Photo: Reuters
Donald Trump’s administration has announced the mobilisation of 2,000 US National Guard soldiers following mass protests in Los Angeles that erupted in response to harsh raids against immigrants. According to Reuters, on Saturday, federal agents clashed with hundreds of demonstrators, some of whom waved Mexican flags.
The clashes, which took place in the Paramount neighbourhood in southeast Los Angeles, escalated into riots, with security forces using tear gas. Another rally with the slogan “ICE out of Los Angeles!” was also held in the city centre, aimed at the US immigration service.
US Secretary of Defence Pete Hagel said that in the event of an escalation of violence, the Pentagon is ready to deploy active troops. Marines at Camp Pendleton are on full combat alert.
President Trump signed a memorandum of deployment to “stop the anarchy that has gotten out of hand” and threatened federal intervention if California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass “fail to act.”
Governor Newsom, in turn, called Trump’s actions a “deliberate provocation” and called on the protesters to resist peacefully. “Don’t give them a show. Never resort to violence,” he wrote on X.
The White House called the events a “violent uprising”. Vice President J.D. Weiss said that “false flag insurgents are attacking officers”. One of Trump’s advisers, Stephen Miller, compared the riots to an “act of domestic insurgency”.
Although the 1807 law allows the president to use the army to suppress civil unrest, the administration has not yet announced a formal invocation of the Insurgency Act. However, Pentagon sources said that troops could be deployed in less than 24 hours.
The protests in multicultural Los Angeles are another outbreak of tension over Trump’s immigration policy, which has become a key theme of his second term in office.
