Trump Orders National Guard and The Marines To Quell LA Riots Amid ICE Immigration Raids
Teaser:
“The violence is escalating… It’s getting increasingly worse and more violent. We’ve had individuals shooting commercial grade fireworks at our officers. That can kill you.”
–LAPD Police Chief Jim McDonnell
The headlines coming out of Los Angeles this week describing rioting, vandalism and attacks on law enforcement have an eerily familiar ring.
“Los Angeles Burns”; “Masses of Protesters Wreak Havoc on LA”; Protestors Torch Police Vehicles, Vandalize Shops, Shower Cops with Rocks”
It’s as if the country is witnessing a repeat of the 2020 George Floyd riots, when anarchy ruled some of the nation’s largest cities for weeks and the National Guard had to be brought in to quell the violence.
Although the issues are different—this week’s rioting followed the mass arrests of illegal immigrants, and President Trump, not Gov. Newsom, called in the National Guard—some of the shocking footage of chaos and anarchy mimic scenarios from 2020.
Back then, Democrat leaders and their media accomplices first tried to cast the riots as “peaceful protests.” When that farce fell apart, the narrative changed to one framing the agitators as social justice warriors fighting for a noble cause.
Todays’ riots across LA seem to be following the same playbook, with Democratic congressmen such as New Jersey’s Cory Booker, California’s Lex Padilla, and prominent media personalities pushing the “peaceful protest” mantra.
But then the rioters were caught on cellphones and social media videos—some of them posted by the perpetrators themselves—setting cars ablaze, smashing windows, looting, charging federal agents in riot gear, and hurling chunks of cement over an overpass to crush vehicles and stop traffic on a main highway.
The narrative quickly pivoted. Today, the excuse for the escalating violence is…fear. Castigating the ICE immigration raids as responsible for the rioting, LA Mayor Karen Bass insisted that the arrests “sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. We will not stand for this!” she declared.
Her “incendiary words were taken as an outright cue for the rioting to begin,” wrote the NY Post.
Gov. Newsom: ‘Get Your Hands Off These Poor People’
During the current mayhem, Gov. Newsom repeatedly rejected White House urging to bring in California’s National Guard to quell the violence.
“Get your hands of these poor people, they’re just trying to live their lives, man, just trying to live their lives,” Gov. Gavin Newsom fumed in a news interview.
He insisted that bringing in the National Guard would only escalate tensions and that local law enforcement could handle things without federal intervention.
But LAPD Police Chief Jim McDonnell challenged that narrative, telling reporters on Sunday that activists protesting the ICE enforcement actions are using lethal force against officers and “we are overwhelmed.”
“The violence is escalating… It’s getting increasingly worse and more violent … We’ve had individuals shooting commercial grade fireworks at our officers. That can kill you,” McDonnell said.
It’s not just commercial-grade fireworks, he explained. The rioters have cinder blocks in their backpacks, breaking them up with hammers and throwing chunks at police.
“There’s no limit to what they are doing to our officers,” the police chief said. “It’s disgusting.”
‘An Invasion of Illegal Criminals’
The Department of Homeland Security said that “local cops waited two hours to help push back the agitators” when the trouble started Friday. By the time police finally got orders to control the chaos, they had to engage in running battles with the mobs in downtown LA and the suburb of Paramount.
” Roughly 1,000 agitators attacked law enforcement officers, defaced buildings, slashed tires and committed other crimes,” DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin elaborated.
Images released by DHS Saturday show parts of downtown Los Angeles covered in vulgar graffiti, and calls for violence. “KILL ICE” was spray-painted on fences and buildings — as well as a flyer handed out by the Communist group “RefuseFacism.org” proclaiming, “The Trump Fascist Regime MUST GO NOW!”
After a violent mob swarmed ICE officers conducting immigration raids, President Trump, who closely was monitoring the situation, ordered the deployment of National Guardsmen over the objections of Gov. Newsom and Mayor Bass.
“If Governor Gavin Newscum and Mayor Karen Bass 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!” the president wrote on Truth Social before signing the memorandum.
A furious Newsom said he is suing the Trump administration, claiming President Trump “illegally federalized 2,000 members of the state’s National Guard,” a Washington Times article said.
“He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard,” Newsom posted online. “The order he signed doesn’t just apply to CA. It will allow him to go into ANY State and do the same thing. We’re suing him.”
In response, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Newsom was an ineffective leader who looked the other way while U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were attacked.
“Gavin Newsom did nothing as violent riots erupted in Los Angeles for days. Federal law enforcement officers were attacked by violent radicals and illegal criminals waving foreign flags because Gov. Newsom was too weak to protect the city,” Leavitt asserted.
