Los Angeles: President Donald Trump’s use of troops to help carry out intensified immigration raids faces its biggest challenge yet on Thursday, when a federal judge is set to weigh a request from California Gov Gavin Newsom to put an emergency stop to the practice.
Newsom has warned that the military intervention is part of a broader effort by Trump to overturn norms at the heart of the nation’s democracy. He also said that sending National Guard troops on the raids has further inflamed tensions in Los Angeles, where large and sometimes volatile protests have broken out since the crackdown began nearly a week ago.
The Trump administration on Wednesday called the lawsuit a “crass political stunt endangering American lives.” A hearing is set for Thursday afternoon.
Demonstrations have picked up across the US, with protests popping up in more than a dozen major cities. On Wednesday, police in Seattle used pepper spray to clear out protesters, and officers in Denver used smoke and pepper balls to control a crowd.
Police in riot gear — many on horseback — charged at a group of protestors Wednesday night in LA just before the start of the second night of the city’s downtown curfew. The officers struck some demonstrators with wooden rods and later fired crowd-control projectiles. After the curfew went into effect, a handful of arrests were made before the area cleared out.
Military involvement escalates in LA
The Trump administration has rapidly expanded military to deployments to Los Angeles over the past week and has said it is willing to send troops to other cities to assist with immigration enforcement and controlling disturbances — in line with what Trump promised during last year’s campaign.
Some 2,000 Guard soldiers are in the nation’s second-largest city and are soon to be joined by 2,000 more, along with about 700 Marines, said Maj Gen Scott Sherman, who’s in charge of the operation.
About 500 of the Guard troops deployed to the Los Angeles protests have been trained to accompany agents on immigration operations, the commander said Wednesday. The Guard has the authority to temporarily detain people who attack officers, but any arrests must be made by law enforcement.
While some troops have already gone on such missions, he said it’s too early to say if that will continue even after the protests die down.
“We are expecting a ramp-up,” Sherman said, noting that protests across the nation were being discussed. “I’m focused right here in LA, what’s going on right here. But you know, I think we’re, we’re very concerned.”
Mayors plead for end to immigration crackdown
Dozens of mayors from across the Los Angeles region banded together Wednesday to demand that the Trump administration end the stepped-up immigration raids and stop using military troops alongside agents.
“I’m asking you, please listen to me, stop terrorising our residents,” said Brenda Olmos, vice mayor of Paramount, who said she was hit by rubber bullets over the weekend. “You need to stop these raids.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the raids spread fear at the behest of the White House and that the city’s nightly curfew would remain in effect as long as necessary. It covers a section of downtown where the protests have been concentrated in the sprawling city.
“If there are raids that continue, if there are soldiers marching up and down our streets, I would imagine that the curfew will continue,” Bass said.
Those who have been caught up in the nationwide raids include asylum seekers, people who overstayed their visas and migrants awaiting their day in immigration court.
Hundreds have been arrested in LA protests
Los Angeles police have made nearly 400 arrests and detentions since Saturday, the vast majority of which were for failing to leave the area at the request of law enforcement, according to the police department.
There have been a handful of more serious charges, including for assault against police officers and for possession of a Molotov cocktail and a gun. Nine police officers have been hurt, mostly with minor injures. Some were transported to a hospital and released.
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