Downtown LA under curfew as Newsom warns of Trump overreach

California Governor Gavin Newsom accused President Donald Trump of misusing his power by mobilizing troops in Los Angeles and warned other states to prepare for similar unrest, as protests over immigration raids stretched into a fifth night and led to a curfew in parts of the city’s downtown.

Almost 380 people have been arrested in the greater Los Angeles area since the weekend amid clashes between police and demonstrators rallying in response to increasingly aggressive raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Mayor Karen Bass imposed a 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew Tuesday in a one-square-mile section of downtown where tensions have run high during the demonstrations. She said 23 businesses were looted the night before, many were also vandalized and the area had been covered in graffiti.

“If you do not live or work in downtown LA, avoid the area,” Bass said.

Trump has authorised the deployment of up to 4 000 National Guard troops and 700 active-duty Marines to the city, a move made over the objections of Newsom and Bass. Both say the federal presence is unnecessary and could further escalate tensions.

In an address Tuesday evening, Newsom said Trump had bypassed state and local officials to stage what he called an unlawful and inflammatory military deployment. He urged people to “stand up” against the moment.

“California may be first – but it clearly won’t end here. Other states are next,” Newsom said. “Democracy is under assault right before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived”

The Trump administration has argued the conditions in Los Angeles are spiraling and that federal forces are needed to support immigration agents and restore order.

The Democratic governor’s warning came as active-duty Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment arrived in the Los Angeles area. A US Northern Command spokesperson said the troops would reinforce security at federal sites and assist in “quick reaction” operations, though their specific location was undisclosed.

The Marines are expected to join about 2 100 members of the California National Guard already stationed around the city. Before deploying on the streets, the active-duty troops are undergoing training on crowd-control tactics, including the use of riot shields, CNN reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Pentagon has said the forces are there to protect immigration agents and federal property, not to engage directly with protesters. Marine Corps Commandant General Eric Smith told lawmakers on Tuesday that the troops are equipped with shields and batons — but will lack authority to make arrests.

But city and state officials have pushed back hard against the show of force. Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell said his department received no advance notice of the Marines’ arrival and warned of operational challenges if the deployments continue without coordination.

The protests began after a wave of public raids by ICE agents swept through parts of Los Angeles starting Friday, hitting workplaces from the city’s fashion district to Home Depot parking lots where day labourers gather. According to local officials the raids are expected to continue daily for at least a month.

Newsom said in his speech on Tuesday that the arrests included a nine-months pregnant US citizen and a 4-year-old girl. He described agents jumping out of unmarked vans and detaining people in heavily Latino neighborhoods. “This administration is pushing mass deportations, indiscriminately targeting hardworking immigrant families, regardless of their roots or risk,” said Newsom.

ICE has yet to disclose how many people have been detained in the latest Los Angeles-area raids.

Daytime protests have remained mostly peaceful, but by nightfall, some rallies have turned volatile. Police have fired less-lethal rounds at crowds, while demonstrators have hurled bottles and set vehicles ablaze, including several self-driving Waymo cars.

Protests have been limited to a few parts of a city that spreads over 500 square miles and is connected by a web of freeways. There have been no signs of unrest in areas such as Century City, Hollywood Hills and Santa Monica that are miles away from downtown, with businesses and residents largely unaffected.

Trump and Newsom have repeatedly sparred over the response to the protests, with the state suing the administration for mobilizing the National Guard and Marines in the city. Newsom has accused the administration of sending in troops without providing food or water and saying more are being sent in while hundreds sit in federal buildings without orders.

The president said on Tuesday that troops would remain in Los Angeles until “there’s no danger.”

“I mean, I could tell you there were certain areas of Los Angeles — you could have called it an insurrection,” Trump said. “It was terrible. But these are paid insurrectionists. These are paid troublemakers.”

While addressing troops at Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Tuesday, Trump also claimed protesters wearing armor and face shields are being financed by an unknown entity and that the Department of Justice will investigate.

A day earlier, Trump suggested that Newsom — a Democrat widely seen as a potential presidential contender in 2028 — could be arrested if he interferes with the federal immigration raids or response to the unrest.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, testifying before Congress on Tuesday, pushed back on criticism and said the Trump administration is seeking to protect immigration agents and keep demonstrations from getting out of control.

ICE “has the right to safely conduct operations in any state and any jurisdiction in the country, especially after 21 million illegals have crossed our border under the previous administration,” Hegseth said.

Speaking alongside the defense secretary, Acting Pentagon Comptroller Bryn MacDonnell said the deployment is estimated to cost $134 million, which covers travel, housing and food.

US law generally bars the use of the active-duty US military — the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines — from carrying out domestic law enforcement. The deployment of the Marines adds to Trump’s order over the weekend that directed the US Northern Command to assume control of the National Guard and dispatch them to LA.

California and Newsom on Tuesday asked a federal judge in San Francisco to temporarily limit the mobilization in a way that would still let the troops physically protect federal courthouses, offices and personnel, but bar them from helping in federal law enforcement like immigration raids. In its request for an emergency order by early afternoon, attorneys for the state argued that the military deployment “creates imminent harm to state sovereignty” and “escalates tensions.”

After Trump and Hegseth asked for time to respond to the state’s request, the judge set deadlines for each side to file written arguments and scheduled a hearing for Thursday afternoon.

The overnight curfew in downtown LA, which will likely last for at least several days, is aimed at stopping “bad actors who are taking advantage of the president’s chaotic escalation,” Bass said.

“Law enforcement will arrest individuals who break the curfew, and you will be prosecuted, she said in a post on X.

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