The official in charge of containing the arrival of immigrants in the Donald Trump Administration, known as the ‘border czar,’ Tom Homan, announced the deployment of the National Guard in the city of Los Angeles in response to the protests that erupted this Friday following the 44 arrests by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in various raids in the California locality.
Donald Trump has already signed the document authorizing the movement of troops.
“We are already mobilizing. We are going to bring the National Guard tonight. We are going to counteract these people and we are going to enforce the law,” declared in an interview on the American television network Fox News, a media ally of the Trump government.
Trump justifies the mobilization of the National Guard
President Donald Trump supported the measure by stating that if the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, and the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, are unable to end the protests, the federal government should take action.
“If Governor Gavin Newsom of California and Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles can’t do their job, something that everyone knows they can’t, then the federal government will intervene and solve the problem of riots and looting, as it should be!” Trump stated in a message on Truth Social.
Governor Gavin Newsom confirmed and criticized the deployment. “The federal government is taking control of the California National Guard and will deploy 2,000 soldiers,” he stated. “This action is deliberately provocative and will only escalate tensions.”
In one of the paragraphs of the statement sent by the White House, it says that “the Trump administration has a zero tolerance policy towards criminal behavior and violence, especially when that violence is directed against law enforcement officers who are trying to do their job.” Interestingly, in January, Trump pardoned about 1,250 people who participated in the assault on the Capitol in January 2021 with the intention of preventing Joe Biden from assuming the presidency and where they attacked dozens of police officers.
Why did the protests break out?
Faced with the raids carried out by ICE during Friday’s operation, a multitude of protesters took to the streets to protest against the police intervention and surrounded the detention center in Paramount, about 20 km south of downtown Los Angeles, where the arrested individuals were located.
Homan has justified the actions of the agents and has stated that the arrested individuals were “bad people,” including pedophiles, individuals convicted of theft, or gang members.
Some politicians, like the Democratic governor of California, also criticized the Immigration Service detentions. “The ongoing and chaotic federal raids throughout California to meet an arbitrary arrest quota are as reckless as they are cruel,” Newsom stated.
The Deputy Secretary of National Security, Tricia McLaughlin, estimated that a thousand people gathered in front of the detention center, causing damage to public furniture and buildings.
“The violent attacks against law enforcement in Los Angeles by lawless protesters are despicable, and Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom must demand their end. The men and women of ICE risk their lives to protect and defend the lives of American citizens,” stated McLaughlin in a statement from the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office.
Likewise, it was reported that ICE detained 2,000 foreign individuals per day during the last week, as part of the Trump Administration’s reinforcement of anti-immigration measures.