Los Angeles, June 11, 2025 – Chaos gripped downtown Los Angeles for a fifth consecutive day as protests against President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement policies escalated into violent clashes, prompting a controversial deployment of National Guard troops and U.S. Marines. The unrest, centered around federal immigration raids targeting undocumented immigrants, has transformed the city into a flashpoint for a broader national debate over immigration, state sovereignty, and federal overreach.
The protests began on Friday, June 6, when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted coordinated raids across Los Angeles County, detaining over 118 individuals suspected of immigration violations. Operations targeted businesses in the garment district and other locations, sparking immediate outrage in a city where 34% of the population is foreign-born. By Saturday, thousands of demonstrators, many waving Mexican and Salvadoran flags, had gathered near the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and the Metropolitan Detention Center, blocking the 101 Freeway and clashing with law enforcement.
Tensions escalated when President Trump, citing “violent mobs” and “lawlessness,” signed a memorandum deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles without the consent of Governor Gavin Newsom or Mayor Karen Bass. This marked the first such federalization of a state’s National Guard since 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson deployed troops to protect civil rights demonstrators in Alabama. By Tuesday, an additional 700 U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton joined the roughly 2,100 Guard troops, further inflaming the situation.
#LosAngeles #losangelesprotest
— 🥀 Mrityunjay Tiwari (@_Tiwarie__63) June 11, 2025
No this is not any poster or trailer of Mad Max Fury movie
This is Los Angeles burnt by Illegal Maxicans
Against Pres. Trump's words MAGA 🇺🇸 #LosAngelesProtests #LosAngelesRiots #losangelesprotest #losangelesriots #California #LosAngeles #l pic.twitter.com/NDyeTOS9Yk
Protesters, including community activists and union leaders like David Huerta of the Service Employees International Union, have accused ICE of “sowing terror” in predominantly Latino neighborhoods like Paramount and Compton. Demonstrations turned violent over the weekend, with reports of protesters throwing rocks, cement, and fireworks at federal agents, who responded with tear gas, pepper balls, and rubber bullets. At least five Waymo autonomous vehicles were set ablaze, producing toxic fumes from their lithium-ion batteries, and a gas station in Paramount was looted. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) reported 150 arrests since Friday, with charges ranging from failure to disperse to attempted murder with a Molotov cocktail.
Governor Newsom, calling the deployments “illegal and immoral,” filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday, seeking a federal injunction to halt the use of National Guard and Marine forces. “There is no invasion. There is no rebellion,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta stated. “The President is trying to manufacture chaos for his own political ends.” Mayor Bass, while condemning the violence, emphasized that most protesters were peaceful and blamed the escalation on Trump’s policies, which include a travel ban on 12 countries and the revocation of temporary protections for 350,000 Venezuelans.
Trump administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, have defended the crackdown, labeling protesters “insurrectionists” and vowing to prosecute anyone interfering with ICE operations. The White House has hinted at invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act, a move that could authorize active-duty military to quell protests nationwide. “If we see danger to our country, we’ll be very, very strong in terms of law and order,” Trump told reporters in New Jersey.
The unrest has drawn national and international attention. Former Vice President Kamala Harris called the administration’s actions “about stoking fear,” while the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights raised concerns over the travel ban’s compliance with international law. Solidarity protests have erupted in San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Chicago, with 60 arrests reported in San Francisco alone.
On Tuesday, Mayor Bass announced an 8 p.m. curfew for downtown Los Angeles to curb the violence, which she attributed to “fringe groups” rather than immigrant rights advocates. Meanwhile, California’s lawsuit against the federal government heads to court Thursday, with state officials arguing that the troop deployments violate state sovereignty and escalate tensions unnecessarily.
As Los Angeles braces for further demonstrations, the city remains a battleground for competing visions of immigration policy and federal authority. With ICE raids expanding into rural communities and protests showing no signs of abating, the crisis threatens to deepen the divide between California’s leadership and the Trump administration.
Sources: The New York Times, NBC News, ABC News, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, CBS News, NPR, The Washington Post, AP News, The Telegraph, Al Jazeera, The Standard, Axios, CBC News
