All you need to know about the Los Angeles protests, ICE raids, and National Guard deployment

Several Waymo cars were burnt and vandalised successful downtown Los Angeles by protesters reacting to a bid of migration raids that occurred successful Los Angeles, California, connected June 8, 2025. | Photo Credit: AP

A bid of immigration raids conducted by national agents past week has triggered large-scale protests crossed Los Angeles, prompting President Donald Trump to deploy thousands of National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to the city, a determination that has ignited a ineligible and governmental confrontation with California’s leadership.

Also Read: Governor Newsom says ’democracy is nether assault’ successful effect to Trump’s subject deployment successful LA

Why are radical protesting successful Los Angeles?

The unrest began connected June 6, erstwhile agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) swept done aggregate neighbourhoods successful and astir downtown Los Angeles. Over 100 undocumented immigrants were detained successful a substance of hours. The raids were portion of a broader migration enforcement strategy that national officials said aimed to conscionable a regular nationalist people of 3,000 arrests.

Within hours, demonstrators began gathering extracurricular ICE offices and City Hall. The protests grew implicit the weekend, swelling to thousands of people, migrant rights activists, students, clergy, and families, demanding an contiguous halt to the raids and calling for the merchandise of those detained.

The protests are rooted successful long-standing tensions implicit migration argumentation successful the United States, but person been intensified by what galore presumption arsenic excessive and unaccountable national action. Los Angeles, a metropolis with a important migrant population, has historically resisted national migration crackdowns, often positioning itself arsenic a sanctuary city.

California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass person criticised the determination arsenic unconstitutional and politically motivated, and the authorities has filed a ineligible situation to forestall national troops from performing instrumentality enforcement duties connected California soil.

Where are the protests successful Los Angeles, and what’s happening now?

Protest sites person expanded rapidly crossed Los Angeles, with important turnouts observed successful downtown districts, immigrant-dense neighbourhoods specified arsenic Boyle Heights, and on large metropolis arteries similar Wilshire Boulevard. Protesters person besides gathered extracurricular national buildings, proscription hubs, and acquisition institutions, creating some symbolic and logistical disruptions.

The effect from instrumentality enforcement has included curfews successful prime areas, accrued deployment of riot power units, and practice betwixt section constabulary and national agencies. The beingness of subject unit and vehicles successful nationalist areas has added to the increasing consciousness of unease.

A national proceeding connected the legality of the unit deployment is scheduled for June 12, and the result is expected to power however akin situations whitethorn unfold successful different parts of the country.

Why anti-immigration crackdown targets Los Angeles?

Los Angeles is location to 1 of the largest undocumented migrant populations successful the United States, with estimates placing the fig successful the hundreds of thousands. The metropolis has antecedently adopted sanctuary policies that bounds practice betwixt section instrumentality enforcement and national migration authorities. In caller years, Los Angeles officials person declined to enactment successful national migration sweeps and person implemented section ordinances that restrict the sharing of accusation with ICE.

Who has been detained and however is the state responding?

Among the astir 118 to 154 radical detained truthful far, migration authorities arrested a divers premix of undocumented individuals, including semipermanent residents, time labourers, and those with lapsed asylum oregon DACA status. High-profile arrests see that of David Huerta, president of the California section of the Service Employees International Union, who was jailed connected charges of “conspiracy against national authorities.” Several detainees were allegedly deported wrong 48 hours, among them, Juan Fernando, a 21-year-old Zapotec talker from Mexico. 

The deployment of implicit 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles nether Title 10 authorization has been criticised by California Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass, who reason that the national beingness bypasses authorities jurisdiction.

President Donald Trump has defended the actions, describing the protests arsenic “orchestrated unrest” and stating that the national authorities “will not tolerate lawlessness.”

Published - June 11, 2025 02:10 p.m. IST