President Donald Trump plans to speak at Fort Bragg on Tuesday to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the US army as he deploys the military in an attempt to quiet immigration protests in Los Angeles, reports the Associated Press.
Trump has promoted the army’s anniversary as a reason to hold a military parade in Washington, DC, on Saturday, which is also his 79th birthday.
Tanks and other vehicles will roll down city streets in a reminder of how the Republican president is reshaping the armed forces after returning to the White House this year.
Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, on Tuesday said images of an Australian journalist being injured during protests in Los Angeles were “horrific” and that his government had contacted the US over the incident.
“We have already raised these issues with the U.S. administration. We don’t find it acceptable that it occurred,” Albanese told reporters.
Australia’s 9News US reporter Lauren Tomasi was hit by a rubber bullet in Los Angeles on Sunday during protests against president Trump’s immigration policies.
“I’m a bit sore, but I’m okay. Important we keep on telling the stories that need to be told,” Tomasi said in a post on X.
A presumed frontrunner for the Democratic leadership, governor Gavin Newsom has made no secret of his political ambitions and appears to be relishing his chance for a public showdown with Donald Trump. Here’s a snippet from AFP:
“Every political crisis is a political opportunity,” Jeff Le, a former senior official in California state politics who negotiated with the first Trump administration, told AFP.
“In California, where President Trump polls at 30%, it’s a potential gift for the governor to showcase stark differences between the two.”
Those differences were all too apparent as Trump upbraided the Democrat for a “horrible job,” while the president’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, threatened to arrest Newsom over any interference with deportations.
Homan rowed back his comments after the Newsom gave a fiery interview with left-leaning MSNBC mocking his “tough guy” stance and calling his bluff.
Le said Newsom’s defiant showing would delight a Democratic base “desperate for a fighter.”
But he warned that a prolonged stand-off in LA - and particularly an escalation of violence or vandalism - could erode public sympathy, especially if Trump seeks to target California’s federal funding.
Newsom’s reputation also lost some of its sheen among centrists during the pandemic, when he was slammed by business owners for onerous public health restrictions.
“There’s no question Gavin Newsom is trying to use this moment to elevate his national profile, casting himself as the face of Democratic resistance to Donald Trump,” said veteran political strategist Charlie Kolean.
But the analyst cautioned that Newsom would damage his presidential ambitions if voters thought he was taking the side of criminals over security forces in his drive to be seen as a defender of civil rights.
“Voters overwhelmingly want law and order – it’s one of the core issues Trump ran on and won big with,” Kolean told AFP.
Shortly after California filed a lawsuit suing the Trump administration for deploying the National Guard to the state, governor Gavin Newsom has indicated he will take similar action against the deployment of US marines, saying “we will sue to stop this”. In a post on X he wrote:
US Marines serve a valuable purpose for this country – defending democracy. They are not political pawns.
The Secretary of Defense is illegally deploying them onto American streets so Trump can have a talking point at his parade this weekend.
It’s a blatant abuse of power. We will sue to stop this. The Courts and Congress must act. Checks and balances are crumbling. This is a red line – and they’re crossing it. WAKE UP!
Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem has said the protests in Los Angeles are “absolutely” organized by people being paid to instigate violence, without providing any evidence.
Asked by Sean Hannity on Fox News about pallets of bricks that he claimed had mysteriously appeared at the protests and whether she had found evidence of organisation and funding, Noem said:
Absolutely. These are organized. These are people that are being paid to do this. You can follow how they behave, the signals they give to each other in these crowds and these protests to instigate violence. This is an operation, and it’s professionally done. They’ve done it before, and we’re going to stop it and make sure that we prosecute every single one of them.
She also called Karen Bass a “trainwreck of a mayor” and said Los Angeles was not “a city of immigrants they’re a city of criminals.”
Meanwhile in Texas hundreds of protesters have marched from the Capitol building in Austin to the Ice processing centre at the JJ Pickle Building.
Video showed protesters chanting “No more Ice” and holding up signs including “No human being is illegal”.
Local reporter Candice Bernd wrote on social media platform Bluesky that protesters had occupied the federal building and that at least two people had been arrested at the demonstration.
Protests have also taken place in at least nine other US cities on Monday, including in San Francisco, where local reports say a march has started down Mission Street.
Chants of “Move Ice, get out the Bay! Get out the Bay Ice, get out the Bay!” could be heard and many protesters wore Palestinian keffiyehs, Mission Local reported.
NOW
— Mission Local (@MLNow) June 10, 2025
Hundreds of people are rallying at 24th & Mission in San Francisco, protesting the ICE raids in LA & arrests taking place across the country.
Marches have started down Mission Street. pic.twitter.com/iuvSPjDysw
The rapper Doechii has used her acceptance speech at the BET Awards, which were taking place in Los Angeles on Monday evening, to highlight the Trump administration’s deployment of military forces to put down protests. She said:
I do want to address what’s happening right now, outside the building. These are ruthless attacks that are creating fear and chaos in our communities in the name of law and order.
Trump is using military forces to stop a protest – and I want y’all to consider what kind of government it appears to be when every time we exercise our democratic right to protest, the military is deployed against us. What type of government is that?
People are being swept up and torn from their families and I feel its my responsibility as an artist to use this moment to speak up for all oppressed people for Black people, for Latino people, for trans people, for the people in Gaza.
Here’s Karen Bass speaking at that press conference we reported on not long ago. In it she said Los Angeles was being used as a “test case for what happens when the federal government moves in and takes the authority away from the state or away from local government”:
A few pics from outside the federal building in Los Angeles:
Over the past hour LAPD officers have been attempting to push back protesters from outside the federal building in downtown Los Angeles.
Local reporter Sergio Olmos said police had declared an “unlawful gathering” and gave the crowd five minutes to disperse. They later began firing “less lethal rounds” and pepper balls at protesters, including from on top of the building.
Crowds are pelted with less lethal rounds and pepper balls as they are pushed back from the federal building pic.twitter.com/t8dhrwvSmT
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) June 10, 2025
Shortly after her press conference ended, Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass posted on X:
Don’t buy into Trump’s chaos. Rise to the moment. This is about protecting our immigrant communities, not destruction of our city.
After being released from federal custody, Union leader David Huerta has said he hoped has he not put members of his union “in harm’s way” after being arrested and highlighted the inability of inmates, currently in lockdown, to access their lawyers and attend court hearings.
As we reported earlier, Huerta was violently arrested on Friday while serving as a community observer during an Ice raid in Los Angeles.
Karen Bass says Los Angeles being used as a 'test case' and 'an experiment'
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass has accused the federal government of using her city as a “test case” for the federal government taking over from local and state authorities and said the intervention was completely unwarranted.
She told the press conference Los Angeles was being used as “a test case for what happens when the federal government moves in and takes the authority away from the state or away from local government.” She added:
I don’t think our city should be used for an experiment.
She asked “do you know what the national guard are doing? They are guarding two buildings ... that’s what they’re doing, so they need marines on top of it?”
She notes that Trump had congratulated the National Guard on restoring the peace before they had even arrived in the city.
She said that the city had been peaceful before Ice raids that began last week, adding “this is chaos that was started in Washington DC” and that “nothing warranted the raids, nothing was happening”.
She said the Ice raids had induced a “level of fear” in residents, including legal residents. “I can’t emphasize enough the level of fear and terror that is in Angelinos right now, not knowing if tomorrow or tonight, it might be where they live, it might be their workplace, should you send your kids to school, should you go to work?”
Can you imagine having your annual appointment to Ice… and you are told that you need to go to the facility to check in and then you are detained… when you are legal? …
What this means is that people are going to be afraid to maintain appointments which means they will fall into the closet and they will fall out of status.
She adds that “we are a city of immigrants and we have always embraced that”.
This kinds of atmosphere it creates a chaos in our city .. we did not need this,” she said.
Updated
LA police chief Jim McDonnell has said the introduction of the National Guard into the protests could create confusion. Speaking at a press conference, he told reporters that it created “two parallel tracks that don’t work together”.
He said the LAPD usually dealt with “the issues on the street” and that there were 14 other agencies they could reach out to and only if they weren’t able to be used would police reach out to the sheriff, who would request the deployment of the National Guard – a federal agency.
He also said told Californians that “we fully support your right to peacefully protest but that “those who chose to incite violence … will be arrested” and added that he expected “many more” people to be arrested.
Updated
Gavin Newsom has said he will “surge” more than 800 state and local law enforcement officers into Los Angeles “to clean up President Trump’s mess”. In a post on X he wrote:
Chaos is exactly what Trump wanted, and now California is left to clean up the mess.
The deployment will include 640 highway patrol officers and 240 officers from neighbouring jurisdictions, his office added in a statement.
