The American authorities cracked down hard on a demonstration in Los Angeles on Saturday against the detention of immigrants. Agents used tear gas to suppress the protests. U.S. President Donald Trump also sent soldiers from the National Guard.
On Friday and Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in Los Angeles to protest the controversial detention of 44 immigrants. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had arrested the immigrants earlier that day for allegedly violating immigration rules.
On Friday, protesters threw pieces of concrete at officers. Police responded with tear gas, pepper spray, and grenades. Tensions rose again on Saturday. U.S. President Donald Trump deployed two thousand soldiers from the National Guard in the evening to suppress the protests, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced via X.
According to news agency Reuters, video footage showed dozens of law enforcement officers in green uniforms with gas masks. They stood on a road littered with overturned shopping carts. Small gas canisters exploded in an attempt to disperse the protesters.
The Los Angeles Police Department has made arrests. “Several people have been arrested for failing to leave after multiple warnings were issued,” the police wrote on X. Anyone still in the area may be arrested. The police also warned that so-called “less-lethal weapons” could be used, which can cause pain and injury. This category includes tear gas and rubber bullets.
The National Guard is part of the U.S. Army. According to Hegseth, the Pentagon is even prepared to mobilize active-duty Marines “if the violence continues.” According to two anonymous government officials who spoke to news agency Reuters, the National Guard can be deployed in some cases within 24 hours. The availability of the soldiers applies “for sixty days or at the discretion of the Secretary of Defense,” Hegseth writes. The Democratic Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, says the deployment is “deliberately provocative.”
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Trump’s Strict Anti-Immigration Policy
The ICE arrests of immigrants are part of Republican Trump’s strict anti-immigration policy. Taking strong action against immigrants without proper documents was one of his main campaign promises.
Los Angeles is home to many Democrats, including the city’s mayor, Karen Bass. “Los Angeles will always be a proud city of immigrants and we will defend immigrant communities,” she wrote on X on Friday. She also condemned the violence of the protesters on Saturday.