The FBI has identified a masked protester who is accused of assaulting a federal officer during heated demonstrations against federal immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles over the weekend.
The Trump administration activated 700 active-duty U.S. Marines from the Camp Pendleton base in California to Los Angeles in the midst of immigration protests and riots in the city, said military officials.
Earlier, a senior Trump administration official told The Epoch Times that the Marines are being sent to Los Angeles because of increased threats against federal buildings and federal officials in the city during the unrest.
The deployment of the SWAT-like unit comes amid chaos in America’s second-largest city, where riots against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations have entered their fourth consecutive day. The riots have led to personal and property damage across the city, looting, and other acts of violence that have so far resulted in 21 arrests, according to local authorities.
BORTAC agents are the highly trained arm of the Border Patrol, with a focus on counterterrorism, high-risk warrant service, anti-narcotics operations, and similarly dangerous or complex CBP enforcement activities.
Where Protests Took Place
The White House has released a list of 18 of the illegal immigrants that were taken into custody during ICE operations in Los Angeles in the past several days.
They include Cuong Chanh Phan, a Vietnamese national who was convicted of second-degree murder; Eswin Uriel Castro, a Mexican national with a criminal record that includes arrests for robbery and domestic violence in addition to convictions for child molestation and being armed with a dangerous weapon; and Rafael Gamez-Sanchez, a Mexican national who was convicted of vehicular manslaughter.
Several have been previously deported from the United States and the list of criminal convictions include burglary, hit and run, and abuse crimes with minors.
President Donald Trump was asked about California Gov. Gavin Newsom daring border czar Tom Homan to arrest him. A reporter asked Trump if Homan should do it.
“I would, if I were Tom,” Trump replied from the White House lawn. He added that the governor has done a “terrible job” over his handling of the riots in Los Angeles.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom formally requested that the Trump administration pull National Guard troops out of Los Angeles, said he will file a lawsuit, and dared President Donald Trump’s border czar to arrest him.
LOS ANGELES—Several hundred protesters waving Mexican flags demonstrated against Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement (ICE) raids at a federal building in downtown Los Angeles on June 8 for the third day in a row.
Against a backdrop of anti-ICE graffiti lining the walls of the Edward R. Roybal federal building, which houses the Department of Homeland Security and various other federal agencies on Alameda Street, dozens of federal officers, including the California National Guard, formed a defensive perimeter around the facility where protesters gathered within yards of the entrance.
The protestors shouted expletive-laden anti-police and ICE rhetoric over bull horns and and carried signed denouncing the ICE raids. One protestor jumped to the roof of a white minivan parked near the facility holding a sign that read “National Guard LOL” (Laughing Out Loud).
At least 60 people were arrested on June 8 after protests against federal immigration raids in San Francisco escalated into violence, according to the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD).
The SFPD said officers began monitoring the assembly near Sansome and Washington streets at about 7 p.m. on June 8 as protesters engaged in “First Amendment activity.”
An Australian TV reporter has been hit by a rubber bullet while covering the anti-immigration enforcement riots in Los Angeles.
This comes as the U.S. government has taken strong measures to address the escalating situation.
Lauren Tomasi, U.S. correspondent for Nine News, was hit in the leg when she was reporting on the violent demonstration.
In addition to approximately 300 National Guardsmen, NORTHCOM said in a press release, “approximately 500 Marines from 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines at Twentynine Palms, California, are in a prepared to deploy status should they be necessary to augment and support the DoD’s protection of federal property and personnel efforts.”
Under the Posse Comitatus Act, active duty military can only be deployed in specific circumstances. The Insurrection Act of 1807—which Trump has not yet committed to using—lists these exceptions, which include things like suppressing insurrections, enforcing federal authority, and protecting civil rights when state authorities fail to act.
The statement makes clear that no final decision has yet been made on whether or not to declare the ongoing riots in violation of the Insurrection Act.
Earlier on June 8, reporters asked Trump whether he would activate the legislation to restore order and enforce deportations by ICE in the city.
