Alwaght- The US President Donald Trump has recently ordered 2,000 National Guard forces to suppress Los Angeles protests against the administration's immigration plan. At the same time Pete Hegseth put the Marines on alert for deployment to Los Angeles. According to reports, Trump's federal immigration plans have stirred massive demonstrations in the city and at the same time inflamed spat between the White House and the state officials.
On Friday and Saturday, protesters stormed the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the streets of Los Angeles and the nearby cities of Paramount and Compton. Many images have also been released of the presence of US riot police in special clothing and tear gas and grenades ready to fire in order to disperse the crowds. Also, during the fires caused by the protests, a gas station was damaged and cars were set on fire, although California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, said in statements that the situation was under control. However, it was reported that police used tear gas during the night protests in Los Angeles.
Trump's violence against protestors
Mike Banks, the head of the California Border Patrol, confirmed that some protesters were arrested during the protests in and around Los Angeles, although he did not disclose the number of arrests. Angelica Salas, director of the Immigrant Rights Coalition, told reporters that more than 45 people had been arrested.
Meanwhile, Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, the consul general of Mexico in Los Angeles, told the Washington Post that more than 20 of those arrested during the protests in Los Angeles were Mexican nationals.
At the same time, reports said the US police used tear gas, tasers and riot shields against protesters to push back the protests.
Los Angeles crackdown came despite the Los Angeles Police Department stating that protests across the city were “peaceful.”
State and federal officials at loggerheads over immigrants
Trump has vowed he will expel the immigrants en masses across the country.
The White House has said it will detain at least 3,000 immigrants a day. The president is also trying to eliminate birthright citizenship, which grants citizenship to most US-born residents, including children of undocumented immigrants.
Trump is also trying to suspend the constitutional right of individuals allowing them to challenge their detention by the government. A detainee was earlier wrongly sent to a detention center in El Salvador, and an Australian woman was denied entry to the US despite having a valid tourist visa. The chaos suggests that the US immigration system is struggling and that Trump is having trouble implementing his immigration plans.
An example of protests against the crackdown on immigrants took place during the 1992 unrest in Los Angeles, where the National Guard was deployed. National Guard is usually deployed by the president or defense secretary for national emergencies or federal missions, but in many cases state officials oppose its deployment. The National Guard can also take control of situations when a state government is unable to manage unrest, something former US President George H.W. Bush did during the Los Angeles riots in 1992.
However, reacting to the National Guard deployment on Trump's order, California Governor Gavin Newsom said "the federal government is creating chaos so it can have an excuse to escalate things. This is not the way any civilised country behaves”. He also called the decision to deploy National Guard as a" deliberate and cowardly" action, adding it only escalates tensions.
Who are National Guard?
National Guard are a unit of the US army and can be deployed by the state governors or the president to various states. They act like a reserve force and members see regular training and can be called for active duty, as they are usually employed in another job. They are usually used in severe weather incidents like hurricanes and wildfires, according to the New York Times. The last time the US president deployed the National Guard in response to a social unrest was in 1992 riots in Los Angeles.
