What started as a surprise immigration enforcement operation has quickly become a violent standoff between rioters and federal forces, capturing the attention of the whole nation. The days-long Los Angeles riots, which have featured violence against federal agents in opposition to President Donald Trump’s deportation agenda, have been cited by conservative figures and Trump administration officials and allies as evidence that illegal immigration is, in fact, an invasion of the U.S. and may require extraordinary measures to rectify. Here’s how the situation has played out so far.

Friday, June 6

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began conducting immigration raids in Los Angeles on Friday morning, targeting a clothing warehouse, a clothing store, and a Home Depot. Protests were quickly organized in response to the deportation efforts, with crowds chanting, “Fuera, ICE,” (“ICE, get out” in Spanish); spray-painting anti-ICE slogans, such as “F*** ICE”; and waving Mexican flags.

Union leader David Huerta was arrested after attempting to intervene and prevent ICE agents from carrying out arrests at an L.A. worksite. U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli attested that Huerta “deliberately obstructed [ICE agents’] access by blocking their vehicle. He was arrested for interfering with federal officers and will face arraignment in federal court on Monday.” The prosecutor added, “Let me be clear: I don’t care who you are — if you impede federal agents, you will be arrested and prosecuted. No one has the right to assault, obstruct, or interfere with federal authorities carrying out their duties.”

L.A. local officials, including Mayor Karen Bass (D) and Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief Jim McDonnell were openly critical of ICE operations in the area. “As mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place,” Bass said in a statement condemning federal law enforcement. She continued, “These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. My office is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations. We will not stand for this.” McDonnell also issued a statement via social media stressing that “the LAPD is not involved in civil immigration enforcement.”

However, LAPD officials were forced to act when thousands of rioters waving foreign flags began blocking the 101 freeway and approximately 1,000 rioters gathered outside an ICE facility Friday evening and barricaded federal agents inside. Assistant Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Tricia McLaughlin later reported that rioters had become violent and actually breached the building, subsequently defacing and vandalizing federal property, slashing the tires of ICE vehicles, and even assaulting federal officers. ICE agents were also locked inside one of the buildings where they were conducting raids while rioters swarmed outside. FBI agents were called to disperse the crowds. The LAPD declared an unlawful assembly area and showed up in riot gear after rioters began throwing concrete blocks and fragments at law enforcement officers. DHS riot squads also worked to protect federal buildings and personnel.

Saturday, June 7

The protests and riots quickly spread from central L.A. to surrounding areas, including Paramount and Compton. Cars were lit on fire, streets barricaded, and more federal officers assaulted, with rioters hurling rocks, concrete blocks, and bags of garbage at ICE vehicles from the street or from bridges as the vehicles drove underneath. By late afternoon, federal agents began responding with non-lethal force, firing flash-bang grenades and smoke bombs into crowds of rioters, who responded by shooting fireworks and throwing Molotov cocktails at law enforcement. U.S. Marshals, tasked with transporting illegal immigrants who had been detained by ICE, were also attacked, with rioters swarming prison buses in the streets. Other rioters lobbed incendiary devices and improvised smoke bombs at law enforcement vehicles.

In response to the escalating violence, as well as the failure of Bass and other California Democrats, like Governor Gavin Newsom, to respond to the riots and the assaults on federal law enforcement, President Trump announced that he would federalize California’s National Guard and send an expected 2,000 troops to manage the situation. Notably, Trump bypassed Newsom in mobilizing the National Guard, something a president hasn’t done since the 1960s. Border czar Tom Homan asserted that the arrival of National Guard troops is a means of “making Los Angeles safer.”

Bass and Newsom, however, responded harshly to the president’s use of the National Guard, with the mayor accusing Trump of manufacturing a crisis and the governor complaining that the move overrides California’s state sovereignty. “Deploying federalized troops on the heels of these raids is a chaotic escalation,” Bass said in a social media post. She added, after nearly two full days of violence, “This is the last thing that our city needs, and I urge protestors to remain peaceful.”

“The federal government is moving to take over the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers. That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions,” Newsom said, also via social media. He claimed that “there is currently no unmet need” and added, “This is the wrong mission and will erode public trust.” In a joint letter spearheaded by Newsom, all 23 Democratic state governors in the U.S. criticized the president’s mobilization of the National Guard as “an alarming abuse of power.” Newsom subsequently threatened to sue the Trump administration unless the president rescinded his “unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles county and return them to my command.” Newsom added, “We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed.”

Responding to Bass and Newsom, Trump posted on Truth Social, “If [Newsom] 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!!!”

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth quickly followed the president’s announcement of National Guard mobilization by placing U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton on high alert, ready to intervene if necessary. “The violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal Law Enforcement are designed to prevent the removal of Criminal Illegal Aliens from our soil; a dangerous invasion facilitated by criminal cartels (aka Foreign Terrorist Organizations) and a huge NATIONAL SECURITY RISK,” Hegseth asserted. He added, “Under President Trump, violence & destruction against federal agents & federal facilities will NOT be tolerated. It’s COMMON SENSE.”

