Trump deploys National Guard to quell pro-immigrant protests in LA

The US National Guard troops have begun arriving in Los Angeles on orders from President Donald Trump to stamp out protests that have broken out in recent days against federal immigration authorities seeking to carry out deportations in the region.

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Trump is deploying 2,000 troops over the objections of Governor Gavin Newsom.

Confrontations broke out on Saturday near a Home Depot in the heavily Latino city of Paramount, south of Los Angeles, where federal agents were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office nearby.

Agents unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls, and protesters hurled rocks and cement at Border Patrol vehicles. Smoke wafted from small piles of burning refuse in the streets.

Tensions were high after a series of sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day, including in LA’s fashion district and at a Home Depot, as the week-long tally of immigrant arrests in the city climbed past 100.

The White House announced that Trump would deploy the Guard to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester”. It wasn’t clear when the troops would arrive.

Newsom, a Democrat, said in a post on the social platform X that it was “purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions”.

He later said the federal government wants a spectacle and urged people not to give them one by becoming violent. Trump’s order came after clashes in Paramount and neighbouring Compton, where a car was set on fire.