President Donald Trump has sent 2,000 National Guard soldiers to Los Angeles to try to stop protests that broke out after immigration officers began arresting people. These protests turned violent over the weekend, and now the troops are expected to stay in the city for about a month.
Congresswoman Nanette Barragán, who represents a district in California, said she was told the National Guard will be in LA for 30 days. She warned this move could make things worse, not better. People are already upset about the immigration raids, and seeing soldiers in their neighborhoods might only make them angrier. She spoke about this on CNN, saying that it could increase tensions and fuel more protests.
Barragán said she heard from local law enforcement that federal immigration agents—specifically from ICE—will keep making arrests for the next 30 days. But when she asked the Department of Homeland Security to confirm this timeline, they didn’t give her a clear answer.
The White House announced the deployment of the troops on Saturday. According to Trump’s administration, the goal is to restore order after what they called “lawlessness” during the protests. The troops began arriving in LA on Sunday morning.
California Governor Gavin Newsom strongly criticized the decision. He said the federal government wasn’t sending in soldiers because police needed help, but because they wanted to create a dramatic scene. He urged people not to respond with violence and to continue protesting peacefully.
Saturday night, things got chaotic near a Home Depot in Paramount, California. Protesters threw rocks and chunks of concrete at federal vehicles. In response, federal agents used tear gas, flash-bang grenades, and pepper balls. A day earlier, on Friday, demonstrators gathered outside a federal immigration detention center demanding the release of over 40 people who had been arrested for immigration violations. Again, riot police used tear gas to clear the crowd.
Barragán emphasized that people who act violently during protests should face consequences. But she also pointed out that many federal officers have been overly aggressive, even toward peaceful demonstrators. She reminded the public why this is happening in the first place: because the community is fed up with immigration crackdowns and the presence of ICE in their neighborhoods. According to her, the message from the community is clear: “We don’t want ICE here. We want them out.”
In the past week alone, ICE has arrested over 100 people in Los Angeles for immigration-related offenses. Barragán believes that Trump’s real reason for sending the National Guard is because he doesn’t like the images of people protesting against him, even when those protests are peaceful.