The statement said 40 people had so far been arrested in relation to vandalism, looting and violence and reminded Californians “that they have a right to speak out, but they must remain peaceful.” Los Angeles county district attorney Nathan Hochman said:
I want to make it crystal clear, you can hurl insults at whoever you want. However, if you hurl cinder blocks, light vehicles on fire, destroy property and assault law enforcement officers, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Donald Trump can't name the crime he thinks Gavin Newsom should be arrested for
After Donald Trump told reporters earlier on Monday that he would support the arrest of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, the president was asked a simple question: “What crime has Governor Newsom committed”?
“What crime has he committed?” Trump replied. “Uh. I think his primarily – primary crime is running for governor, because he’s done such a bad job”.
Updated
Hegseth claims Marines are needed in LA because Newsom refuses to defend federal law enforcement officers
In what appears to be a deeply partisan statement from the US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, the former weekend host of Fox & Friends Donald Trump put in charge of the US military, posted on Monday that he dispatched a marine infantry battalion to Los Angeles, without informing the Los Angeles police department, because California’s Democratic governor was not defending immigration officers from protesters.
Writing on Elon Musk’s social media platform from his official Pentagon account, Hegseth said:
Due to increased threats to federal law enforcement officers and federal buildings, approximately 700 active-duty U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton are being deployed to Los Angeles to restore order. We have an obligation to defend federal law enforcement officers - even if Gavin Newsom will not.
Hegseth’s claim that federal officers are under threat contrasts sharply with the reality on the ground, according to the Los Angeles police department.
“Today, demonstrations across the City of Los Angeles remained peaceful, and we commend all those who exercised their First Amendment rights responsibly” the city’s police force said in a statement on Monday. “The Los Angeles Police Department appreciates the cooperation of organizers, participants, and community partners who helped ensure public safety throughout the day.”
Updated
Newsom says Trump is deploying another 2,000 National Guard troops to LA, needlessly
In a social media post, California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, just said that he has been informed that another 2,000 Guard troops are being deployed by the president to Los Angeles, where protests have been entirely peaceful on Monday.
Newsom wrote:
I was just informed Trump is deploying another 2,000 Guard troops to L.A. The first 2,000? Given no food or water. Only approx. 300 are deployed — the rest are sitting, unused, in federal buildings without orders. This isn’t about public safety. It’s about stroking a dangerous President’s ego. This is Reckless. Pointless. And Disrespectful to our troops.
Updated
LAPD chief says deployment of marines comes as a surprise to him, and could make things harder
The Los Angeles police department still has not been formally notified that a marine infantry battalion will be arriving in the city, the force’s chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement on Monday afternoon.
McDonnell also suggested that 700 marines showing up on the streets of Los Angeles could actually make the job of policing the protests over federal immigration raids more difficult.
“The possible arrival of federal military forces in Los Angeles – absent clear coordination – presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city” McDonnell said.
“The Los Angeles police department, alongside out mutual aid partners, have decades of experience managing large-scale public demonstrations, and we remain confident in our ability to do so professionally and effectively,” McDonnell added. “We are urging open and continuous lines of communication between all agencies to prevent confusion, avoid escalation and ensure a coordinated, lawful and orderly response during this critical time.”
Updated
Software used in surveillance of immigrants has deep ties to the LAPD
The tools that the Trump administration has reportedly used to power its deportation and detention machine have deep ties to Los Angeles.
Back when controversial data analytics firm Palantir, which has been used by the Department of Homeland Security for many years to help compile data and information to identify and deport immigrants, was first making a name for itself, it made considerable effort to convince local police departments to adopt its products. One of the first law enforcement contracts Palantir nabbed was with the Los Angeles police department in 2009. Between 2009 and 2018, the LAPD spent more than $20m on its contract with Palantir.
Palantir’s software merges and centralizes data from various sources, including crime and arrest reports, license plate readers capturing images of vehicles all over the city, and data from police stops. It could include information the LAPD has access to in its own records as well as information from social media or other law enforcement agencies. For instance, the LAPD has previously obtained footage from Waymo self-driving vehicles.
The LAPD notably used Palantir as part of its predictive policing program, Operation Laser, for which the department tried to use historical data to predict future crime. Documents show the program reinforced existing policing decisions to patrol certain people and neighborhoods over others, which led to over-policing of Black and brown neighborhoods.
LAPD’s use of Palantir may be particularly concerning as the city braces for hundreds of marines and additional national guard troops to descend. As my colleagues have reported, the mostly peaceful protests of immigration raids in the city over the weekend escalated when the president sent in the first wave of the National Guard. Already, far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer has called for Palantir to be deployed on LA’s immigrant population.
It is unclear whether Palantir’s software is being used at the moment by the LAPD to help respond to these recent protests, but the LAPD has previously looked to use various tools in its arsenal to monitor political activity. In 2020, documents show the LAPD asked Amazon for Ring Footage specifically to monitor Black Lives Matter protests against police violence.
Palantir was co-founded by Peter Thiel, who has served as the chairperson of its board of directors since 2003. Thiel is a billionaire Trump donor who also bankrolled the US senate campaign of his former employee, JD Vance, in 2022.
Updated
The national guard, which played almost no role in policing protests in Los Angeles on Sunday, was once again nowhere to be seen on Monday. Federal authorities from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were likewise noticeably absent.
With much of the Los Angeles police department recovering from a long day and night, the streets were largely given over to representatives from neighboring police forces drafted in to help – from Pasadena, South Pasadena, Burbank, Vernon and other cities. South Pasadena had the job of guarding concrete blocks set up overnight on either side of LA city hall on Spring Street. Its officers also stood guard on the building’s western steps.
Much of the city establishment – council members, local elected officials and union leaders – flocked, meanwhile, to a protest of their own in Grand Park, on a hill overlooking City Hall, to demand the release of David Huerta, a leader of the Service Employees’ union who was arrested on Friday while monitoring an immigration raid and was expected in court for his first appearance on Monday afternoon.
“David Huerta is my brother,” the national president of his union, April Verrett, told the crowd to rapturous applause and chanting. “What he would say is, use this moment!”
The thousands in attendance blew horns and yelled in approval.
Union volunteers acted as marshals for the event and kept a close eye on the perimeter to watch for troublemakers – there appeared to be none. A sole Los Angeles police helicopter hovered overhead, but otherwise law enforcement was entirely absent.
Updated
Outside the federal courthouse complex in downtown Los Angeles on Monday morning, two cleaners carrying bins on wheels looked uncertainly at the daunting task in front of them – long walls in several directions covered in spray-painted graffiti after a weekend of vigorous street protest.
They donned black plastic gloves and reached for spray bottles and rolls of paper towels, but these seemed hardly adequate even for the black marble plinth bearing the name “Edward R. Roybal Center and Federal Building” where they began. Indeed, the rest of the official writing on the plinth was illegible, defaced by three separate graffiti reading “Fuck ICE” and another saying “Dead Cops”.
The City of Angels was in recovery and clean-up mode after a fraught, boisterous day of protest on Sunday against Donald Trump’s immigration roundups and his inflaming decision to activate the California National Guard against the will of the state’s leaders.
A series of mostly peaceful demonstrations were marred, as night fell, by more serious acts of vandalism and violence. Some people, who the LAPD chief later said were not affiliated with the protesters, tossed rocks and paving stones off freeway overpasses on to police cruisers and officers below, and a line of Waymo driverless vehicles that had already been spray-painted were set on fire.
On Monday morning, street cleaning vehicles were out in force on Alameda Street, on the east side of the federal courthouse complex, where the National Guard was stationed on Sunday and where thousands of protesters converged, starting in the early afternoon. Both the sidewalk and the long block of Alameda flanked by the federal buildings were cordoned off to the public.
The 101 freeway, which had been occupied by protesters the night before, was open to traffic again, but most of the downtown exits were sealed off by California Highway Patrol vehicles. A cleaning crew with a pressure washer was hard at work on the outside of the federal building on Los Angeles Street, which houses a passport office, a social security office and other key federal bureaucratic services.
Updated
US military confirms 700 Marines are being deployed to Los Angeles amid protests
The US military’s US Northern Command confirmed on Monday that a Marine infantry battalion is being deployed to Los Angeles.
In a press release from its headquarters at the Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, US Northern Command said:
Approximately 700 Marines with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division will seamlessly integrate with the Title 10 forces under Task Force 51 who are protecting federal personnel and federal property in the greater Los Angeles area.
The activation of the Marines is intended to provide Task Force 51 with adequate numbers of forces to provide continuous coverage of the area in support of the lead federal agency.
Task Force 51 is U.S. Army North’s Contingency Command Post, which provides a rapidly deployable capability to partner with civil authorities and DoD entities in response to a Homeland Defense and Homeland Security Operations. It is commanded by Maj. Gen. Scott M. Sherman.
Task Force 51 is comprised of approximately 2,100 National Guard soldiers in a Title 10 status and 700 active-duty Marines. Task Force 51 forces have been trained in de-escalation, crowd control, and standing rules for the use of force.
Updated
Democratic officials in California are trying a new line of attack on Donald Trump: that his deployment of national guard troops to LA is deeply disrespectful to law enforcement.
