — trying to create a pretext to declare martial law of some scope in Los Angeles or California.

And she says every single elected official should be out in the streets joining the protesters — of course, peacefully, nonviolently — but should be out on the streets joining them. And she said that includes you, Governor Gavin Newsom.

Mina Kim: We’re talking about what’s happening in Los Angeles after the Trump administration deployed National Guard troops there yesterday, and we’ll get into how ICE sweeps are affecting immigrant communities in California and the legality of it all.

Saul Gonzalez is cohost of The California Report for KQED. And, Saul, I gotta thank you so much for being out there all weekend and for bringing this report back to us.

Saul Gonzalez: Oh, thank you, and thanks for your time on the topic.