The Trump administration will deploy the national guard to immigration protests in Los Angeles, border czar Tom Homan said on Saturday, as an immigration crackdown in the area erupted into mass protests with police in riot gear deploying teargas at bystanders.
“We’re already mobilizing. We’re gonna bring national guard in tonight and we’re gonna continue doing our job. This is about enforcing the law,” Homan said in an interview with Fox News.
US immigration authorities on Saturday extended area raids into Paramount, south-east of Los Angeles, and were met with more protests outside an industrial park.
Border patrol personnel in riot gear and gas masks stood guard outside the park, deploying teargas as bystanders and protesters gathered on medians and across the street, some jeering at authorities while recording the event on smartphones.
“Ice out of Paramount. We see you for what you are,” a woman announced through a megaphone. “You are not welcome here.”
One handheld sign said: “No Human Being is Illegal.”
Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem pushed back against the protesters on Saturday, saying: “A message to the LA rioters: you will not stop us or slow us down. @Icegov will continue to enforce the law. And if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner and the White House deputy chief of staff, wrote on social media that Friday’s demonstrations were “an insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States”. On Saturday, he described the day’s protests as a “violent insurrection”.
During Friday’s protests at a federal detention facility in downtown LA, David Huerta, the president of the California branch of the Service Employees International Union, was arrested amid a police response that included teargas and flash-bangs.
Huerta, who was injured and detained, released a statement to the Los Angeles Times from the hospital, saying: “What happened to me is not about me. This is about something much bigger.”
“This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that’s happening. Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals. We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice,” he added.
“We call for an end to the cruel, destructive, and indiscriminate Ice raids that are tearing apart our communities, disrupting our economy, and hurting all working people,” Tia Orr, executive director of SEIU California, said.
On Friday, California governor Gavin Newsom said: “Continued chaotic federal sweeps, across California, to meet an arbitrary arrest quota are as reckless as they are cruel. Donald Trump’s chaos is eroding trust, tearing families apart, and undermining the workers and industries that power America’s economy.”
Newsom also condemned Huerta’s arrest, saying: “David Huerta is a respected leader, a patriot, and an advocate for working people. No one should ever be harmed for witnessing government action.”
The boulevard in Paramount was closed to traffic on Saturday as US Customs and Border Protection circulated through the area. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) representatives did not respond immediately to email inquiries about weekend enforcement activities.
Arrests by immigration authorities in Los Angeles come as Donald Trump and his administration push to fulfill promises to carry out mass deportations across the country.
On Friday, Ice officers arrested more than 40 people as they executed search warrants at multiple locations, including outside a clothing warehouse where a tense scene unfolded as a crowd tried to block agents from driving away.
The Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass, said the activity was meant to “sow terror” in the nation’s second-largest city.
“I am deeply angered by what has taken place,” Bass said. “These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. We will not stand for this.”
In a statement on Saturday, Ice acting director Todd Lyons chided Bass for the city’s response to protests.
“Mayor Bass took the side of chaos and lawlessness over law enforcement,” Lyons said in a statement. “Make no mistake, ICE will continue to enforce our nation’s immigration laws and arrest criminal illegal aliens.”
The Department of Homeland Security criticized Bass – and other Democratic lawmakers who spoke out against the raids – as using anti-Ice rhetoric to contribute to violence against immigration agents.
“From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is beyond the pale. This violence against Ice must end,” said the DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
Protesters gathered Friday evening outside a federal detention center in Los Angeles where lawyers said those arrested had been taken, chanting: “Set them free, let them stay!”
Other protesters held signs that said “ICE out of LA!” and led chants and shouted from megaphones. Some scrawled graffiti on the building facade.
Federal agents executed search warrants at three locations, including a warehouse in the fashion district of Los Angeles, after a judge found there was probable cause the employer was using fictitious documents for some of its workers, according to representatives for homeland security investigations and the US attorney’s office.
Advocates for immigrant rights say people were detained Friday by immigration authorities outside Home Depot stores and a doughnut shop.
In a post on X, the California representative Jimmy Gomez called the raids “pure intimidation by Trump and his cronies to scare and divide us”.
“You have the right to remain silent. Film everything. Don’t sign anything without a lawyer. Don’t open the door w/o a signed warrant,” Gomez said.
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