“You sent your troops here without fuel, food, water or a place to sleep,” California Governor Gavin Newsom posted, sharing a photo of national guard troops sleeping on the floor. “If anyone is treating our troops disrespectfully, it is you.”
Newsom was responding to Trump’s accusation that the “Newscum inspired” demonstrators spit on troop members during clashes over the weekend. “If they spit, we will hit,” Trump wrote, endorsing a violent response.
Earlier on Monday, the attorney general, Rob Bonta, said California “didn’t take lightly” to the president calling up state national guard troops – “service members who work hard day and night to protect our state”.
He said national guard troops were still working to help the state recover from the devastating wildfires that burned across the LA area earlier this year, and preparing for future disasters.
“They train and they prepare so they’re ready if they’re called to war,” Bonta said. “Activating these troops for protests that local law enforcement had confirmed at the time were under control is deeply unfair and disrespectful of their service and sacrifice.”
Updated
Union leader David Huerta released on bond after being charged with allegedly interfering with Ice raid
David Huerta, the 58-year-old president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California, has just been released from federal custody on a $50,000 bond, after being charged in federal court on Monday with “conspiracy to impede an officer”.
The leader of a union that represents thousands of janitors, security officers and other workers in the state was violently arrested on Friday while serving as a community observer during an Ice raid in Los Angeles.
In an affidavit supporting the criminal complaint against Huerta, an officer alleged that the union leader was arrested after another officer tried to push him out of the way of a law enforcement vehicle being blocked by protesters on a sidewalk. The officer who witnessed the incident claimed that he saw Huerta “push back, and in response, the officer pushed HUERTA to the ground. The officer and I then handcuffed HUERTA
and arrested him.”
However, video of the arrest shared on social media by US attorney Bill Essayli seems to show that the officer shoved Huerta to the ground without being pushed by the labor leader. Huerta’s head was knocked into a concrete curb by the officers and he was hospitalized on Friday.
Witness video posted online by Isaac Bryan, a California state assemblymember, also showed Huerta being shoved to the ground and injured by the officers.
Huerta had been held at the Metropolitan detention center in downtown LA since Friday. The felony charge he faces carries up to six years in federal prison, according to the US attorney’s office .
The SEIU held a large rally in downtown Los Angeles on Monday in support of Huerta and to stand up for his right to observe and document law enforcement activity. Union leaders from across the state led the crowd in chants of “Free Huerta now!”
Demonstrations also took place in other cities from Chicago to Boston.
California’s two Democratic senators, Alex Padill and Adam Schiff, wrote a letter to federal officials demanding answers regarding Huerta’s arrest.
“It is deeply troubling that a U.S. citizen, union leader, and upstanding member of the Los Angeles community continues to be detained by the federal government for exercising his rights to observe immigration enforcement,” the senators wrote.
Huerta’s union shared video of him speaking about his work on social media.
Huerta’s arraignment is scheduled for 7 July at the Edward R. Roybal federal building.
Updated
Along the six-mile stretch between central Los Angeles and downtown, signs of the weekend’s demonstrations were scarce on Monday morning, save for spray-painted messages of “Say no to unlawful orders” on a building in Koreatown, a mostly Asian and Latino neighborhood.
Along Wilshire Boulevard, which spans 15 miles from Santa Monica to downtown, it appeared to be business as usual with vendors outside of train stations and office workers taking their lunches and smoke breaks.
Once downtown, the quietness continued with the area’s Grand Central Market buzzing with tourists. The usual signs of protest, like boarded-up business and fenced-off parks, were largely absent. But closer to City Hall, some buildings were freshly graffitied with the slogans “Fuck Ice” and “Fuck Trump”, and there was a low hum of chants and drums from a demonstration organized by the local Service Employees International Union (SEIU) filled the air.
Across the street from City Hall – the steps of which were guarded by four police officers with riot helmets on – hundreds of people had gathered to protest the violent arrest of the president of SEIU California, David Huerta, on Friday.
Huerta, who was serving as a community observer during an Ice raid in Los Angeles, and was arrested by federal agents and charged on Monday with “conspiracy to impede an officer”.
Updated
Trump is 'intentionally trying to inflame' LA protests, says Jeffries
The House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, said at a news conference in Washington DC that California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, and the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, deserve credit for “managing a fragile situation that Donald Trump and the extreme Maga Republicans are intentionally trying to inflame”.
Asked by a reporter if images of civil unrest would be a political problem for Democrats running in the 2026 midterms, “if they might be asked to defend some of these things”, Jeffries said: “No one is actually defending any unlawful behavior; I am defending the right for the American people to peacefully assemble”.
“We will not be lectured by Donald Trump and anyone in the Republican party about issues of law and order,” the New York Democrat added. “You know what he did … on day one? He pardoned hundreds of violent felons, criminals who brutally assaulted police officers and attacked the Capitol on January 6.”
Updated
ABC News has the number at 700 Marines from Twentynine Palms ordered to “assist” in Los Angeles, citing a US official. Per ABC: “The Marines are expected to arrive over the next 24 hours according to the official. They will be tasked with a support role, helping law enforcement only.”
CNN is also reporting this but puts the number at 500 Marines based out of Twentynine Palms in California who have been mobilized to respond to protests in LA.
Like National Guard troops, Marines are prohibited from conducting law enforcement activity, such as arrests, unless the Insurrection Act is invoked.
Updated
Pentagon to temporarily deploy about 700 Marines to Los Angeles - reports
Despite comments made by Donald Trump just now (“we’ll see”), the US military is set to temporarily deploy about 700 Marines to Los Angeles while additional National Guard troops arrive in the city, a US official has told Reuters.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said a battalion would be sent, but for now, the Insurrection Act is not expected to be invoked.
The official added that the situation was fluid and could change.
Updated
Trump says 'we'll see what happens' on deploying marines to California
Asked at the roundtable if he will deploy marines in California, Trump said: “We’ll see what happens.”
I think we have it very well under control. I think it would’ve been a very bad situation, it was heading in the wrong direction – it’s now heading in the right direction.
Waymo suspends service in downtown Los Angeles after self-driving cars set aflame
The self-driving taxi service Waymo suspended its operations in Downtown Los Angeles on Monday after demonstrators set several of the company’s vehicles on fire during the city’s immigration protests over the weekend. Ridesharing via the autonomous vehicles is still available in other neighborhoods, but, according to a spokesperson, Waymo has removed its cars from the downtown area in coordination with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Waymo, which is owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, made its driverless cars publicly available in Los Angeles last year and has been seeking to expand its services. It also operates in multiple other cities, most prominently San Francisco. Images from the weekend’s demonstrations showed several of the company’s taxis aflame and covered in graffiti.
Trump says events in LA weren't an insurrection 'but it could have led to one'
At the roundtable, Trump stopped short of calling the LA protests an insurrection, but said “it could have led to one”. (This is at odds with his labelling of protestors as “insurrectionists” on social media less than an hour ago, he did yesterday too).
Updated
California governor Gavin Newsom called Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles over his objections an “unmistakable step toward authoritarianism” and asked the governors “red or blue” to join him in denouncing the president’s actions.
“Every governor, red or blue, should reject this outrageous overreach. This is beyond incompetence — this is him intentionally causing chaos, terrorizing communities, and endangering the principles of our great democracy,” Newsom said in a statement, announcing the state’s lawsuit against the administration over the move to mobilize 2,000 California National Guard troops.
It is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism. We will not let this stand.
According to the governor’s office, the lawsuit names Trump, defense secretary Pete Hegseth and the Department of Defense. It argues that Trump’s order to federalize the state National Guard violates the Constitution and exceeds the president’s authority, “not only because the takeover occurred without the consent or input of the Governor, as federal law requires, but also because it was unwarranted”.
Trump says he would bring in more National Guard to California 'if we needed it'
Asked why he didn’t consult with California governor Gavin Newsom about deploying the National Guard to the streets of LA, Trump repeated his usual insults about Newsom being “incompetent”.
Speaking at a roundtable at the White House focused on business investment, Trump went on:
If I didn’t get involved, if we didn’t bring the Guard in – and we would bring more in if we needed it, because we have to make sure there’s going to be law and order – you had a disaster happening … They were overwhelmed, you saw what was happening.
He then adds:
It’s lucky for the people in Los Angeles and in California that we did what we did. We got in just in time. It’s still simmering a little bit, but not very much.
Updated
After a series of immigration raids across the city of Los Angeles on Friday inspired mostly peaceful protests involving a few hundred people, the situation escalated on Saturday when Donald Trump took the unprecedented step of mobilizing the National Guard – the country’s military reserve units – claiming the demonstrations amounted to “rebellion” against the authority of the US government. The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, called the decision “purposefully inflammatory”. Here’s a visual look at what actually happened on the streets.
Trump LA protest response risks turning US military into political force, veterans warn
The Trump administration’s deployment of national guard troops to Los Angeles to intervene in civilian protests in the face of opposition from the Californian governor is a major escalation that risks the politicisation of the US military, armed service veterans are warning.
