A curfew has come into force in Los Angeles as officials attempt to “stop the vandalism and stop the looting”.
Mayor Karen Bass said the restrictions will be in force in downtown areas of the city from 8pm to 6am local time (4am to 2pm UK time) – and will likely be repeated in the coming days.
She confirmed that a local emergency had been declared as “we reached a tipping point”, with 23 businesses looted on Monday night.
Ms Bass said “graffiti is everywhere”, with “significant damage” to properties as a result of the protests.
Image: Workers try to remove graffiti after a protest over immigration raids. ICE Pic: AP/Damian Dovarganes
Image: Workers remove graffiti from the Ronald Reagan Federal Building in Santa Ana. Pic: Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register via AP
Image: A protester marches past businesses being boarded up. Pic: Reuters/Leah Millis
Jim McDonnell, the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, described the curfew as a “necessary measure to protect lives” as “unlawful and dangerous behaviour” had been escalating in the last few days.
On Tuesday alone, 197 arrests were made by the force, and he warned anyone violating the curfew without a valid reason would be detained.
Residents, people who are homeless, those travelling to and from work, credited media as well as public safety and emergency personnel, will be exempt from the curfew.
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The curfew covers a one square mile section of downtown LA that includes the area where protests have happened since Friday. The city of Los Angeles encompasses about 500 square miles.
Image: Workers board up a store in Santa Ana. Pic: AP/Jae C. Hong
Image: California National Guard soldiers stand at a federal agency building. Pic: AP
Image: Protesters are detained by law enforcement near the federal building in downtown LA. Pic: AP/Eric Thayer
The protests are in response to raids carried out by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE).
US President Donald Trump has activated 4,000 National Guard troops – the federal reserve force – to protect ICE officers carrying out raids as well as federal buildings in LA, despite objections by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who called the deployments unnecessary, illegal and politically motivated.
Mr Trump also sent 700 marines, who are expected to start operating in the LA area on Wednesday, according to the US Northern Command.
Image: The Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse in Santa are boarded up. Pic: Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register via AP
Image: National Guard troops are lined up to protect a federal building in downtown LA. Pic: AP/Eric Thayer
State officials said Mr Trump’s response was an extreme overreaction to mostly peaceful demonstrations, with California senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla saying the domestic mobilisation of active-duty military personnel should only happen “during the most extreme circumstances, and these are not them”.
Mr Trump defended his decision in a speech to soldiers at the Army base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, saying his administration would “liberate Los Angeles”.
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Trump: ‘We will liberate Los Angeles’
“Generations of Army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third-world lawlessness,” Mr Trump said.
“What you’re witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and on national sovereignty, carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags.”
Image: A protester is arrested by law enforcement officers in downtown LA. Pic: AP/Eric Thayer
Image: California Highway Patrol officers clash with protesters in LA. Pic: AP/Eric Thayer
Gavin Newsom launched a blistering response in an address on Tuesday evening, saying the deployment of the National Guard without consulting Californian officials was a “brazen abuse of power by a sitting president”.
He said it “enflamed a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers and even our National Guard at risk”.
“That’s when the downward spiral began. He doubled down on his dangerous National Guard deployment by fanning the flames even harder – and the president, he did it on purpose,” Mr Newsom said.
Newsom takes the fight to Trump
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s televised address to the nation felt presidential as he took the fight to the man in the Oval Office, with a series of scorching putdowns.
He made a compelling case that Donald Trump’s extraordinary decision to send troops to LA against his wishes had put the country on the brink of authoritarianism.
He spoke the day after the Pentagon announced 700 marines were being deployed to join 4,000 National Guard troops ordered to the streets of LA by Trump.
But there has been no evidence so far that local law enforcement is being overwhelmed by the size or might of this resistance movement.
The head-to-head between Trump and Newsom is a compelling one.
The governor is known to harbour presidential ambitions for 2028 and is something of a MAGA bogeyman.
Newsom presides over a blue state, the biggest in the country, and is growing his brand with a podcast and – now – Trump has effectively put him in the national spotlight by bringing this political battle to his door.
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The governor accused Mr Trump of choosing escalation and “theatrics over public safety”, as the situation was “winding down” before the president deployed the troops.
Mr Newsom added: “When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that order apply to every state in this nation.
“This is about all of us, this is about you. California may be first, but it clearly won’t end here; other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes.”
