LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump ordered an additional 2,000 National Guard troops and 700 U.S. Marines to Los Angeles on Monday, significantly expanding the federal military presence in a city already gripped by days of protests against his administration’s immigration policies.
The deployment—opposed by both California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass—comes in response to what the White House described as escalating unrest, though local officials insist the situation does not warrant such a show of force.
The first wave of 2,000 National Guard members began arriving Sunday, following a weekend marked by widespread protests and sporadic violence. Demonstrations were sparked by federal immigration raids that resulted in the arrest of more than 40 individuals across the city, drawing condemnation from immigrant advocates and civil rights groups.
On Monday, protests continued but were largely peaceful. Thousands rallied near City Hall, while smaller groups demonstrated outside a federal complex that houses a detention center where some of those arrested are being held.
Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom criticized Trump’s decision as politically motivated and unnecessary. “This isn’t about public safety,” Newsom wrote on the social platform X. “It’s about stroking a dangerous president’s ego.”
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell echoed those concerns, warning that the uncoordinated arrival of federal troops posed “significant logistical and operational challenges” to local law enforcement. “We are fully capable of managing these demonstrations,” he said in a statement.
President Trump has portrayed the city as overwhelmed by “lawless mobs,” a characterization sharply disputed by local officials. Critics say the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics—including workplace raids and family separations—have inflamed tensions in immigrant communities and prompted the latest wave of unrest.
The weekend protests reached a peak on Sunday when demonstrators blocked a major freeway, set fire to autonomous vehicles, and clashed with police, who responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash-bang grenades. By Monday, the acrid scent of smoke still lingered in parts of downtown Los Angeles.
Similar protests were reported Monday evening in other cities, including San Francisco, Santa Ana, Dallas, and Austin, as opposition to the immigration crackdown spread beyond Los Angeles.