Former top military figures have told the Guardian that the decision to put up to 2,000 troops under federal control and send them into the streets of LA is a violation of the military’s commitment to keep out of domestic politics in all but the most exceptional circumstances. The last time a US president federalised the national guard against the wishes of a state governor was in 1965, when Lyndon Johnson deployed them to protect civil rights marchers in Alabama.
“This is the politicisation of the armed forces,” said Maj Gen Paul Eaton. “It casts the military in a terrible light – it’s that man on horseback, who really doesn’t want to be there, out in front of American citizens.”
Eaton, who commanded the training of Iraqi troops during the invasion of Iraq, predicted that the LA deployment would lead to the eventual invocation of the Insurrection Act. The 1807 law empowers the president to deploy the full US military against insurrection or armed rebellion.
“We are headed towards the invocation of the Insurrection Act, which will provide a legal basis for inappropriate activity,” he said.
Updated
Nancy Pelosi has called Trump’s suggestion that he would support the arrest of Gavin Newsom “the hallmark of authoritarianism on the road to tyranny”.
The former House speaker said in a statement:
The ongoing arrests in California of families and children obeying the law are evidence of a broader pattern of Ice’s renegade behavior across the country. The resulting peaceful demonstrations against these actions are a manifestation of understandable fear in our communities.
Now we have seen the President of the United States say that he would arrest a sitting American governor just for disagreeing with the actions of this Administration. This is the hallmark of authoritarianism on the road to tyranny – and all Americans should be shocked and appalled by the President’s blatant disregard for our Constitutional system.
The Trump Administration’s escalation and provocation inflames tensions and incites violence. All Americans must be able to exercise their Constitutional right to lawfully and peacefully protest. We must shine a bright light on the unlawful tactics of the Trump Administration so that freedom of speech prevails.
Updated
Trump's support for arresting Newsom is 'more bluster, more threats', says California attorney general
Donald Trump’s endorsement of arresting the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, is “more bluster, more threats” from the president, the state’s attorney general Rob Bonta said, dismissing the threat.
Earlier today, Newsom called Trump’s support for the arrest of a sitting governor an “unmistakable step toward authoritarianism”.
Bonta said the governor would have “nothing to worry about” if the Trump administration sought to slap cuffs on Newsom. Earlier, Tom Homan, the administration’s border czar, threatened to arrest anyone who obstructed immigration enforcement efforts in the state, including Newsom and Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass.
“Everything Governor Newsom has done and is doing is completely lawful in the best interest of California, supporting California and California’s people, our future, our financial resources, lawfully,” Bonta said.
And it is the President that needs to put a mirror up to himself and realize that the unlawful actor here is him.
Bonta said the Trump administration had infringed on the state’s “sovereignty” by mobilizing the state National Guard over the objections of the governor. He said local law enforcement - which includes the nation’s largest sheriff’s department and the third largest police force in the US – was “more than capable” of handling the situation and that Trump’s mobilization escalated it.
Updated
The Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Greg Casar has accused Trump of “politicizing and weaponizing” the National Guard, and called the president’s threat to deploy marines to the streets of LA “an illegal and authoritarian escalation”.
Accusing Trump of “political theater”, Casar, a Democratic Texas representative, in a statement called for the president to return command of the National Guard to California’s state governor, Gavin Newsom.
The statement reads:
Trump politicizing and weaponizing the National Guard makes us all less safe and less free. His threat to deploy the Marines into the streets of an American city is an illegal and authoritarian escalation.
Trump’s threats have nothing to do with keeping people safe — it’s about political theater. He’s scapegoating immigrants to distract from the GOP’s real agenda: ripping health care away from millions to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-rich.
We will not be intimidated. Progressives are standing up to this administration, including by conducting lawful oversight at Ice detention centers in Los Angeles and across the country. We stand with Angelenos, and we stand with immigrant families everywhere. The President must return command of the National Guard to Governor Newsom.
About 100 new protests have been added to a mass mobilization set for Saturday since Trump mobilized the National Guard in California, an organizer tells me.
Event organizers for 14 June mass protests, dubbed “No Kings”, say there are now more than 1,800 sites signed up around the country. A map for the protests shows near-total coverage of the US, from cities to small towns.
Trump’s escalation comes days before a planned mass protest on Saturday, set to align with his military parade in Washington DC. Organizers have added capacity for ‘know your rights’ trainings, marshals training, host updates and office hours because signups are spiking.
“The No Kings mobilizations on June 14 were already planned as a peaceful stand against authoritarian overreach and the gross abuse of power this administration has shown,” the coalition behind the No Kings protests said in a statement yesterday.
“Now, this military escalation only confirms what we’ve known: this government wants to rule by force, not serve the people. From major cities to small towns, we’ll rise together and say: we reject political violence. We reject fear as governance. We reject the myth that only some deserve freedom.”
This is from Hillary Clinton
California Governor Newsom didn't request the National Guard be deployed to his state following peaceful demonstrations.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 9, 2025
Trump sent them anyway. It's the first time in 60 years a president has made that choice.
Trump's goal isn't to keep Californians safe.
His goal is to…
California to file lawsuit against Trump for 'unlawfully' federalizing state's national guard
The state of California will file a lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of “unlawfully” federalizing the state’s National Guard and deploying its troops to quell immigration protests over the objections of the governor, Gavin Newsom.
Previewing the lawsuit on Monday, the California attorney general, Rob Bonta accused the Trump administration of escalating what began on Friday as scattered protests that erupted into unrest.
“This was not inevitable,” Bonta said of the demonstrations that built over the weekend following Ice raids across Los Angeles, adding:
There was no risk of rebellion, no threat of foreign invasion. No, inability for the federal government to enforce federal laws.
Newsom has called it “illegal and immoral” for the president to take control of the state’s National Guard, and argued that local law enforcement agencies had been managing the situation.
The attorney general’s office has not formally filed the lawsuit, but said it would be “on file” by early this afternoon.
Updated
California sues Trump over national guard deployment to LA - Washington Post
California has sued the Trump administration over its deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles, the Washington Post (paywall) reports.
According to the Post, the lawsuit contends that Trump’s move illegally infringed upon state’s governor Gavin Newsom’s role as commander in chief of the California National Guard.
Newsom last night announced the intention to sue, telling MSNBC the lawsuit would challenge Trump’s federalizing of the California National Guard without the state’s consent, a move with little precedent in the country’s history.
Asked to elaborate, Newsom said that under Trump’s executive order, “it specifically notes - and under what the [Department of Defense] did - is they had to coordinate with the governor of the state. They never coordinated with the governor of the state,” he said.
Earlier today, Newsom told Fox News that Donald Trump was “reckless” and “immoral”.
He’s taken the illegal and unconstitutional act of federalizing the National Guard and he’s putting lives at risk.
He said that by bypassing state governors to deploy the California National Guard, Trump’s move was “by definition, illegal”.
There was no collaboration, there was no counsel, no consideration of the rules of engagement. It was a reckless act that has led to conditions that exacerbated and it’s putting people’s lives at risk.
Updated
Newsom calls Trump's apparent support for his arrest 'an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism'
California’s governor Gavin Newsom has responded to Donald Trump’s suggestion earlier that he would support his arrest.
“This is a line we cannot cross as a nation,” Newsom wrote on X. “This is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.”
The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 9, 2025
This is a day I hoped I would never see in America.
I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation — this is an unmistakable step toward… pic.twitter.com/tsTX1nrHAu
Trump’s border czar Tom Homan defended the president’s decision to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles on MSNBC this morning.
Echoing Trump’s criticism of California governor Gavin Newsom’s handling of the protests, Homan told MSNBC’s Morning Joe:
I was on the ground. Governor Newsom wasn’t. I think President Trump made the right decision deploying the National Guard to protect life and property. That’s exactly what they’re doing.
Later, on Fox News’ Fox & Friends, Homan said Newsom had “failed” the state of California.
He waited two days of that city burning, officers being assaulted, before he made a declaration of unlawful assembly.
He said Newsom had been “late to the game”.
I’m in downtown Washington DC where SEIU and other labor unions are leading a protest march to justice department headquarters.
Protesters are chanting “the people united will never be defeated”, “Pam Bondi, shame on you” and “Free David now!”
Earlier, the protesters heard from Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, a major union for educators.
She called for an end to Ice raids, but said:
This is not a battle that’s gonna be won or lost by this rally today.
Comparing their struggle to the civil rights movement, Weingarten continued:
Not only be in solidarity today, but each and every day together, because silence equals death. Yes, that is what Mr. Trump wants. He wants to silence us. He wants to create fear. He wants to create apathy.
Updated
Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District, spoke at a press conference of LA school leaders condemning Ice operations at schools.
He said that while Ice agents had not detained anyone “federal vans parked” outside the school were “actions of intimidation, instilling fear that may lead to self deportation, that is not the community we want to be, that is not the state or the nation that we ought to be”.
