On 8 June 2025, National Guard troops sent by President Donald Trump clashed with protesters in Los Angeles in an attempt to quell demonstrations against ICE immigration raids. Reuters reported on the ground that “about a dozen National Guard members, along with Department of Homeland Security personnel, pushed back a group of demonstrators that had amassed outside a federal building in downtown Los Angeles. The confrontation continued on the street outside the facility.” 

Following Trump’s immigration policies and enforcement measures, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out raids in the L.A. area, which began on Friday. Reciprocal protests continued until Sunday, when the National Guard was seen around the complex near Los Angeles City Hall. Speaking to reporters in New Jersey on Sunday, President Trump called the series of protests as “riots,” and that, “If we see danger to our country and to our citizens, it will be very, very strong in terms of law and order.” Reported by Reuters, “National Guard troops were also seen in Paramount in southeast Los Angeles near the Home Depot, the site of altercations between protestors and police on Saturday.” So far, ICE has arrested at least 44 migrants on Friday, while the L.A.P.D. apprehended 27 on Saturday for failing to disperse from the downtown protest. 

Since the President’s second inauguration, immigration enforcement has been a repetitive, hard-line topic. The administration granted ICE more power to detain and deport immigrants, as the State Department tightens visa restrictions while vetting existing visa holders within the U.S. According to WLRN, “recent Trump administration initiatives could significantly increase ICE’s reach. For example, an April 2025 memorandum of understanding between the Internal Revenue Service and DHS allows the IRS to share tax information of immigrants living in the U.S. without legal authorization. This could help ICE more easily identify, locate, and arrest noncitizens living in the U.S. illegally.” In the context of Los Angeles, where census data suggests a significant part of the population is Hispanic and foreign-born, Trump’s pledge to deport record numbers of people in the country has incited various civil unrest. 

The series of demonstrations and retorts has also provoked further divide between the administration-led Republicans and Democrat leaders. Reported by POLITICO, both California governor Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass, the city’s mayor, are forcefully opposed to Trump’s measures on Sunday. Several Democrats, including New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, are comparing the president’s action in California with his hindered approach to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. On NBC’s “Meet the Press” with Kristen Welker on Sunday, Senator Cory Booker claimed that “For the president to do this when it wasn’t requested, breaking with generations of tradition, is only going to incite the situation and make things worse,” and that “We are now at a point where we have a president who sat back and did nothing as people stormed our Capitol, viciously beat police.” At the same time, Republican officials such as U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and senior White House aide Stephen Miller have identified these protests as insurrections. 

On X, formerly known as Twitter, Gov. Newsom formally requested “the Trump Administration rescind their unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles county and return them to my command,” as he claims the administration failed to follow 10 U.S.C. § 12406 that only offers the right to deploy National Guard through the State’s governor. The White House has since rejected Newsom’s request, sources told Reuters. The situation is expected to continue developing in the upcoming week.