Trump sends the National Guard to Los Angeles to quell the unrest over immigrant deportations.

BarcelonaUS President Donald Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon, following two days of protests against immigrant deportations. Hundreds of protesters clashed with federal police officers at the raids to detain and deport immigrants, and even tried to stop buses carrying migrants with their bodies.

The clashes occurred in the Paramount area of southeast Los Angeles, where some protesters were waving Mexican flags, according to Reuters, and also at a protest in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday night, where fewer than 100 people chanted anti-ICE slogans, "Los Angeles!" In Paramount, officers fired stun grenades, tear gas, and rubber bullets at protesters, according to the New York Times.

In response, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that if California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass were unable to do their jobs, "the federal government will step in and solve the problem." Shortly after, the president signed a presidential memorandum to deploy National Guard troops to "address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester," the White House said in a statement. To do so, Trump invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807, which had not been invoked since 1992.

Despite Trump himself posting a message to Truth Social to "congratulate" the National Guard for its "great performance" in Los Angeles, the city's mayor warned this Sunday that National Guard troops had not yet arrived in the city as of Saturday night. Their deployment could take 24 hours. Shortly after, Trump also warned that he will ban the use of masks at protests.

For his part, Newsom called the decision "deliberately provocative." In a message on the X network, the Democratic governor said that Trump was deploying the National Guard "not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because he wants a show," adding: "He's not giving them any. Don't use violence. Speak peacefully." In fact, the Los Angeles police themselves assured that the situation was under control and that the protests that remained this Saturday night were peaceful, but, nevertheless, the White House said that it was going ahead with the deployment of the National Guard.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that the Pentagon was prepared to mobilize active-duty troops "if the violence continues" in Los Angeles, adding that Marines at Camp Pendleton, near Los Angeles, were already prepared and "on high alert."

Protests against deportations have intensified in recent days in Los Angeles, where the population is largely Hispanic and foreign-born, especially in the Paramount area. The unrest erupted Friday night after ICE agents arrested at least 44 people in several raids across Los Angeles for alleged immigration violations. "They know now that they can't go anywhere in this country and try to kidnap our workers, our people; they can't do that without organized and vicious resistance," warned one of the protesters, Ron Gochez, 44.