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US President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles after days of unrest caused by immigration raids on undocumented migrants in California.
The violent clashes between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and protesters have progressively worsened since the raids commenced.
The raids have resulted in at least 118 arrests in the city this week, including 44 on Friday.
A White House statement said “violent mobs have attacked ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles, California”.
The statement also accused California’s leaders of abdicating their responsibility to protect citizens.
Speaking on his Truth Social platform, Trump described Gavin Newsom, California governor, and Karen Bass, LA mayor, as “incompetent”.
He said the federal government “will step in and solve the problem … the way it should be solved”.
Newsom, however, condemned the deployment of the National Guard, describing it as “cruel and purposefully inflammatory”.
The California governor warned that the deployment would only “escalate tensions”.
“Continued chaotic federal sweeps, across California, to meet an arbitrary arrest quota are as reckless as they are cruel,” he said.
The National Guard is the oldest unit of the United States army.
The guard responds to domestic emergencies, natural disasters, counterdrug efforts, and reconstruction missions — often at the request of state governors.
This is the first time a US president has assumed control of the National Guard since the LA riots of 1992 which was triggered by the beating of Rodney King by four White police officers.
