Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell condemned the federal government for creating "hazardous conditions" after President Donald Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to the city on Saturday, limiting his department's response.
"LAPD was not given advance notice that the federal operations would occur in that area," McDonnell stated during a Sunday press conference. "As a result, we were not prepositioned to respond immediately to unrest related to those actions."
"Once the call for assistance came in, LAPD responded within 38 minutes," the LAPD chief continued in a clip circulating on X. Although it "sounds like a long time," McDonnell added that officers were delayed because of traffic, crowd density and hazardous conditions caused by the tear gas deployed on protesters by federal agents.
"Once the call for assistance came in LAPD responded within 38mins ... The response was impacted by traffic, crowd density, hazardous conditions caused by federal agents deploying tear gas" pic.twitter.com/h81wWIuqpr
— Brennan Murphy (@brenonade) June 9, 2025
Protests erupted in the city on Friday after agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducted "immigration enforcement operations" across the city Friday morning, resulting in the detainment of more than 100 undocumented Americans, per the BBC.
The LAPD did not take part in the raids but was called for backup when protests turned violent on Saturday after the Trump administration deployed more than 2,000 National Guard troops to the city, marking the first time a president has deployed the National Guard without a state's request or consent since 1965, CNN reported. At the time, President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to Alabama to protect protesters on the eve of the Selma to Montgomery marches.
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