He added:
If those who believe that that is the nation we should become, let’s rearrange Lady Liberty. Let’s bring that arm down and extinguish that flame, for we’re no longer the light for the world.
Carvalho told reporters that the school board, community leaders and state officials were united in opposing Ice actions around schools. He said:
Not on our watch, shall people trampleover children’s rights. Not on our watch shall people be intimidated. Not on our watch, shall we succumb to unreasonable pressures, first to do that which is not human or humane or humanitarian.
Updated
Trump calls protesters 'professional agitators ... insurrectionists' who 'should be in jail'
Trump has said of the people taking part in the LA protests over his Ice raids:
The people who are causing the problem are professional agitators. They’re insurrectionists. They’re bad people. They should be in jail!
Updated
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) issued a statement following the Trump administration’s arrests of activists and mobilization of the National Guard in Los Angeles.
“This illegal, heavy-handed, and unnecessary crackdown on peaceful protesters is a trumped-up excuse to manufacture a spectacle and stoke further tensions,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said. “Instead of de-escalating, the administration seems intent on provoking and scapegoating hardworking immigrants to distract from its political woes.
The statement goes on to say: “This is Trump wanting to be king, putting the National Guard on the ground to target and intimidate. Our founders resisted kings after the US revolution because we fought for due process, for constitutionally protected speech and for not disappearing people off the streets or arresting people for nonviolent protests. Today, that means not brutalizing immigrant workers advocating for themselves and their families.”
Labor unions around the US are demanding the release of a labor leader arrested and injured during Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) raids on 6 June in Los Angeles.
David Huerta, president of SEIU California and SEIU-USWW, was serving as a community observer during an Ice raid in Los Angeles, and was arrested by federal agents over allegations of interfering.
He was initially hospitalized and released later on Friday for injuries sustained during the arrest. Videos circulating online show officers shoving Huerta to the ground during the arrest before handcuffing him. He is expected to make an initial court appearance on Monday afternoon.
“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,” Huerta said in a statement after his release from the hospital.
He has remained in custody, as labor leaders around the US are calling for his release and an end to the immigration enforcement raids and use of the national guard to suppress protests in Los Angeles. California has sued the Trump administration over its decision to federalize the national guard.
42 Mexicans detained in LA raids, Mexican officials say
At least 42 Mexicans are being held in four detention centers after recent immigration raids in Los Angeles, and four were deported, Mexico foreign minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente said, speaking alongside president Claudia Sheinbaum.
“We will continue our visits to monitor the Mexicans in detention centers in Los Angeles,” De la Fuente said.
He added the vast majority of Mexicans detained were working when they were arrested.
'I would do it': Trump hints he would support arrest of California governor Gavin Newsom
Donald Trump has suggested that he would support an arrest of California governor Gavin Newsom amid pro-immigration protests in the state, which prompted the president to deploy the National Guard.
On Saturday, Tom Homan, the administration’s border czar, threatened to arrest anyone who obstructs immigration enforcement efforts in the state, including Newsom and Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass.
Newsom responded during an NBC News interview by challenging Homan to “just get it over with” and move ahead with the arrest.
Asked today about Newsom daring Homan to arrest him, Trump said:
I would do it if I were Tom. I think it’s great.
Gavin likes the publicity but I think it would be a great thing. He’s done a terrible job. I like Gavin Newsom, he’s a nice guy but he’s grossly incompetent, everybody knows.
Updated
Trump says he made 'great decision' deploying national guard to California
Donald Trump has said he made “a great decision” sending the National Guard to handle unrest in California that erupted over the weekend over his immigration policies.
“If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
We made a great decision in sending the National Guard to deal with the violent, instigated riots in California. If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated. The very incompetent “Governor,” Gavin Newscum, and “Mayor,” Karen Bass, should be saying, “THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL. WE WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU, SIR.” Instead, they choose to lie to the People of California and America by saying that we weren’t needed, and that these are “peaceful protests.” Just one look at the pictures and videos of the Violence and Destruction tells you all you have to know. We will always do what is needed to keep our Citizens SAFE, so we can, together, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
Updated
President Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that it was a “great decision” to deploy the National Guard in LA, saying the city would have been “completely obliterated” otherwise.
Trump wrote:
“We made a great decision in sending the National Guard to deal with the violent, instigated riots in California. If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated. The very incompetent “Governor,” Gavin Newscum, and “Mayor,” Karen Bass, should be saying, “THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL. WE WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU, SIR.” Instead, they choose to lie to the People of California and America by saying that we weren’t needed, and that these are “peaceful protests.” Just one look at the pictures and videos of the Violence and Destruction tells you all you have to know. We will always do what is needed to keep our Citizens SAFE, so we can, together, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Updated
Clean up efforts are underway after a weekend of clashes in Los Angeles.
CNN reported that TV personality Dr Phil McGraw was embedded with federal agents as they carried out immigration raids on Friday.
The footage will be incorporated into a special report on “Dr. Phil Primetime,” a program on the former talk show host’s conservative TV channel Merit TV, a spokesperson confirmed to CNN.
Dr Phil was also embedded with ICE officials in Chicago back in January. Federal agents were reportedly told to be camera-ready for a show of force at the beginning of President Trump’s second term. Dr Phil’s presence in LA appears to reinforce the “made for TV” nature of these immigration crackdowns as well as the extreme response to the protests by the Trump administration.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of a man allegedly involved in the protests in Los Angeles.
The man assaulted a federal officer and damaged government property near Alondra Boulevard in the city of Paramount, California, the FBI alleged.
At 3.30pm on Saturday the suspect threw rocks at law enforcement vehicles on Alondra Boulevard in Paramount, California, injuring a federal officer and damaging government vehicles, the agency further alleges.
Bass restates that everyone is welcome in Los Angeles, adding “it doesn’t matter where you came from or when you got here”.
“It’s just not appropriate for there to be violence,” she says.
Bass again calls on the Trump administration to rescind its order to federalize the National Guard.
Updated
She warned Angelenos that the right to protest did not include the right to be violent, create chaos or vandalize property. “That will not be tolerated,” she said, calling for protestors to do things peacefully.
Scenes in LA is 'chaos provoked by the administration', says LA mayor as she reissues call for peaceful protest
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass has once again urged people to exercise their right to protest peacefully, adding:
We do not want to play into the [Trump] administration’s hands.
She said that the administration’s actions in LA had “caused fear and panic”.
What we’re seeing in Los Angeles is chaos provoked by the administration.
Deploying federalized troops is a dangerous escalation.
Updated
The Steady State, a nonpartisan coalition of more than 280 former national security professionals, has condemned the “inappropriate and incendiary actions” of Donald Trump and the “inflammatory” statements of Pete Hegseth over the deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles, which it calls “an alarming escalation in federal posture”.
In a statement the group said “the use of federal military force in the absence of local or state requests, paired with contradictory mandates targeting protestors, is a hallmark of authoritarian drift”. Urging all public officials to speak out against the administration’s actions, it warned that this moment “is a critical step towards autocracy”, adding: “Silence or acquiescence would be a grave error.”
Here’s the full statement:
Neither the Los Angeles Police Department, nor Mayor Karen Bass, nor California Governor Gavin Newsom … has requested federal military assistance. Nor has any local or state official declared or identified a state of emergency that would warrant such intervention. Nevertheless, President Trump’s decision to mobilize the National Guard and place Marine units at Camp Pendleton on heightened alert reflects an alarming escalation in federal posture.
Equally disturbing is the president’s subsequent decree forbidding protestors from wearing protective masks — an edict issued within hours of his announcement that Ice agents will be required to wear masks while conducting enforcement activities. This contradictory directive is both illogical and chilling, and appears designed to intimidate and suppress lawful dissent. It was followed by a presidential statement calling for the “liberation” of LA from what he called an invasion and occupation “by Illegal Aliens and Criminals,” asserting that there are “[n]ow violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operation… and directed the Secretaries of Defense, Homeland and the Attorney General “to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion, and put an end to these Migrant riots”. This language is not only extreme, it is incendiary.
The use of federal military force in the absence of local or state requests, paired with contradictory mandates targeting protestors, is a hallmark of authoritarian drift. Our members – many of whom have served in fragile democracies abroad – have seen this pattern before. What begins as provocative posturing can rapidly metastasize into something far more dangerous.
The Steady State urges all public officials, including members of Congress and state leaders, to speak out firmly and immediately. This moment is not yet catastrophic, but it is a critical step toward autocracy. Silence or acquiescence would be a grave error.
Trump's border czar Tom Homan claims 'there was no discussion about arresting Newsom'
Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has tried to clarify some of his rhetoric over the weekend where he had suggested that he had not ruled out arresting California’s leaders if they obstruct law enforcement.
Speaking on Fox News, Homan attacked the reporter he made the original comments to from MSNBC, then moved on to clarifying his comments from yesterday (and rather than dial it back, he actually appears to double down):
I’ve said it many times. You an protest, get your First Amendment rights, but when you cross that line, you put hands on [a] Ice officer, or you destroy property, you impede law enforcement or you knowingly harbor or conceal it in any way, that’s a crime, and the Trump administration is not going to tolerate. If you cross the line we’re going to see prosecutions through the Department of Justice.