Trump Calls on Officials to ‘Liberate LA’
Trump had said that he was directing top military officials and prosecutors to “liberate Los Angeles” amid ongoing riots related to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raids targeting illegal immigration in the city.“A once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals,” Trump said in a post on the social media platform Truth Social. “Now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations—But these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve.”
Earlier on Sunday, the third day of protests against the administration, members of the National Guard faced off with demonstrators, leading to tear gas being fired at a growing crowd near a federal complex in the city, according to video footage.
The confrontation broke out in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, as a group shouted insults at members of the guard lined shoulder to shoulder behind plastic riot shields.
As the sun set over the city, riots continued. Near downtown, at least four Waymo self-driving cars were set on fire; flashbang crowd control grenades were deployed throughout the evening.
Trump said he was directing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Attorney General Pam Bondi “to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion, and put an end to these Migrant riots.”
Newsom Asks for Removal of National Guard
National Guard troops were also confirmed to be in Los Angeles after Trump ordered their deployment over the weekend, following days of protests and riots in the city.The U.S. Northern Command confirmed in a post on social media platform X on Sunday morning that the California National Guard started deploying troops in the Los Angeles area and that some members “are already on the ground.”
“Additional information will be provided as units are identified and deployed,” the military added, including photos of National Guard troops and other assets.
In a statement on June 8, Gov. Gavin Newsom asked for withdrawal of the guardsmen.
“I have formally requested the Trump Administration rescind their unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles county and return them to my command,” Newsom said.
“We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved,” he said. “This is a serious breach of state sovereignty—inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed.”
Speaking to reporters, Trump said that California officials who work against the ongoing deportations could face federal charges.
“If people stand in the way of law and order, yeah, they will face charges,” he said.
Members of California’s National Guard were seen staging early Sunday at the federal complex in downtown Los Angeles that includes the Metropolitan Detention Center, one of several sites where confrontations involving hundreds of people have taken place over the last two days.
The troops included members of the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, according to a social media post from the U.S. Northern Command that showed dozens of National Guard members with long guns and an armored vehicle.
The message was issued just hours after Trump wrote on Truth Social that the National Guard is doing a “great job” to quell “violence, clashes, and unrest” before he accused both California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, both Democrats, of slow-walking a response to the protests.
Earlier on Sunday, Bass wrote that “the National Guard has not been deployed in the City of Los Angeles,” although that came before Northern Command’s post. The Epoch Times has contacted Bass’s office for comment.
‘Law and Order’
Over the weekend, Trump confirmed in a signed memorandum that he would deploy 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles in response to the violence.In a signal of the administration’s approach, Hegseth also warned he could deploy active-duty Marines “if violence continues” in the area. He made the comments ahead of Trump’s announcement.
Asked about the issue, Trump also indicated that sending Marines was a possibility.
“The bar is what I think it is. I mean, if we see danger to our country and to our citizens, [sending Marines] will be very, very strong in terms of law and order. It’s about law and order.”
The deployment of the National Guard also follows clashes near a Home Depot in the heavily Latino city of Paramount, south of Los Angeles. As protesters sought to block Border Patrol vehicles, with some hurling rocks and chunks of cement, federal agents unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives, and pepper balls.
Protests continued into the evening in Paramount, with several hundred demonstrators gathered near a doughnut shop, and authorities holding up barbed wire to keep the crowd back. Clashes also took place in neighboring Compton, where a car was set on fire.
Meanwhile, crowds gathered again outside federal buildings in downtown Los Angeles, including a detention center, where local police declared an unlawful assembly and began to arrest people.
Officials with Homeland Security defended their immigration enforcement in the city, noting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested a 55-year-old illegal immigrant from the Philippines who had multiple criminal convictions. Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin wrote that he has convictions of assault, theft, burglary, and rape.
“This criminal illegal alien is who [Newsom, Bass,] and the rioters are trying to protect over US citizens,” she wrote on X.
Newsom wrote in a post on X that the federal government under Trump is trying to “take over the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers,” adding that it is “purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.”
Local authorities can “access law enforcement assistance at a moment’s notice,” the governor added. “We are in close coordination with the city and county, and there is currently no unmet need. The Guard has been admirably serving LA throughout recovery. This is the wrong mission and will erode public trust.”