Newsom referred to Hegseth’s warning as “deranged behavior.” However, numerous Republicans, including U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.) and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, supported the Trump administration’s efforts to restore law and order in California. Vice President J.D. Vance also endorsed his boss’s move, writing in a social media post, “One of the main technical issues in the immigration judicial battles is whether Biden’s border crisis counted as an ‘invasion.’ So now we have foreign nationals with no legal right to be in the country waving foreign flags and assaulting law enforcement. If only we had a good word for that…”

Sunday, June 8

Approximately 300 National Guardsmen arrived on the scene Sunday morning, armed with riot shields and rifles, with more arriving over the course of the day. The Guardsmen were stationed throughout the city, including at federal detention centers and L.A. City Hall. LAPD also intensified crowd control measures, firing smoke canisters and confirming at least 29 arrests, but violence continued to escalate throughout the day, resulting in a rash of looting breaking out in downtown L.A. Rioters continued hurling stones and concrete slabs at federal forces and spray-painting “F*** ICE” slogans across the city, in addition to firebombing several cars. Rioters were also seen burning U.S. flags while waving Mexican flags in the background, with one flag-burner saying, “My Mexican flag — green, white, and red! That’s my flag! Not this flag. F*** this flag! I pledge allegiance to Mexico, nobody else. Not this country.”

Federal agents, for their part, responded to violence with flash-bang grenades, tear gas, and paintballs. Federal, state, and local law enforcement vehicles were targeted by rioters, who would continue to stand on bridges and drop chunks of cement on law enforcement vehicles passing by underneath, forcing officers to abandon their vehicles in many cases. In other instances, police vehicles were smashed in the streets, sometimes with projectiles, sometimes with baseball bats and other blunt objects. Homan warned that California officials, including Bass and Newsom, may face federal prosecution if violence continues. The president echoed this statement shortly afterwards. When asked whether Bass and Newsom may face federal charges, Trump replied, “Yeah. They will face charges.”

One of the most jarring images to emerge from the riots is of a shirtless rioter standing atop a burning car in the streets of L.A. waving a Mexican flag. On-the-ground reporter Cam Higby, who captured video of the scene, commented, “The streets in LA officially belong to the rioters.” Higby also attested that, by the end of the day Sunday, riots had consumed “virtually every other block. The whole city is erupting in chaos.”

Monday, June 9

Following the weekend’s escalating violence, which saw LAPD riot lines forced to retreat in the face of fireworks and explosives, the LAPD officially declared the entire downtown L.A. area an unlawful assembly zone. LAPD Chief McDonnell admitted that his police force is “overwhelmed” by the rioters. However, National Guardsmen remain in place, alongside federal forces including ICE and the FBI. According to Breitbart News, the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) will send a team of specially-trained forces, including members of its Special Operations Group, Tactical Team, and Mobile Response Teams, to assist with enforcement efforts. Unlike National Guardsmen, the USBP forces will have sweeping authority to make arrests “to address federal crimes related to impeding, assaulting, or resisting a federal officer,” a source cited by Breitbart said.

What’s Next?

In what runs the risk of becoming a repeat of 2020’s summer of violent rioting, chaos has spread beyond Los Angeles. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie testified that riots have sprung up in his city, nearly 400 miles north of L.A. Unlike Bass, Lurie quickly moved to quell the violence, making roughly 60 arrests in the first night. “Violence directed at law enforcement or public servants is never acceptable. We are working right now to clean up damage,” he attested. Anti-ICE protests were also staged in San Antonio, Texas over the weekend, according to Breitbart News, although it isn’t clear if they resulted in violence. ICE raids are also prepared for Baltimore, a city known for protests turning into violent riots.

Vance pointed to the riots as evidence of an “invasion” and a good motivation for Republicans in Congress to codify Trump’s immigration agenda. “Insurrectionists carrying foreign flags are attacking immigration enforcement officers, while one half of America’s political leadership has decided that border enforcement is evil. Time to pass President Trump’s beautiful bill and further secure the border,” he wrote in a social media post. White House Deputy Chief of Staff and immigration policy mastermind Stephen Miller agreed, saying in a social media post, “Los Angeles is all the proof you need that mass migration unravels societies. You can have all the other plans and budgets you want. If you don’t fix migration, then nothing else can be fixed — or saved.”

In comments to The Washington Stand, Lora Ries, director of the Center for Border Security and Immigration at the Heritage Foundation, laid emphasis on the need for the deportations being protested in L.A. “All deportable aliens should self-deport or be deported — not just illegal aliens who committed additional crimes. We shouldn’t have to wait for a visa overstay, for example, to commit a terrible crime against U.S. citizens, like the Egyptian who overstayed his visa and burned people assembling in Boulder, Colorado,” Ries said. She continued, “For decades before the Biden administration, we looked the other way from illegal entries, visa overstays, unauthorized employment, and document and identity fraud — the ‘small immigration violations.’” The former DHS official explained, “This resulted in 11 million to 20 million illegal aliens residing in the U.S. The Biden administration quickly added at least another 11 million unvetted inadmissible aliens to our country.”

Ries concluded, “Americans have suffered physically, mentally, and economically. That is why Americans so strongly voted in November to not just end open border policies, but for mass deportations — not just of criminal aliens, but all deportable aliens.”

Brent Buchanan, president and founder of polling and anaylitcis firm Cygnal, told TWS that the riots will likely bolster public support for the president’s deportation agenda. “Support for deportations was already sky-high at 64%, including 37% of Democrats. However, illegal immigration as a top issue recently dropped down to 14% from a high of 25% around this time last year,” Buchanan explained. He added, “The rioting in Los Angeles will cause the illegal immigration to become a more forefront issue — helping Donald Trump since it’s the issue voters trust him on the most.”