Then the reporter asked: “Could Governor Newsom or Mayor Bass be arrested?” I said: “Well, no-one’s above the law. If they cross the line, they commit a crime, absolutely they can.” So there was no discussion about arresting Newsom.
NBC News yesterday asked Homan if Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, or Karen Bass, LA’s mayor, faced the risk of arrest, to which he had responded:
I’ll say this about anybody — if you cross that line, it’s a felony to knowingly harbor and conceal illegal aliens, it’s a felony to impede law enforcement from doing their job.
Speaking specifically about Bass, Homan added: “If she crossed that line, we’ll ask DOJ to prosecute.” Although, he noted he didn’t believe Bass had “crossed that line” yet.
“He’s a tough guy. Why doesn’t he do that?” Newsom shot back yesterday. “He knows where to find me.” Then ddressing Homan directly, the governor added:
Lay your hands off four-year-old girls who are trying to get an education … Come after me. Arrest me. Let’s just get it over with, tough guy.
Updated
Further protests and rallies planned for today in downtown LA
Further protests are planned for today, with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) saying it will lead a peaceful rally and protest in downtown LA at noon PT to demand the end of Ice raids.
The rally, in solidarity with the labor union Service Employees International Union California (SEIU), will call for the immediate release of its president, David Huerta, who was injured and detained while documenting an Ice raid on Friday.
The Party for Socialism & Liberation is also holding a student walkout at 11am PT to protest the deployment of the National Guard and Ice raids at the Federal Building downtown.
British photojournalist Nick Stern, who underwent emergency surgery after he was hit in the thigh by a a 14mm “sponge bullet” fired by police last night, spoke to the BBC this morning from his hospital bed in Long Beach Memorial Medical Centre.
Stern says he has been “hit by rubber bullets before”, typically getting a bruise that remains sore for several days, - but this time “whatever it was that hit me actually perforated the skin”, and left “about a 5cm (2 inch) hole in my leg”.
Stern says he had surgery yesterday and has an “open wound” and he now requires physical therapy to recover.
The photographer adds that he tries to stay as visible as possible when reporting on protests, having more than 30 years experience, and wears identification that marks him as press.
“I’m not hiding behind cars or buildings - and in fact on Saturday I was literally standing in the middle of the road” at the time he was shot, Stern adds.
He says he doesn’t know if he was deliberately targeted or if it can be chalked up to “bad training” of law enforcement officers. “Perhaps he was aiming for somebody near me. I don’t know. I can’t tell,” Stern says.
A spokesman for the LA County Sheriff department says they cannot comment on the shooting until a complaint has been made but they want to ensure the safety of journalists and the general public.
'Weak' Newsom 'did nothing' to protect LA from 'violent riots ... for days', alleges Leavitt
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has accused Gavin Newsom of being “weak” and standing by as government officials were attacked during protests.
In a post on X, she claimed the California governor “did nothing as violent riots erupted in Los Angeles for days”.
Federal law enforcement officers were “attacked by violent radicals and illegal criminals”, she added, alleging that Newsom was “too weak to protect the city”.
“The Los Angeles Police Chief has even said the riots were getting out of hand,” she said, claiming the Trump “stepped in” to maintain law and order.
Here’s the full post:
Gavin Newsom did nothing as violent riots erupted in Los Angeles for days. Federal law enforcement officers were attacked by violent radicals and illegal criminals waving foreign flags because Governor Newsom was too weak to protect the city. The Los Angeles Police Chief has even said the riots were getting out of hand. President Trump has stepped in to maintain law and order and protect federal buildings
Updated
This from Time Magazine is helpful in explaining the legal context of California’s legal challenge.
To mobilize the National Guard, Trump invoked Title 10, Section 12406 of the U.S. Code, which allows for the federalization of the National Guard in cases of an invasion or a rebellion, or if the president is unable to execute the country’s laws with “regular forces”.
Section 12406, however, also states that “Orders for these purposes shall be issued through the governors of the States”. Newsom confirmed that he did not request the deployment of the National Guard, making it the first time since 1965 that the National Guard has been activated to a state without a governor’s request.
In an open letter to Pete Hegseth, Newsom’s office called the mobilization “a serious breach of state sovereignty” and requested that the Pentagon chief “immediately rescind” the order and “return the National Guard to its rightful control by the State of California, to be deployed as appropriate when necessary”. The Democratic Governors Association backed Newsom in a statement, saying: “It’s important we respect the executive authority of our country’s governors to manage their National Guards.”
Moreover, an 1878 law, the Posse Comitatus Act, limits federal military personnel from being used for civilian law enforcement within the U.S., which means in Los Angeles the National Guard forces mobilized by Trump can protect federal agents, such as Ice officials, and federal properties, such as detention centers, but they cannot arrest protesters.
The Posse Comitatus Act “prohibits troops from being used domestically unless the Insurrection Act is invoked,” constitutional scholar and dean of UC Berkeley Law School Erwin Chemerinsky tells Time, “and the president has not done that”.
According to Reuters, Trump still could invoke the Insurrection Act, but doing so would enter “riskier legal territory”.
The last time the Insurrection Act was invoked was when President George H.W. Bush mobilized the National Guard to quell riots in Los Angeles following the acquittal of the police officers involved in the beating of Rodney King. But a key difference between 1992 and now is that then-governor of California Pete Wilson had requested federal assistance.
Calling in troops to suppress protests has also raised First Amendment concerns. The American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement on Saturday that it also plans to file a lawsuit against the Trump Administration, calling the mobilization of the National Guard an “abuse of power”.
Updated
And here’s the California governor announcing the lawsuit himself.
(In the clip he doesn’t actually mention the lawsuit, but he does call Pete Hegseth “a joke” and says Donald Trump is “unhinged right now”).
This is exactly what Donald Trump wanted.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 9, 2025
He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard.
The order he signed doesn’t just apply to CA.
It will allow him to go into ANY STATE and do the same thing.
We’re suing him.pic.twitter.com/O3RAGlp2zo
Updated
Newsom: California suing Trump administration for 'illegal' federalization of national guard
Speaking to Fox News, Gavin Newsom just said “there’s a reason we’re going to court tomorrow” adding he was confident they’ll succeed.
Here’s the clip from Fox News.
"Donald Trump is reckless, immoral...he's a stone cold liar."
— Elex Michaelson (@Elex_Michaelson) June 9, 2025
Here's our full sit down w @GavinNewsom from L.A. Co.'s Emergency Operation Center. @CAgovernor says he's suing after @realDonaldTrump federalized CA's National Guard without his consent.
Exclusive via @FOXLA: pic.twitter.com/NSnMZFe1Si
The California governor last night announced that California would sue the Trump administration today over its deployment of the National Guard to quell LA protests against federal immigration raids.
He told MSNBC the lawsuit would challenge Trump’s federalizing of the California National Guard without the state’s consent, a move with little precedent in the country’s history.
Asked to elaborate on the lawsuit, Newsom said that under Trump’s executive order, “it specifically notes - and under what the [Department of Defense] did - is they had to coordinate with the governor of the state. They never coordinated with the governor of the state,” he said.
Updated
Federalizing national guard 'illegal and unconstitutional', says Newsom, calling Trump 'reckless' and 'immoral'
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has just been speaking to Fox News.
“Donald Trump is reckless, he’s immoral,” said Newsom. “He’s taken the illegal and unconstitutional act of federalizing the National Guard and he’s putting lives at risk.”
He said that by bypassing state governors to deploy the California National Guard, Trump’s move was “by definition, illegal”.
There was no collaboration, there was no counsel, no consideration of the rules of engagement. It was a reckless act that has led to conditions that exacerbated and it’s putting people’s lives at risk.
Updated
The day so far
As America wakes up and Trump calls for troops on the ground in LA after a violent night, here’s a brief summary of what you missed.
California’s governor Gavin Newsom said Trump had “manufactured a crisis” and was “inflaming conditions” by taking the stunning step of deploying the National Guard in response to demonstrations against his administration’s immigration crackdown. Newsom had urged protestors to keep things peaceful, and said to those engaging in violence: “Donald Trump is using you as an excuse to militarize a city and circumvent our democracy.” Earlier on Sunday, Newsom had made a formal request to the Trump administration to rescind its deployment of National Guard troops. He last night added: “Donald Trump needs to pull back. He needs to stand down.”
At just past 10pm in Los Angeles, the LAPD urged remaining protesters to leave immediately, declaring an “unlawful assembly” in the civic center area of downtown LA. It also said business owners were reporting stores are being looted in the area. Several dozen people were arrested, including one individual detained on Sunday for throwing a Molotov cocktail at police, and another for ramming a motorcycle into a line of officers.
