Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Senate panel today NZT that President Donald Trump’s order to federalise the National Guard in Los Angeles could be rolled out elsewhere should law enforcement officers be “threatened”.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt characterised the Los Angeles protesters as “left-wing radicals”, “illegal criminals”, and “rioters” causing chaos in that city - despite the demonstrations being isolated, with only episodic violence.
Democratic leaders have condemned the immigration sweeps that have provoked the growing public response and called the use of federal troops unnecessary and uninvited theatre.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson labelled Trump an “authoritarian” and “tyrant”.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and elected officials representing 15 Southern California cities appeared together to decry the fear generated by the crackdown and warn of its implications.
“Maybe today it was the city of Los Angeles. Tomorrow it’s one of your cities,” Bass said.
The sparring at federal, state and local levels reflected partisan divisions that have only hardened in recent days as more raids and protests took place.
Latest on protests:
Texas
Texas Governor Greg Abbott (Republican) announced on Wednesday that he was deploying his state’s National Guard to help “maintain order” at protests planned there against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said he and other city officials were never notified about the deployment, and he was “chasing rumours” to find out where they were. “Local police, including San Antonio police, are fully capable of maintaining order.”
Texas has been a nucleus of anti-ICE activity, with protesters gathering in Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, and beyond in recent days to decry immigration raids and detentions.
In Austin, protesters - organised by the local Party for Socialism and Liberation - and law enforcement clashed at a demonstration yesterday that led to 13 arrests and minor injuries among officers.
Mayor Kirk Watson urged residents to not feed into Trump’s “politics of fear and pain and risk doing harm to those we want to help” in immigrant communities.
Georgia
In Georgia, Attorney-General Chris Carr (Republican) cautioned that anyone arrested for destroying property or assaulting law enforcement could be charged under the state’s domestic terrorism law.
Six people were arrested at an Atlanta immigration protest and more anti-Trump demonstrations are expected in coming days.
“All Americans have the right to peacefully protest. No American has the right to destroy property, loot businesses, or attack law enforcement officers,” Carr said in a statement described as a “warning to rioters”.
“Protesters use words. Rioters use violence. There is no grey area.”
Philadelphia
In Philadelphia, union members turned out after the arrest of David Huerta, head of the Service Employees International Union of California.
Police said that about 150 demonstrators gathered at the Federal Detention Centre there to protest against ICE and that 15 people were arrested and accused of disorderly conduct and aggravated assault on officers.
Los Angeles
In Los Angeles today, many downtown businesses were open and foot traffic steady.
Some store fronts were boarded up with plywood or had signs in their windows with messages of solidarity for protesters and immigrants.
Outside City Hall, about a hundred protesters gathered in the afternoon, chanting, waving Mexican flags and playing mariachi music. A night-time curfew remains in place from 8pm to 6am.
Bass said police made more than 100 arrests yesterday, not for looting or vandalism but for failure to disperse and curfew violations.
She stressed that the curfew covers only a small sliver of the city, about 15sq km out of hundreds.
Protests are “isolated to several streets in downtown,” she said, blasting Trump’s portrayal of the city being out of control as “a lie”.
Other developments:
Court filing
The Trump Administration defended its California troop deployments in federal court, saying in response to a lawsuit by the state that the Guard forces are not engaged in law enforcement but instead are focusing on protecting federal personnel and property in the Los Angeles area.
In a declaration submitted along with the court filing, Major General Niave Knell, deputy commanding general for Army North Command, wrote that more than 2100 troops had already carried out tasks including protecting federal buildings and guarding ICE officers.
The Trump Administration has also dispatched more than 700 Marines to Los Angeles, though they have not yet arrived. They are “currently training in preparation” to carry out similar work, Knell said in the declaration.
Military role
Legal experts have raised concerns about Trump’s response to the unrest, saying he appears to be laying the groundwork for a more expansive use of the military.
He has not invoked the Insurrection Act, which would let him deploy the military to carry out domestic law enforcement actions, which it is otherwise generally barred from doing.
When asked about that option today, Attorney- General Pam Bondi said the Administration is “not scared to go further”.
Immigration raids
Southern California officials have pushed back strongly on ICE’s round-ups of workers, whom they say are nothing like the violent offenders the Administration claims to be targeting.
“ICE is scaring our communities,” South Gate Mayor Maria Davila said during a briefing with other LA-area mayors. “They’re targeting children and families.”
Mario Trujillo, who leads nearby Downey, said ICE had detained seven people in his city during raids at a Home Depot, LA Fitness and Catholic church.
“These people are not criminals - they are here to work,” Trujillo said. Federal agents “are not keeping our communities safe. They are stirring fear.”
Protest organisers
The protests this week have been organised by a variety of groups, including labour unions and the 50501 movement, a decentralised, grassroots campaign that has been calling for rallies against various Trump policies.
Hunter Dunn, a spokesperson for the 50501 movement, said he has been heartened to see demonstrations expand nationwide since the weekend.
“People are willing to stand up across the country because of what’s happening in my local community,” he said. “People are watching and are ready to join the fight.”
‘No Kings Nation’
Amid the spontaneous protests this week, hundreds of rallies in a movement that has dubbed itself the “No Kings Nation Wide Day of Defiance” are in the final stages of planning for Sunday NZT - the same day, by design, as Trump’s military parade and Army birthday celebration in Washington.
No Kings organisers said in a call this week that protests are expected in more than 1800 cities as part of a “mass, nationwide protest rejecting authoritarianism, billionaire-first politics, and the militarisation of our democracy”.
The interest level has only intensified since the Los Angeles immigration raids and demonstrations, organisers said.
Leah Greenberg, the co-executive director of the left-leaning grassroots advocacy group Indivisible Project, said: “In a moment like this where this is an active effort by the President and his regime to chill dissent and to create costs for anybody who speaks out, it’s absolutely crucial that you have collective action”.
Mark Berman, Holly Bailey, Annie Gowen, Victoria Craw, Daniel Wu and Gaya Gupta contributed to this report.
