Demonstrators in Los Angeles found themselves clashing with security forces once again on Sunday, June 8, 2025, marking the third consecutive day of protests fueled by anger over immigration enforcement actions.
The unrest evolved rapidly as the atmosphere grew tense due to recent actions taken by immigration officials, which have led to dozens of arrests deemed as illegal by authorities. Many protesters, particularly in a city with a significant Latino population, took to the streets to voice their opposition to these operations.
The protests intensified following President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy National Guard troops to Los Angeles, a move that many believe was aimed at escalating tensions. This deployment is seen as a flagrant disregard for California’s autonomy, as Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the president’s actions on social media, stating, “We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved.”
Governor Newsom labeled the deployment as a breach of state sovereignty, arguing that it inflamed tensions while diverting much-needed resources from local needs. He called for the immediate rescinding of the troops’ order, urging the return of control to California.
As tensions escalated on Sunday afternoon, demonstrators set fire to at least three self-driving Waymo cars and vandalized two more. Traffic on a key freeway was halted for over an hour as protesters flooded the road, leading California Highway Patrol officers to intervene utilizing flash-bangs and smoke grenades to disperse the crowd.
Despite initial confrontations between federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security and protesters at a detention center, the ensuing clashes remained largely confined to local law enforcement.
By early afternoon, Los Angeles Police Department officers had established containment lines to prevent any close interactions between demonstrators and the armed National Guardsmen from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, who donned helmets and camouflage gear.
When questioned about the deployment, President Trump showed no signs of remorse, hinting at even broader military deployments across the country. “You have violent people, and we are not going to let them get away with it,” he remarked, emphasizing the need for heightened law and order.
In response to inquiries about potentially invoking the Insurrection Act—allowing military involvement as a domestic police force—Trump suggested he was considering troop deployments nationwide, stating, “We’re looking at troops everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country.”
The Department of Defense’s U.S. Northern Command announced that approximately 500 Marines stand ready to deploy if necessary to support federal operations.
Historically, the National Guard is utilized during natural disasters and, occasionally, civil unrest, but this particular deployment marks the first instance since 1965 that a president has sent troops without state governor consent. This has faced significant pushback from Democrats, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, who warned that it represented a dangerous escalation designed to provoke chaos.
However, support for Trump’s actions came from Republican leaders, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, who dismissed concerns over the deployment’s legality. Johnson accused Governor Newsom of failing to manage the situation effectively, saying, “I have no concern about that at all.”
Protesters took the opportunity to voice their views not only on the National Guard’s presence but also on the overall immigration policies impacting their communities. One demonstrator, Thomas Henning, expressed the sentiment that the troops were an intimidation tactic rather than an effort to maintain peace. “These protests have been peaceful. There’s no one trying to do any sort of damage right now and yet you have the National Guard with loaded magazines and large guns standing around trying to intimidate Americans from exercising our first amendment rights,” he said.
Estrella Corral shared similar frustrations, highlighting that hardworking migrants were being apprehended by masked immigration agents. “This is our community, and we want to feel safe,” she stated, criticizing Trump’s military presence as a ploy to escalate fear.
Marshall Goldberg, 78, voiced his outrage at the troops’ deployment, connecting it to a broader suppression of civil rights: “We hate what they’ve done with the undocumented workers, but this is moving it to another level of taking away the right to protest and the right to just peaceably assemble.”
Although raids conducted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have incited smaller protests in other U.S. cities, the unrest unfolding in Los Angeles represents the largest and most sustained backlash against Trump’s immigration policies to date.
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