Isolated protests continued and got more violent as the night went on, following a day of mostly peaceful demonstrations, with Trump declaring “Bring in the troops!” on his social media platform. Masked rioters set cars alight and threw objects as law enforcement officers used tear gas, flash bangs and “less-lethal rounds” like rubber bullets to restore order. “Don’t let these thugs get away with this … “ARREST THE PEOPLE IN FACE MASKS, NOW!” wrote Trump.
A British news photographer underwent emergency surgery after being hit by non-lethal rounds during the protests. An Australian reporter was also struck by a rubber bullet live on air.
Around 60 people, including juveniles, were arrested and three police officers injured following unrest in San Francisco. The city’s police force said individuals in a group became “violent” at around 7:01pm PDT, committing crimes ranging from assault to felony vandalism and property damage.
SFPD declared an unlawful assembly, while several individuals reportedly remained and continued to engage in illegal activity after others dispersed from the area.
The arrests in San Francisco came as individuals had demonstrated their support of the protests taking place in Los Angeles.
Updated
Jason Rodrigues is a researcher and writer in the Guardian’s research department
Until this Saturday, the last time a US president sent national guard troops in to deal with civil unrest without the cooperation of a state governor was in Alabama in 1965.
As reported by many news outlets, including the Guardian (see below), President Lyndon B. Johnson dispatched the military or federalized the guard to protect a 10,000 strong civil rights march led by Martin Luther King from being attacked by those opposing greater freedoms for black Americans.
President Johnson acted after the Alabama state governor, George Wallace, a leading segregationist, refused to call out the guard, having previously described the marchers as “communist inspired agitators”.
But a federal court ruled that they had a right to march, and with Wallace refusing to allow state troopers to protect them, Johnson did – and in the process he told the governor that he had ‘shirked his responsibility’.
The Selma march went ahead with around 2,000 Alabama national guardsmen deployed. Encouraged by this, the number of marchers reportedly swelled to 25,000 in the five days it took to reach Montgomery, the state capital, where they delivered a voting rights petition to the governor.
Along with the previous two, the third Selma march was pivotal in the civil rights movement, hastening the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed by President Johnson in August 1965.
The Associated Press (AP) reports that no immediate disruption was discernible at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday in the hours after Donald Trump’s new ban on travel to the US by citizens from 12 countries, mainly in Africa and the Middle East, came into effect.
Haitian-American Elvanise Louis-Juste, who was at the airport earlier on Sunday in Newark, New Jersey, awaiting a flight to her home state of Florida, said many Haitians wanting to come to the US are seeking to escape violence and unrest.
The 23-year-old told AP:
I have family in Haiti, so it’s pretty upsetting to see and hear.
I don’t think it’s a good thing. I think it’s very upsetting.
During Trump’s first term, a hastily written executive order ordering the denial of entry to citizens of mainly Muslim countries created chaos at numerous airports and other ports of entry, prompting successful legal challenges and major revisions to the policy.
Many immigration experts say the new ban is more carefully crafted and appears designed to beat court challenges that hampered the first by focusing on the visa application process.
Here are some more photos from the events in Los Angeles and San Francisco that have come through on the wires:
Updated
San Francisco mayor Daniel Lurie said he had coordinated with local law enforcement and city departments throughout the weekend to keep people safe during Sunday’s protest, which he said had since wound down.
He said in a post on X:
Everyone in this country has a right to make their voice heard peacefully, and local law enforcement will always protect that right and the rights of everyone in our city to be safe.
But we will never tolerate violent and destructive behavior, and as crowds dwindled, a group that remained caused injuries to police officers, vandalized Muni vehicles, and broke windows of local businesses.
The mayor said violence directed towards law enforcement or public servants was “never acceptable”.
He added that work was being done to clear up damage, get public transport services back to full operations and coordinate across departments to remain prepared for any upcoming activities.
The FBI, under the leadership of director Kash Patel, has made fighting violent crime and illegal immigration top priorities, reports the Associated Press.
A revised FBI priority list on its website places “Crush Violent Crime” at the top. The effort brings the bureau into alignment with the vision of US president Donald Trump, who has made a crackdown on illegal immigration, cartels and transnational gangs a cornerstone of his administration.
Patel has said he wants to “get back to the basics”. His deputy, Dan Bongino, said the FBI is returning to “its roots.”
The bureau said in a statement that its commitment to investigating international and domestic terrorism has not changed. It said that it “continuously analyzes” the threat landscape and allocates resources and personnel in alignment with that analysis and its investigative needs.
It added: “We make adjustments and changes based on many factors and remain flexible as various needs arise.”
Updated
Courtney Liss, 31, told The New York Times that she was standing to the side of the San Francisco protest on Sunday when police charged forward.
The lawyer told the outlet:
They were shoving people back, and they shoved me into a fire hydrant.
I got hit with a baton three times.
She added that a recent protest she attended that had been conducted by lawyers dressed in suits had not elicited a response from police.
The arrests in San Francisco come as individuals demonstrate their support of the protests taking place in Los Angeles.
Pictures from the city show police officers holding batons and dressed in riot gear with protestors stationed in front of them.
The New York Times reports that at least one San Francisco protester hurled an egg in the officers’ direction, while another threw a glass bottle that shattered on the ground behind police, leading to dozens of more officers arriving.
Garbage cans and traffic cones were also seen being thrown into the middle of the street, while another protestor was spotted smashing the glass window of Chase Bank.
The group reportedly chanted, “Fascist pigs, off our streets!” and “Why are you in riot gear? We don’t see a riot here.”
Updated
60 arrested and three police officers injured in San Francisco
Approximately 60 people, including juveniles, have been arrested and three police officers injured following unrest in San Francisco on Sunday, the city’s police force has confirmed.
The force said individuals in a group on Sansome and Washington streets became “violent” at around 7:01pm PDT, committing crimes ranging from assault to felony vandalism and property damage.
SFPD declared an unlawful assembly, while several individuals reportedly remained and continued to engage in illegal activity after others dispersed from the area.
The police said:
Two officers suffered non-life threatening injuries and one was transported to a local hospital for further medical assistance.
The remaining group continued towards Market and Kearny streets where individuals vandalized buildings and an SFPD patrol vehicle, while others splintered off and continued to vandalize property.
Officers detained individuals refusing to disperse after a small group continued on to the 200 block of Montgomery street, reportedly refusing to leave the area. One firearm was recovered at the scene.
LA mayor Karen Bass has asked residents of the city not to engage in violence or chaos.
The comments came after the mayor met with officials including California’s governor Gavin Newsom and LAPD police chief Jim McDonnell to discuss the safety of Angelenos.
She said: “Angelenos — don’t engage in violence and chaos. Don’t give the administration what they want.”
The mayor and Newsom had previously asked the administration to rescind its order to deploy troops, with the California governor calling it a “a serious breach of state sovereignty.”
City of Glendale terminates Ice contract
The City of Glendale, California, has announced that it is formally terminating its agreement with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice).
The agreement allowed federal immigration detainees to be held at the Glendale Police Department facility. The space reportedly offered access to virtual and in-person visitation as well as facilities such as telephones, showers and drinking water.
The city said in a release published shortly after 7:09pm PDT on Sunday evening that the decision had not been made lightly. It said that it acknowledged “with regret” that some families may now face greater difficulty visiting loved ones held by Ice, and that access to legal counsel may be more limited elsewhere.
The statement said:
Nevertheless, despite the transparency and safeguards the City has upheld, the City recognizes that public perception of the ICE contract—no matter how limited or carefully managed, no matter the good—has become divisive.
And while opinions on this issue may vary—the decision to terminate this contract is not politically driven. It is rooted in what this City stands for — public safety, local accountability, and trust.
Updated
Here are some more photos of the protests in Los Angeles coming through on the wires:
Police have requested all residents and businesses to report any vandalism or looting to the LAPD so that it can be documented in an official police report, asking for all damage to be photographed prior to it being cleaned up.
The force had previously reported looting in stores located in the area of 6th St and Broadway, with officers having been dispatched to investigate the area.
National guard soldiers were seen carrying long guns and riot shields after being deployed to LA on Sunday morning, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Protesters were reportedly heard shouting “shame” and “go home” at the troops. The agency added that after some protestors closely approached the guard members, another set of uniformed officers advanced on the group, shooting smoke-filled canisters into the street.
Updated
The protests in Los Angeles come as Donald Trump’s new ban on travel to the US by citizens from 12 countries, mainly in Africa and the Middle East, goes into effect.
The new proclamation, which Trump signed last week, “fully” restricts the nationals of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the US.
The entry of nationals of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela will be partially restricted.
Updated
The weekend of protest has seen several dozen people in the city being arrested, with the Los Angeles police department declaring an “unlawful assembly” in the civic center area of downtown Los Angeles.
The Associated Press (AP) reports that one individual was detained on Sunday for throwing a Molotov cocktail at police, and another for ramming a motorcycle into a line of officers.
Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley.
Now that Donald Trump’s tariffs have been halted, his big, beautiful bill has been stymied, and his multi-billionaire tech bro has turned on him, how does he demonstrate his power?