“In recent days, violent mobs have attacked ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles, California. These operations are essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States,” the White House elaborated in a statement on Sunday.
“In the wake of this violence, California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens,” the statement said. “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.
Newsom Downplayed the Violence
As Gov. Gavin Newsom issued public statements claiming the protests were “under control,” they were steadily growing more violent and spilling over to adjacent neighborhoods of Paramount and Compton.
One masked rioter hurled rocks at the windows of cars right outside a “super store” — cracking some Border Patrol pick-up trucks’ windshields, according to viral video.
ICE agents driving one of those vehicles suffered injuries after rocks left a huge gash in both the windshield and the hand of one of the federal law enforcement officials, video obtained by Fox News showed.
Other protesters stationed themselves in front of a federal bus to block it from carrying off alleged illegal immigrants.
In nearby Compton, protesters standing off against ICE agents and police torched a car and watched it burn as rioters waving the Mexican flag circled it on a motorcycle, ABC7 LA reported.
The ABC reporter actually told viewers that it might be “unwise to send in law enforcement” because the L.A. riots were “just a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn.”
That ludicrous comment came from an actual newscast aired on a major American network while arson fires lit up the sky behind the on-site reporter.
Riotous protests continued into Monday evening with protestors running through the streets patrolled by hundreds of National Guard members and police officers.
Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security Secretary, posted a message on social media addressing “LA rioters” and warning that interference with immigration enforcement would not be tolerated.
“You will not stop us or slow us down,” Noem said, adding that ICE “will enforce the law” and that “if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan: ‘Someone is Going to Get Killed’
“Border czar” Tom Homan tasked by President Trump with overseeing the mass deportation of illegals, predicted that increasing opposition to ICE agents will lead to someone being killed.
Speaking on Fox News, Homan faulted congressional representatives who he said “are vilifying ICE and the Border Patrol every day. They’re driving this hate. I’m telling you, it’s only a matter of time before there’s an incident where an ICE agent is going to have to take a life or an ICE agent is going to lose a life.”
There’s been a 413% increase in assaults on ICE agents since President Trump took office in January, compared to the same period last year, he said.
Homan then defended ICE and Border Patrol operations under Trump, citing reductions in drug dealing, child-trafficking, and migrant deaths.
“They gave us the most secure border in the history of this nation,” he said. “Fentanyl trafficking is down over 50%, which means we’re saving lives from overdose deaths. Trafficking in women and children is down significantly. Migrant death, over 4,000 aliens died making the journey. They’re not dying because they’re not coming.” [See Sidebar]
Not Quite a Grassroots Movement
While the media is pushing the narrative that the LA riots are a completely organic, grassroots movement about “human rights,” a deeper look at some of leading organizers of the protests reveal a level of calculated incitement.
According to a recent New York Post story, one of the ‘LA protest’s’ driving forces is an NGO called the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA).
The story reported that CHIRLA’s annual $34 million budget is nearly completely funded by none other than the State of California. Not only that, but California increased CHIRLA’s budget by $12 million this year.
Between October 2021 and September 2024, CHIRLA also got about half a million federal tax dollars from DHS grants, (which, thanks to DOGE, were cut off in March).
The Post article also identified groups funded by the Chinese CCP and locally-grown communists playing a role in organizing the “grassroots” protests.
CHIRLA staged a rally last week (prior to any disturbances), to denounce ICE officials for arresting illegal migrants across the city, including those convicted of heinous crimes.
Protests against ICE have escalated since then, with more than 1,000 rioters taking to the streets, assaulting immigration officers, slashing tires and defacing public buildings, the Department of Homeland Security said. Just coincidence?
As the violence continued into Monday, President Trump ordered the deployment of an additional 2,000 members of the National Guard and mobilized 700 active-duty Marines early Monday evening to assist them.
White House officials have slammed both Mayor Bass and Gov. Newsom for allowing the protests to turn into violent and destructive riots.
In an interview with NBC News, Newsom reacted scornfully to the government’s sending in the National Guard, insisting he had things under control and involving the Guardsmen would only inflame the situation.
He dared border chief Tom Homan to arrest him for failing to crack down on anti-ICE agitators in his state. “Come after me. Arrest me. Let’s just get it over with, tough guy,” the defiant Democrat said, basking in his bravado. “You know where to find me.”
Newsom’s taunt came soon after Homan had warned that the governor and LA Mayor Bass could both face federal charges for trying to thwart ICE raids throughout the city.
