Trump deploys National Guard to LA immigration 'riots' after claiming state officials 'can't do their jobs'

The National Guard will be deployed to Los Angeles after protests in response to immigration raids extended into a second day.

California Governor Gavin Newsom confirmed that the Trump administration is deploying "2,000 soldiers" to Los Angeles after local police used tear gas, stun guns, and riot shields to push back immigration protesters on Saturday. Demonstrations began outside the Los Angeles Federal Building in the downtown area of LA on Friday after officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out raids in the area.

On Saturday, as many as 400 people had gathered to protest in Paramount, a city south of LA, the LA sheriff said. However, that number dropped to dozens later in the day.

Mr Newsom warned in a post on X: "The federal government is sowing chaos so they can have an excuse to escalate. That is not the way any civilized country behaves." He described the deployment as "purposefully inflammatory" and claimed it will "only escalate tensions".

President Donald Trump hit back at Mr Newsom in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Saturday. "If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can't do their jobs, which everyone knows they can't, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!," he wrote.

Mr Trump's defence secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that active duty marines would also be mobilised if "violence continues". LA mayor Karen Bass said that amid the recovery from this year's wildfires, "many in our community are feeling fear" following "recent federal immigration enforcement actions" across LA County.

Reports the guard would be deployed to LA came earlier on Saturday, from Mr Trump's border tsar Tom Homan on Fox News. Read more from Sky NewsMan wrongly deported returns to US to face chargesMinute-by-minute guide to Trump-Musk fall-outProud Boys $100m lawsuit over 6 January convictions More than 40 arrested in Friday raids At least 44 people were arrested on suspicion of immigration violations during raids on Friday, with crowds of around "1,000 rioters" forming around the building before some "assaulted law enforcement officers, slashed tyres, and defaced taxpayer-funded property.