The conflict between California Governor Gavin Newsom and Donald Trump over ICE raids in Los Angeles and the federalization of the National Guard has escalated today as the LAPD puts the City of Angels on tactical alert over anti-deportation protests and resistance.
In a whirl of events Sunday in a very tense LA, Newsom and Chief Jim McDonnell both are trying to grasp back control of the state and city from the tough-talking and heavy-handed Trump and stop things from escalating – with the Governor calling POTUS a “dictator.”
Earlier today, Trump took to his usual bully pulpit of social media proclaimed in his hyperbolic manner that “a once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals.” Going on a factually challenged rant, the former Celebrity Apprentice host added: “Order will be restored, the Illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
As a anti-ICE rally moved this afternoon from City Hall to the nearby federal building where over 100 detainees (including young children) rounded up by masked agents in the past two days have been housed in dank basements without access to lawyers, top cop McDonnell moved first to keep protesters and the heavily armed National Guard and Homeland Security forces apart and prevent further clashes.
ICE & DHS agents outside federal buildings in downtown LA as protests over ICE raids continue, on June 8, 2025. (Photo by Taurat Hossain/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to LA, and, under a questionable legal basis, the Secretary of Defense has put Marines at Camp Pendleton on alert. The last time the National Guard put on the streets like this in LA was back in 1992 in the uprisings following the acquittal of four LAPD cops over their beating of Rodney King. At that time, it was then Golden State Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican, who requested the deployment. Two-term Democrat and potential presidential contender Newsom never requested this weekend’s deployment. In fact, the Governor argued with Trump to do the exact opposite, in a call the two had before POTUS went to a UFC fight in New Jersey late Saturday.
“The City of Los Angeles is on Tactical Alert.” the LAPD announced around 2:30 p.m. PT as tensions rose. As well as raising the use of force, the move puts all officers on notice they could be called into duty ASAP and keeps those already on shifts working. Soon afterwards, an unlawful assembly was declared to clear the area around the federal property, where thousands were gathering in protests. Disbursement non-lethal shots, flash bangs, and gas canisters were heard being fired over the crowd by the cops. In conjunction, as protesters and CHP cops clogged up the 101 freeway in downtown LA, local streets were being closed down to keep traffic and more people out of the area
Following usual police procedure, arrest began quickly of those closest to the line of officers. There are rumors that a curfew cold be put in place soon, but law enforcement sources that Deadline spoke to said that is “not in the cards, not being considered right now.”
“To have this here is really just a provocation and something that was not needed in our City,” LA Mayor Karen Bass told CNN Sunday afternoon rejecting Trump’s assertion that the troops were needed and as the tactical alert was put in place. “We’re still recovering after five months from the city’s worst natural disaster in decades and now to go through a trauma like this that is really traumatizing the whole city, because everybody knows somebody in a city where more than 50% are Latino, this just so chaos that is not warranted nor needed in the city of Los Angeles at this point in time.”
The incumbent Mayor and ex-Democratic Congresswoman also noted that the role of the National Guard is to “protect federal property,” not to swarm the streets of the sanctuary city or aid anticipated further harsh ICE raids against undocumented Angelenos and others. Mayor Bass is set to give a press conference on the state of affairs in LA today later this afternoon.
Accusing Trump and team of trying to “manufacture a crisis in LA County” and “create chaos” with the injection of troops that literally no one asked for, Gov. Newsom formally made a move Sunday to regain his control of the Guard, for what it’s worth at this point. “I have formally requested the Trump Administration rescind their unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles county and return them to my command,” the longtime foil and MAGA punching bag said online in a letter to Sec. Pete Hegseth less than 24 hours after Trump seized the Guard over the governor’s objections.
“There is currently no need for the National Guard to be deployed in Los Angeles, and to do so in this unlawful manner and for such a lengthy period is a serious breach of state sovereignty that seems intentionally designed to inflame the situation, while simultaneously depriving the state from deploying these personnel and resources where they are truly required,” the letter says.
Part of a protocol between the state and the feds, Newsom’s Guard letter to the much criticized Defense Secretary and former Fox News host follows a letter from every Democratic Governor around America slamming Trump for his “abuse of power” in LA. Mocking Trump and his crew all day, Newsom himself took it further Sunday, calling Trump’s actions to be “the acts of a dictator, not a President.”
Unlike when news of the National Guard order went out last night, all the cable newsers had wall-to-wall coverage of what was going down in LA.
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