Troops sent by Trump arrive in LA with more immigration raid protests expected National Guard In LA To Curb Immigration Protests

 

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Angeles following protests over raids on undocumented migrants – here’s why Trump’s decision to mobilize them is unusual

 

• The speed with which Trump reacted, even while sitting ringside at a UFC match in New Jersey, suggests this is a fight his administration is prepared for, writes Anthony Zurcher la riots

 

 

• More protests are expected in LA today-one activist tells the BBC the National Guard won’t stop her and she’s “Notafraid”

Trump says the National Guard can “temporarily protect” Immigration and Customs Enforcement, butt California governor Gavin Newsom has called the move “purposefully inflammatory”

 

What is the National Guard?

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The National Guard is a reserve force for the US military, usually working at the state level. In this case, it’s the CaliforniaNational Guard in Los Angeles.

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Many members have civilian jobs or go to college while training part-time with the military.

Normally, the National Guard is called in by a state’s governor, but Donald Trump has used a provision that lets him take control himself.

“National Guard Soldiers serve both community and country. Our versatility enables us to respond to domestic emergencies, overseas combat missions, counterdrug efforts, reconstruction missions and more,” their mission statement says.

 

Earlier, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that active-duty

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Marines could be called in if the violence in LA continues.

 

Now, a defense official says several hundred Marines have received orders to prepare for deployment in case they’re needed in Los Angeles, according to BBC’s US partner CBS News. la riots

 

Meanwhile, US Northern Command – a combatant command of the Department of Defense – says the California Military Department has “deployed approximately300 soldiers to three separate locations “in the greater Los Angeles area.

 

In pictures: National Guard assemble in Los Angeles la riots

 

 

Earlier, we reported that the National Guard had started gathering outside federal buildings in la riots

 

Now, more photos are coming in showing troops and vehicles.

An la riots official has said several protests are expected today.

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Donald Trump’s “border tsar” Tom Homan has warned that someone could “lose their life” if clashes between protestors and immigration officers continue.

 

Homan, who was put in charge of US borders after Trump took office, tells NBC: “It’s a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt… If this violence continues, someone’s going to lose their life.”

 

He says Trump’s unusual move to send in the National Guard is needed “to help us protect public safety”.

 

According to Homan, the National Guard are there “not just to protect the law enforcement officers but to protect this community, because people are going to get injured”.

 

I’m in New Jersey, where President Donald Trump spent the night at his Bedminster property after going to the UFC fight in Newark last night.

 

Even as news of the National Guard deployment broke, we didn’t hear directly from him, who seemed in good spirits As he entered the arena to thunderous applause and “USA” chants.

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We may, however, hear from him today.

 

At 15:45 EST (20:45 BST), the president -along with the travelling press pool, including the BBC – will fly to Hagerstown, Maryland, before heading to Camp David for the night.

 

It’s possible he’ll speak to reporters before boarding, or during the hour-long Flight, as he did on the way here.

 

If he does, we’re likely to hear him condemn the protests in Los Angeles, echoing what we’ve heard from other officials and on his Truth Social posts.

 

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Have spoken to one of the protesters in Los Angeles, a Mexican activist named Kuali Linda Aleman, who’s lived in the city for most of her life.

On Friday, Kuali was protesting in downtown Los Angeles, using a megaphone and shouting, “stop the arrests”

On Saturday, she joined a protest in the Paramount district, where she says there were helicopters overhead and hundreds of police on the ground.

“We did not provoke anything,” she says. Hey were continually spraying us with tear gas, but we were able to wash outfaces and get on with it.”

“The police were very organized and there were tones of vehicles,” she adds.

Kuali plans to protest again today outside City Hall. She says the National Guard won’t stop her and she’s “not afraid”.

 

A senior Los Angeles city official has told CBS, the BBC’s US partner, that the National Guard is deployed at the federal buildings in downtown LA and Westwood.

“There are going to be several protests today in the city of Los Angeles. The city and police are monitoring those,” the official says.

The official also says the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has made 29arrests, almost all for failing to disperse, which is a misdemeanor offence.

They add that city officials “are supportive of immigrant rights” and called the situation a “no win” for the police.

If federal officials ask for help with public safety, LAPD will respond, the official says.

But they add: “They will not respond or engage in any immigration policy

enforcement issue.”

 

Many waking up in the Los Angeles area are startled by the news of the National Guard arriving here.

There have been protests on multiple days this week, all in areas where immigration raids were happening. But  the LA area is huge and these protests were fairly isolated in small pockets of the city.

The county has nearly 10 million residents and covers 4,000 sq miles.

Many of my friends around town were going about their normal Saturday nights unaware of the unrest or Trump’s rare move of using presidential authority to go-around the governor to deploy troops here.

The areas where the protests happened both Friday and Saturday were isolated toa part of downtown LA and to Paramount, a small city in south Los Angeles County where raids were happening.