by EuroNews with AP
It’s published
Donald Trump is deploying 2,000 California National Guard to Los Angeles over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s objection following a second day clash between hundreds of protesters and federal immigration officials.
Newsom wrote on social media: “The federal government is creating chaos and can make excuses to escalate things. This is not the behavior of a civilized country.”
He explained his decision to deploy the National Guard as “intentional and coronavirus” behavior, adding that it “just escalates tension.”
Trump responded to Gavin Newsom in his post on Saturday on his “Truth Social” platform, saying, “If California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass can’t fulfill their duties that no one knows they can’t, the federal government will solve the rant’s problem and how to solve it!!!”
On Saturday, a conflict broke out near Home Depot, a heavy Latino city in Paramount, south of Los Angeles, where federal agents were staging at the nearby Department of Homeland Security office. Agents unleashed tear gas, flash bang explosives and pepper balls, while protesters threw rocks and cement in Border Patrol vehicles. Smoke wafts from a small mountain of fiery garbage on the streets.
Tensions were high after a series of sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day, including the Fashion District of LA and Home Depot. The weekly tally of immigrant arrests in the city has risen past 100.
The White House announced that Trump will deploy security guards to “deal with the lawlessness that Fester has been allowed.” It was not clear when the troops would arrive.
Signaling the administration’s aggressive approach, Defense Secretary Pete Hegses threatened the deployment of the US military.
“As violence continues, active Marines in Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized.
Trump’s orders came after a clash in Paramount and nearby Compton. The cars were on fire there. The protest continued into the evening at Paramount, with hundreds of demonstrators gathering near the donut shop, and authorities had barbed wire to keep the crowd under control.
The crowd also reunited outside a federal building in downtown Los Angeles. There, local police declared illegal parliament and began arresting people.
Paramount standoff
In the first half of Paramount, immigration officers confronted protesters at the entrance to a business park behind Home Depot. They left the fireworks, dragged shopping carts into the street, smashing blocks of cinders, and dumped the procession of Border Patrol vans as they left the main street and ripened.
US lawyer Bill Essay said federal agents arrested more people on Saturday who received deportation orders, but there was nothing at Home Depot. The Department of Homeland Security had a building next door, and agents were preparing to run the operation, so agents were staging there, he said in FOX11 Los Angeles. He did not say how many people were arrested on Saturday.
Paramount Mayor Peggy Lemons told several news outlets that community members appeared accordingly because people feared the action of immigration agents.
“It’s no surprise that chaos continues when we handle things so that this seems to be processed,” Lemons said.
Some demonstrators jeered the officers while recording the event on their smartphones.
“Ice from Paramount. We’ll meet you about what you are,” the woman said through the megaphone. “Not welcome here.”
Essayli posted to X, which included more than a dozen people arrested and accused of obstructing immigration agents, including names and mug shots of those arrested. He didn’t say where they were protesting.
White House press chief Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the work that immigration officials were doing when they met the protests were “essential to stop and reverse illegal criminals’ violations of the United States.”
The president’s move came shortly after it poses a threat to social media networks. If Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass “doesn’t work,” then “the federal government will solve and solve the problems, riots, looters, and how to solve them!!”
Speaking on TV station ABC7, Bass said: “We certainly want people to take advantage of the opportunity to exercise their first right to amend, but things are moments when things turn into violence… that’s not acceptable and people will be held accountable.”
She said she spoke to members of the Trump administration, claiming that she and Newsom are in control and that the National Guard does not need to be deployed.
Arrested in Los Angeles
The protest began a day ago in Los Angeles after federal authorities arrested 44 people on Friday for violating immigration law.
The Department of Homeland Security later said that recent ICE operations in Los Angeles had arrested 118 immigrants, including five people linked to criminal organizations and people with previous criminal records.
David Fuerta, the United Nations regional chairman of service employees, was also arrested Friday during the protest. The Justice Department confirmed he is being held Saturday at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles ahead of a court appearance scheduled for Monday.
Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democratic minority, warned of “an disturbing pattern of arresting and detaining American citizens for exercising their right to free speech,” and called for his immediate release.
The Trump administration’s ongoing warnings and threats come with the threat as the Los Angeles Police Department says protests in the city are moving forward “in peace.”
