Protests over federal immigration raids continued to wreak havoc on Los Angeles Saturday with agents wearing riot gear reportedly using flash-bang grenades to clear crowds — as the federal government moves to mobilize the National Guard after claiming LAPD took two hours to respond Friday.
“We’re going to bring the National Guard in tonight. We’re going to continue doing our job. We’re going to push back on these people and we’re going to enforce the law,” Tom Homan, Acting Director of US Immigration and Custom Enforcement, said on Fox News, Saturday.
Protesters in Paramount, California, near a burning car as feds clash with rioters. REUTERS
A protester places debris in a fire as Border Patrol personnel in riot gear and gas masks stand guard outside an industrial park in the Paramount section of Los Angeles, on Saturday. AP
A federal agent points their projectile gun at protesters during a clash near a Home Depot. ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockThe California National Guard was set to mobilize 2,000 soldiers, the Associated Press reported Saturday, with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegeseth threatening to send in active duty Marines to address what he called a “huge national security risk.”
“The @DeptofDefense is mobilizing the National Guard IMMEDIATELY to support federal law enforcement in Los Angeles. And, if violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert,” Hegseth wrote on X Saturday.
“Over a dozen agitators” were arrested on Saturday for impeding federal agents during enforcement operations, Bill Essayli, the United States Attorney for the Central District of California, announced on X Saturday.
California Governor Gavin Newsom accused the federal government of “sowing chaos so they can have an excuse to escalate,” in a post on X Saturday night.
A protester throws a rock at police during a standoff between police and protesters following multiple detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in the Los Angeles County city of Paramount, California, U.S., June 7, 2025. REUTERS
A protester appears to kick a teargas canister across the Paramount, California street back at a federal agents, on Saturday. ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockPresident Donald Trump threatened to exert federal controls of the devolving situation in the Golden State.
“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!!!,” the president wrote on Truth Social on Saturday.
Images and video showed a chaotic scene on Saturday as hundreds of protesters filled the streets and clashed with federal agents in riot gear attempting to impede apprehensions by Border Patrol in Paramount, California, near a Home Depot.
A protester waves an upside-down American flag on the streets of Downtown Los Angeles. Aurora / SplashNews.com
A rioter throws a firework during a standoff with police in Paramount, California on June 7, 2025. REUTERS
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies detain a woman during a riot that took over the streets in California. REUTERS
Sheriff’s deputies hold back masked protesters during a standoff. REUTERSThe dystopian scene showed the heavily armored agents firing teargas canisters in order to disperse demonstrators who raged for hours on Saturday in a messy and tumultuous street takeover.
One violent protester in a face-covering helmet hurled rocks at the windows of cars right outside the super store — cracking some Border Patrol pick-up trucks in the windshield, according to viral video.
Border Patrol Chief Michael W. Banks reported that “several arrests” have been made for assault on a federal agent, according to a post on X Saturday.
Video circulating online showed an American flag on a fire in the middle of the street across from the home improvement store which was mired by demonstrators, Saturday.
A firework explodes after being thrown at police. REUTERS
Colored smoke fills the air during a clash between protesters and federal agents near a Home Depot after a raid was conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Paramount, California, USA, 07 June 2025. ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
A protester throws a rock at police officers behind a cloud of tear gas. APOther protesters during the day stood in front of a federal bus to stop in from carrying off alleged illegal immigrants, video on social media showed.
In Compton, protesters standing off against ICE agents and police lit a car on fire that burned as rioters waving the Mexican flag circled it on a motorcycle, ABC7 LA reported.
Riotous protests continued into the evening with protestors running the streets patrolled by hundreds of National Guard members and police officers.
Vice President JD Vance weighed in on the violent protests.
“Insurrectionists carrying foreign flags are attacking immigration enforcement officers, while one half of America’s political leadership has decided that border enforcement is evil,” the veep wrote on X Saturday.
Violent protests began on Friday with federal agents having raided multiple workplaces in LA’s fashion district and other locations, with the conflagrations continuing at the Paramount Home Depot Saturday, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.
ICE agents who’ve been rounding up illegal immigrants in Los Angeles have become the subject of vile graffiti in the city’s downtown. DHS.Gov
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department aim a tear gas gun at rioters in Compton, Calif. Chelsea Lauren/ShutterstockThe Trump Administration ripped lefty Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass after a violent mob swarmed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers conducting immigration raids in the city — while the Department of Homeland Security claimed Saturday local cops waited two hours to help push back the agitators when the trouble started Friday.
Lefty pols like Bass are “villainiz[ing] and demoniz[ing ] ICE law enforcement,” leading to the violence that saw roughly 1,000 agitators attack law enforcement officers, deface buildings, slash tires and committing other crimes, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
“The violent targeting of law enforcement in Los Angeles by lawless rioters is despicable, and Mayor Bass and [California] Governor [Gavin] Newsom must call for it to end,” she added in a statement Saturday.
“The men and women of ICE put their lives on the line to protect and defend the lives of American citizens.”
Border Patrol agents were armed in riot gear as they were met with intense and violent resistance from LA County locals. ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockThere’s been a 413% increase in assaults on ICE agents since President Trump took office in January, compared to the same period last year, McLaughlin said.
Images released by DHS Saturday show parts of downtown Los Angeles covered in vulgar graffiti, including “F–K ICE” and “KILL ICE” spray-painted on fences and buildings — as well as a flyer handed out by the Communist group RefuseFacism.org saying “The Trump Fascist Regime MUST GO NOW!!!”
Helmeted LAPD cops in riot gear faced off Friday evening with protesters after a day of federal immigration raids in the city. At least 44 people were arrested.
The Los Angeles Police Department did not return messages.
A rioter throws a rock as LA melts down into violence and chaos. AP
Roughly 1,000 rioters on Friday surrounded a federal law enforcement building in Los Angeles and assaulted ICE officers, slashed tires and defaced buildings, the feds said. DHS.GovNew York Mayoral candidate and former-governor Andrew Cuomo weighed in on the ICE raids and the protests in both Los Angeles and New York on Saturday.
“The recent ICE crackdowns in Los Angeles and New York City are a deeply troubling escalation in immigration enforcement tactics that undermine community trust and the principles of due process,” Cuomo said in a statement.
“I believe in upholding the rule of law and maintaining secure borders, but these operations — marked by military-style raids, the use of flash-bang grenades, and the detention of individuals, including those attempting to document the events — cross a line into cruelty and unnecessary fear mongering,” Cuomo said in the statement.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called rioters “despicable” in a statement Saturday. Getty Images
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin blamed Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom. APHundreds of migrants, including children, were detained by ICE agents Friday, the ACLU said.
The DHS, however, said operations in LA this week have resulted in the arrest of 118 illegal migrants – including five gang members and others with past criminal charges that include drug trafficking, assault, cruelty to children and robbery, according to the DHS.
Bass condemned the ICE raids in a statement, saying these “tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city… We will not stand for this.”
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the California National Guard responded to The Post’s request for comment.