“I’ll give this warning to anybody,” Homan had said in a weekend interview as anti-ICE riots erupted throughout Los Angeles.
“You cross that line, it’s a felony to knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal alien. It’s a felony to impede law enforcement doing their job.”
“We’ll never know for sure how bad Bass and Newsom would’ve let things get — but we do know that just months ago, they were completely feckless in the face of a natural disaster, wrote a NY Post op-ed, referring to the raging forest fires that devastated great portions of Los Angeles.
“Were they going to be more aggressive in fighting fires set by their own political allies? Not likely.”
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Taking Care of Unfinished Business
In 2020, left-wing violence swept across the United States after George Floyd’s murder. Radical groups such as Black Lives Matter and all sorts of fellow travelers took to city streets to vandalize, torch cars, assault, and wreak havoc in any way possible.
After Floyd’s killing, anti-police sentiment prevailed across most of the country, so officers were either forbidden or too intimidated to do their jobs. The media explained to the country that the agitators/lawbreakers were actually noble social justice warriors fighting for worthwhile goals.
At the time, Donald Trump was serving his first term as president. He labeled the violence “acts of domestic terror” and vowed to put an end to the riots.
“The biggest victims of the rioting are peace-loving citizens in our poorest communities. And as their president, I will fight to keep them safe,” he promised in remarks delivered at the White House. “I will fight to protect you. I am your president of law and order.”
Trump promised “swift and decisive action” but was unable to deliver as the country was swallowed up by the social justice revolution.
“As the pandemic faded and the Biden administration floundered, Americans seemed to decide they’d had their fill of social-justice extremism. They elected Trump all over again,” writes the conservative Commentary.
“Amazingly, Trump has now been granted a second chance at being the law-and-order president he always envisioned. And this time, unlike in 2020, he’s got the country on his side. So, he sent in the National Guard.”
Polls show that most Americans support Trump’s immigration approach. But, whether the polls show it or not, “the country has Trump’s back on a much larger issue,” Commentary’s editor, Abe Greenwald, wrote.
“Americans seem to want a do-over, as well. They want to go back to the summer of social-justice revolution and see what would have happened had they all turned right instead of left,” the article argues.
(What would that have looked like? Perhaps less violent-crime, no millions of illegal immigrants, no campus takeovers by woke jihadists, no DEI stranglehold…. Just imagining it is like waking up from a bad dream.)
President Trump thus finds himself uniquely positioned to take care of unfinished business—and judging from his policies on illegal immigration and his pro-active moves in LA this week, is inclined to do just that.
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The Border ‘Got-Aways’: Silent Threat to National Security
In an interview last week with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Border Chief Homan warned that the two million plus “got-aways” – migrants who evaded capture during Biden’s term—pose a national security threat.
“They scare me,” Homan said, adding that he fears some could be terrorists. “I’m convinced something bad is coming unless we can find them,” he warned.
Homan noted that it was alarming to him that millions of migrants went to great lengths to avoid detection, when the Biden administration was so easy on them, quickly releasing illegal immigrants into the United States.
“Why did two million illegal aliens pay more than they had to, to leave [their native countries?]” Homan asked Hannity. “They could have paid half of what they paid to cross the border, turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents, get released that same day and get a free airline ticket to the city of their choice. They’d get a free hotel room, get three meals a day, plus free medical care and work authorization like all their fellow migrants.”
“Two million people were willing to give up these advantages just to avoid being vetted and fingerprinted,” he emphasized. “Why? What were they planning?”
“This question scares me,” said Homan. “What the Biden administration did here should scare every American.”
He described the “got-aways” as “the biggest national security vulnerability this country’s ever seen.” He predicted Americans will be grappling with the effects of Biden’s border policies “for the next 10 years.”
His comments come one day after the anti-Semitic atrocity in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian man—residing in this country illegally—attacked Jews marching in solidarity with the Israeli hostages. Mohamed Sabry Soliman torched and injured 12 people with a flamethrower and Molotov cocktails.
He entered the country on a tourist visa in 2022, sought asylum and later obtained a work permit from the Biden administration. Soliman’s work visa expired this past March, meaning he was no longer in the country legally.
Homan lamented that “even through the legal process, the Biden administration was bringing people unvetted” and “handing out work visas like they’re candy.”
It’s no mystery why Biden did so. Democrats rely on mass immigration for demographic leverage. That is why “sanctuary” strongholds such as Los Angeles, Chicago, NY, San Francisco and Seattle are so important to them.
And why Democrat leaders of these cities resist ICE immigration actions as if their political lives depend on it.