Image: A man holds a Mexican flag, which has become synonymous with solidarity for migrants targeted in the raids. Pic: AP/Damian Dovarganes
Image: A protester holds up a placard while marching through downtown LA. Pic: Reuters/Leah Millis
Image: People protest against the ongoing immigration raids in Washington, D.C. Pic: AP/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
Homeland Security said on Monday that ICE had arrested 2,000 immigration offenders per day recently, which significantly exceeds the 311 daily average in the fiscal year 2024 under former president Joe Biden.
The protests over the immigration raids have started to spread across the US, with demonstrations in cities like Seattle, Austin, Chicago and Washington, DC.
The deployment of National Guard soldiers on to the streets of LA by Donald Trump was always deeply controversial – and now it has been deemed illegal, too, by a federal judge.
In late spring in Los Angeles, I observed as peaceful protests against immigration raids turned confrontational.
I watched as Waymos – self-driving cars – were set alight and people waving flags shut down one of the city’s busiest freeways. I saw government buildings spray-painted with anti-government sentiment and expletives. Some people even threw bottles at police officers in riot gear.
In exchange, I saw law enforcement deploy “flash bang” crowd control devices and fire rubber bullets into crowds, indiscriminately, on occasion.
Image: Mounted Los Angeles police officers disperse protesters earlier this summer. Pic: San Francisco Chronicle/AP
Image: A person reacts to non-lethal munitions shot in Los Angeles.
Pic: Reuters
But Trump sent them in anyway, against the wishes of the local government. LA mayor Karen Bass condemned the deployment as an act of political theatre and said it risked stoking tensions.
The language Trump used was, arguably, inflammatory, too. He described LA as an “invaded” and “occupied city”. He spoke of “a full-blown assault on peace”, carried out by “rioters bearing foreign flags with the aim of continuing a foreign invasion of our country”.
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Trump: ‘We will liberate Los Angeles’
It didn’t reflect reality. The size of the protests were modest, several thousand people marching through a handful of streets in downtown LA, a city which spans 500 square miles and has a population of almost four million.
The majority of the soldiers simply stood guard outside government buildings, often looking bored. Some of them are still here, with nothing to do. Now a judge has ruled that the operation was illegal.
US District Judge Charles Breyer said the Trump administration “used armed soldiers (whose identity was often obscured by protective armour) and military vehicles to set up protective perimeters and traffic blockades, engage in crowd control, and otherwise demonstrate a military presence in and around Los Angeles”.
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Marines head to Los Angeles
In a scathing judgement, he effectively accused the White House of turning National Guard soldiers and marines into a “national police force.”
That breaches a law from 1878, barring the use of soldiers for civilian law enforcement activities.
It is a blow to what some view as the president’s ambition to federalise Democrat-run cities and deploy the National Guard in other states around the country. He had threatened to send troops to Chicago as part of an initiative he says is cracking down on crime, widening the use of National Guard troops, as seen on the streets of Washington DC.
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The fightback against immigration raids in LA
But since this judge ruled that the deployment of National Guard and marines to LA in June was unlawful in the way it unfolded, Trump may have to be inventive with his rationale for sending soldiers into other US cities in the future.
This legal judgement, though, is being appealed and may well be overturned. Either way, it is unlikely to stem the president’s ambition to act as national police chief.
A strike on what the US called a Venezuelan gang’s drug-carrying vessel killed 11 people, Donald Trump has said.
Speaking at a news conference at the White House, the US president told reporters: “We just, over the last few minutes, literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat.
“And there’s more where that came from. We have a lot of drugs pouring into our country, coming in for a long time.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio then added: “These particular drugs were probably headed to Trinidad or some other country in the Caribbean.
“Suffice to say the president is going to be on offence against drug cartels and drug trafficking in the United States.”
Mr Trump later posted a video on Truth Social of a vessel exploding, in what appeared to mark the first US military operation in the southern Caribbean to crack down on drug cartels.
The president said on social media that the US military had identified the crew as members of Venezuelangang Tren de Aragua, which was designated a terrorist group in February.
He then alleged that Tren de Aragua is being controlled by Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, which the country denies.
Venezuelan officials have repeatedly said that Tren de Aragua is no longer active in their country after they dismantled it during a prison raid in 2023.
The US last month doubled its reward for information leading to the arrest of Mr Maduro to $50m, accusing him of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups.
The US has deployed warships in the southern Caribbean in recent weeks.
Seven warships, along with one nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine, are either in the region or expected to arrive soon, carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines.
Officials have said that the US military has also been flying P-8 spy planes over international waters in the region to gather intelligence.
Mr Maduro said on Monday that he “would constitutionally declare a republic in arms” if Venezuela were attacked by US forces deployed in the Caribbean.