'RIOTS & LOOTERS': Trump deploys 2000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles as protests against immigration raids enters day 2

US President Donald Trump has deployed 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles as federal agents faced off against demonstrators for a second day following immigration raids.

In a statement, the White House blamed Democrats for the attack on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and federal law enforcement agents, calling them "feckless." The White House defended the action stating that it was "basic deportation operations." It said that the deployment of National Guards was to tackle the lawlessness.

"In recent days, violent mobs have attacked ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles, California. In the wake of this violence, California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens. That is why President Trump has signed a Presidential Memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester," said Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary in a statement.

Leavitt's statement came after Trump's border czar, Tom Homan said in a TV interview that National Guards will be deployed. Moreover, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the Pentagon was prepared to mobilize active duty Marines "if violence continues" in Los Angeles.

Trump also responded to the development on his Truth Social platform. He wrote, “If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can’t do their jobs, which everyone knows they can’t, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”

What has happened so far?

The raids are part of the Trump administration's larger crackdown on immigrants. Trump has pledged to deport record numbers of people in the country illegally and lock down the US-Mexico border, with the White House setting a goal for ICE to arrest at least 3,000 migrants per day. Earlier this week, ICE Director Todd Lyons defended the raids, claiming that the agency is targeting "dangerous criminals" and that ICE is making an average of 1,600 arrests per day.

US ICE agents on June 6 carried out raids in Los Angeles stating that it was related to "harboring of people illegally in the country." The raids were supported by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations. Labor leader and Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West President David Huerta was also detained during the raids. ICE also said that as many as 44 were arrested.

The security agents confronted around 100 protesters in the Paramount area in southeast Los Angeles. Chaotic scenes unfolded as ICE agents conducted raids and took several people in custody. Demonstrators displayed Mexican flags and others covered their mouths with respiratory masks while tear gas, flash-bang grenades, smoke grenades and pepper spray were used against the protesting crowd by the authorities.

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement about Friday's protests that "1,000 rioters surrounded a federal law enforcement building and assaulted ICE law enforcement officers, slashed tires, defaced buildings, and taxpayer-funded property."

Bass, the Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass condemned the immigration raids. "I am deeply angered by what has taken place," Bass said in a statement. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. We will not stand for this."

California Governor Gavin Newsom called the decision "purposefully inflammatory." He added that Trump's move would “only escalate tensions.”

The protests pit Democratic-run Los Angeles, where census data suggests a significant portion of the population is Hispanic and foreign-born, against Trump's Republican White House, which has made cracking down on immigration a hallmark of his second term.