Protesters demonstrate during a standoff between police and protesters following multiple detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in the Los Angeles County city of Paramount, California, U.S., June 7, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole
| Photo Credit: Daniel Cole
U.S. President Donald Trump is deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops despite the Governor’s objections to Los Angeles over where protests on Saturday (June 7, 2025) led to clashes between immigration authorities and demonstrators.
The White House said in a statement on Saturday that Mr. Trump was deploying the Guardsmen to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester” in California.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, objected to the move and said in a post on X that the move from the Republican President was “purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.”
Federal agents clashed with angry crowds in a Los Angeles suburb as protests stretched into a second night Saturday, shooting flash-bang grenades and shutting part of a freeway amid raids on undocumented migrants, reports said.
The standoff took place in Paramount, where demonstrators had gathered near a Home Depot that was being used as a staging area by federal immigration officials, the Fox 11 news outlet reported.
They were met by federal agents in gas masks, who lobbed flash-bang grenades and tear gas at the crowd, according to news reports and social media posts.
Since taking office in January, Republican Trump has delivered on a promise to crack down hard on the entry and presence of undocumented migrants — who he has likened to “monsters” and “animals.”
Roadblocks and chants
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said multiple arrests had been made following Friday’s clashes. “You bring chaos, and we’ll bring handcuffs. Law and order will prevail,” he said on X.
On Saturday, amid chants for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to get out, some protestors waved Mexican flags while others set a US flag on fire, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Cement blocks and overturned shopping carts served as crude roadblocks.
A crowd swarmed a US Marshals Service bus exiting a nearby freeway, with authorities later closing on and off ramps to keep protesters from taking over the highway and to stop new people from flowing in.
The White House has taken a hard line against the protests, with deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller calling them “an insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States.”
(With inputs from AFP, AP)
Published – June 08, 2025 07:41 am IST