Los Angeles imposed a curfew Tuesday evening until Wednesday morning to clamp down on instances of lawlessness, including looting and vandalism.
Protesters still gathered but dispersed two hours after the curfew began. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass called the measure “effective” in an interview with MSNBC.
“I think that the idea that what is going on here is chaos and we need federal intervention is just not accurate. It doesn’t paint an accurate picture of what’s going on here at all,” she said.
“The city handled things perfectly last night and will continue to do this,” Bass added.
“I do believe though, that this is all part of an experiment that’s taking place in Los Angeles … and the test is what happens when the federal government intervenes and takes power away from a governor and a mayor.”
The home of Hollywood may very well be a guinea pig in Trump’s immigration agenda but L.A. also became a blueprint for other liberal cities in the U.S. launching their own fight against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Trump takes create for a calmer LA
Gov. Gavin Newsom in an appearance on CNN said, “This isn’t just about protests here in Los Angeles.”
“When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that order apply to every state in this nation. This is about all of us. This is about you,” he said. “California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next.”
Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom have pushed against the federal government’s involvement in the initial protests and blamed the deployment of the National Guard for the escalation over the weekend.
“It’s very hard not to see this as a stunt,” Bass said.
Trump deployed 2,000 National Guardsmen on Friday night. These troops were expected to help protect ICE agents as they carried out their duties, and to protect federal buildings.
Trump also called up 700 Marines, as well as an additional 2,000 National Guardsmen in the following days, totaling 4,000 National Guard troops.
The president took credit for the subdued demonstrations Tuesday night.
“If our troops didn’t go into Los Angeles, it would be burning to the ground right now, just like so much of their housing burned to the ground,” he said in a post on Truth Social.
“The great people of Los Angeles are very lucky that I made the decision to go in and help!!!”
The Los Angeles Police Department made more than 200 arrests Tuesday night. The majority of the charges were for failure to disperse and curfew violations. But not all of it was peaceful: One individual was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer and another for discharging a laser at an LAPD airship.
Curfews will be enforced through Wednesday night.
Protests spread across U.S., FBI opens an investigation
As L.A. clamps down on the unrest, which is allowing federal agents to continue to carry out raids to deport undocumented immigrants, groups in other blue cities and states are taking note and putting up their own fight against ICE.
San Francisco has seen their own anti-ICE protests. The San Francisco Police Department arrested more than 150 people Sunday, as many arrests as LAPD made over the course of a whole weekend, according to a local Bay Area news outlet. On Tuesday, San Francisco shut down two immigration courts in the area.
The Chicago Police Department made 17 arrests during anti-ICE protests on Tuesday. Four individuals were charged with felonies.
New York City also witnessed marches on Tuesday and while the demonstrations were largely peaceful, reports indicated instances of escalation later in the day.
Hundreds gathered in several cities in Texas — including Austin, Dallas and San Antonio — earlier this week.
Protests also erupted in Denver, Santa Ana, California, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C., and are expected to continue this week.
Trump during his remarks in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Tuesday, said some protesters received compensation for being violent during unstable times.
“They’re incompetent and they paid troublemakers, agitators and insurrectionists,” Trump said.
FBI Director Kash Patel, appointed by Trump earlier this year, told Just the News, “The FBI is investigating any and all monetary connections responsible for these riots.”