On Friday morning, federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the FBI, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducted raids across Los Angeles – including at two Home Depots and a clothing wholesaler – in search of workers who they suspected of being undocumented immigrants.
Though figures vary, they reportedly arrested 121 people.
They were met with protesters who chanted and threw eggs before being dispersed by police wearing riot gear, holding shields, and using batons, guns that shoot pepper balls, rubber bullets, teargas, and flash-bang grenades.
You can read more of Robert Reich’s full opinion piece here: We are witnessing the first stages of a Trump police state
Vocal and boisterous, the crowd for large parts of the day on Sunday was mostly peaceful.
But tensions flared several times.
On Sunday afternoon, police used teargas to disperse groups of protesters gathered near the detention center. And in the evening, officers fired round after round of flash-bangs in an attempt to push the protesters back up the freeway off-ramps.
Los Angeles police leaders said officers had been shot at with commercial grade fireworks, and had rocks thrown at them.
Read the Guardian’s full report on the day’s events here.
Donald Trump’s administration promised to crush opposition in Los Angeles…
But the overwhelming show of force may have awoken something else. The city is responding with a roaring backlash.
So writes the Guardian’s immigration reporter, Maanvi Singh, in this interesting analysis.
Read the full analysis below.
The LAPD says business owners are reporting stores are being looted in the area of 6th St and Broadway and it has dispatched officers to investigate.
The LAPD also said:
“An UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY for the area of the Civic Center part of Los Angeles has been declared. Those with Cell Phones in the area of the Civic Center have received the alert.”
Pockets of Los Angeles tonight – in pictures.
Police patrolling in downtown LA.
Protestors and dumpster fires.
Isolated protests continue into the evening.
British photographer hit by non-lethal bullet during LA protests
A British news photographer has undergone emergency surgery after being hit by non-lethal rounds during protests in Los Angeles, reports PA.
Nick Stern was documenting a stand-off between anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) protesters and police outside a Home Depot in Paramount, a city in LA county and a location known as a hiring spot for day labourers, when a 14mm “sponge bullet” tore into his thigh.
He told the PA news agency: “My initial concern was, were they firing live rounds?”
“Some of the protesters came and helped me, and they ended up carrying me, and I noticed that there was blood pouring down my leg.”
Stern is now recovering at Long Beach Memorial Medical Centre after emergency surgery.
Updated
About 300 Guard troops have been deployed to LA so far.
President Donald Trump earlier said he would deploy 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles to respond to immigration protests, despite the objections of California governor Gavin Newsom.
Updated
California governor, Gavin Newsom, on Sunday evening formally requested the Trump administration rescind the deployment of national guards troops in Los Angeles.
In a letter to the US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, Newsom called the deployment unlawful, and asked for the troops to be put back under the state’s command.
Read the full report on that below:
If you are just tuning in, tensions are rising in LA where thousands of protesters took to the streets on Sunday in response to President Donald Trump’s extraordinary deployment of the National Guard, blocking off a major freeway and setting self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd.
Many protesters dispersed as evening fell and police declared an unlawful assembly, a precursor to officers moving in and making arrests of people who don’t leave.
Some of those remaining threw objects at police from behind a makeshift barrier that spanned the width of a street and others hurled chunks of concrete, rocks, electric scooters and fireworks at California Highway Patrol officers and their vehicles parked on the closed southbound 101 Freeway.
Earlier in the day, a protestor carries a sign with the message: “Billionaires are the real enemy. NOT immigrants.”
Trump says 'Bring in the troops' and calls for people in face masks to be arrested
Writing on his social media platform, Truth Social, President Donald Trump has said the protestors are getting much more aggressive.
“Don’t let these thugs get away with this. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” he wrote.
In a subsequent post, he said:
“Looking really bad in L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!
And:
“ARREST THE PEOPLE IN FACE MASKS, NOW!”
Updated
LAPD calls for protesters to disperse immediately
It’s just past 10pm in Los Angeles, where the LAPD has urged remaining protesters to leave immediately.
In a post on X, the city police department said:
“Demonstrators have marched to the LA Live area and are blocking all lanes of traffic on Figueroa and 11th St. An UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY has been declared for the Downtown Los Angeles area. You are to leave the area immediately.”
Earlier this evening LAPD police chief Jim McDonnell said the police supported peaceful protest, but any acts of violence and criminality would be swiftly dealt with by law enforcement officers.
Updated
Newsom: 'Trump has manufactured a crisis'
In a post on X, California governor Newsom has criticised the president further and called on him to end the deployment of the national guard, saying:
“Donald Trump has manufactured a crisis and is inflaming conditions. If he can’t solve it, we will.
“To the bad actors — Violent acts will not be tolerated. You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. You are doing more than just damage to buildings and property. You are damaging the very foundation of our republic. Democracy is in the balance. Donald Trump is using you as an excuse to militarize a city and circumvent our democracy.
“To the many, many peaceful protesters – we want to keep you safe. We want you to exercise your fundamental rights.
“And to our law enforcement on the streets – that are enforcing the laws respectfully and responsibly – we want to keep you safe as well.
“But Donald Trump needs to pull back. He needs to stand down.”
Updated
If you are just joining us, you can read more of our coverage of the protests in Los Angeles here:
The full story: Police clash with Los Angeles protesters as opposition to Trump intensifies
Dispatch from LA: ‘We’re not afraid of you’: LA protesters, enraged by Trump, flood the streets
Briefing: California’s Newsom compares Trump to a ‘dictator’ over national guard deployment
Gallery: Los Angeles protesters demonstrate against Ice raids – in pictures
Here are some images from earlier in the day:
Today so far
It is almost 10pm in Los Angeles. Protests continue on the streets after Donald Trump deployed the national guard to the city in response to demonstrations against his administration’s immigration crackdown. Here’s what we’ve seen so far:
The Trump administration has taken the stunning step of bringing hundreds of California national guard soldiers into federal service to respond to the protests, and has said it could bring US marines to the city “if violence continues”. About 500 marines are ready to deploy to the city if directed.
The Guard was deployed specifically to protect federal buildings, including the downtown detention center where protesters concentrated.
California governor Gavin Newsom and the LA mayor Karen Bass have asked the administration to rescind its order to deploy troops with Newsom calling it a “a serious breach of state sovereignty.” Democratic governors across the US have described it as an “alarming abuse of power”.
In a post on X, Newsom criticised the president further, saying “Donald Trump has manufactured a crisis and is inflaming conditions.”
Protests have continued in large numbers. Police used teargas and “less-lethal munitions” to disperse people from a federal complex and the 101 freeway, where protesters brought traffic to a standstill in both directions. In some areas, autonomous vehicles have been set on fire.
The Los Angeles police department said the agency has declared an “unlawful assembly” in the civic center area of downtown Los Angeles, and that officers have arrested “a number” of people. Police are patrolling areas of the downtown on horseback.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said officers were “overwhelmed” by the remaining protesters. He said they included regular agitators who show up at demonstrations to cause trouble.
McDonnell pushed back against claims by the Trump administration that the LAPD had failed to help federal authorities when protests broke out Friday after a series of immigration raids.
Karen Bass urged protesters to remain peaceful. She said she has asked the Trump administration to remove troops from the city. “We do not need to see our city torn apart,” she said, adding that people are “terrified.”
Many protesters dispersed as evening fell and police declared an unlawful assembly, a precursor to officers moving in and making arrests of people who don’t leave. Some of those remaining threw objects at police from behind a makeshift barrier that spanned the width of a street and others hurled chunks of concrete, rocks, electric scooters and fireworks at California Highway Patrol officers and their vehicles parked on the closed southbound 101 Freeway. Officers ran under an overpass to take cover.
An Australian reporter, Lauren Tomasi, from Channel 9 news has been shot by a rubber bullet fired by police while covering the protests in downtown LA.
Updated
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our rolling coverage of the protests in Los Angeles, where law enforcement officers have clashed with demonstrators as police have used teargas and “less-lethal munitions” to disperse massive crowds of people.
Demonstrators have gathered to reject Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and his deployment of the national guard against the will of the state’s elected leaders.
On Sunday thousands of Angelenos swamped the streets around city hall, the federal courthouse and a detention center where protesters arrested in days before are being held. They also brought a major freeway to a standstill.
The crowd for large parts of the day was mostly peaceful. But tensions flared several times, with police deploying teargas to disperse protesters and firing rounds of flash-bangs in an attempt to push the protesters back up the freeway off-ramps. Several autonomous vehicles were set on fire.
Trump’s decision to deploy national guard troops into Los Angeles has sent shockwaves through America. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, and other Democratic governors across the US have sharply criticized the move, describing it as an “alarming abuse of power”.
Newsom said the president had “manufactured a crisis” and described his reaction as akin to a “dictator, not a President”. He urged Trump to stand down and rescind the “unlawful” deployment.
Night has now fallen in LA, stay with us as we follow the developments live.
