LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Federal agents in Los Angeles on Saturday faced off against demonstrators protesting immigration raids following Friday’s protests that senior White House aide Stephen Miller condemned as an “insurrection” against the United States.
The security agents on Saturday engaged in a tense confrontation with protesters in the Paramount area in southeast Los Angeles, where one demonstrator was seen waving a Mexican flag and some covered their mouths with respiratory masks.
A live video feed showed dozens of green-uniformed security personnel with gas masks lined up on a road strewn with overturned shopping carts as small canisters exploded into gas clouds.
A first round of protests kicked off on Friday night after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted enforcement operations in the city and arrested at least 44 people on alleged immigration violations.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that “1,000 rioters surrounded a federal law enforcement building and assaulted ICE law enforcement officers, slashed tires, defaced buildings, and taxpayer funded property.”
Reuters was unable to verify DHS’s accounts.
Miller, an immigration hardliner and the White House deputy chief of staff, wrote on X that Friday’s demonstrations were “an insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States.”
The protests pit Democratic-run Los Angeles, where census data suggests a significant portion of the population is Hispanic and foreign-born, against Trump’s Republican White House, which has made cracking down on immigration a hallmark of his second term.
Trump has pledged to deport record numbers of people in the country illegally and lock down the U.S.-Mexico border, with the White House setting a goal for ICE to arrest at least 3,000 migrants per day.
But the sweeping immigration crackdown has also included people legally residing in the country, including some with permanent residence, and has led to legal challenges.
In a statement on Saturday about the protests in Paramount, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office said: “It appeared that federal law enforcement officers were in the area, and that members of the public were gathering to protest.”
ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to a request for information about the protests or potential immigration sweeps on Saturday.
POLITICAL DIVISIONS OVER FRIDAY’S SWEEP
Television news footage earlier on Friday showed unmarked vehicles resembling military transport and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation.
The Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, in a statement condemned the immigration raids.
“I am deeply angered by what has taken place,” Bass said. “These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. We will not stand for this.”
The LAPD did not take part in the immigration enforcement. It was deployed to quell civil unrest after crowds protesting the deportation raids spray-painted anti-ICE slogans on the walls of a federal court building and gathered outside a nearby jail where some of the detainees were reportedly being held.
In a statement, DHS criticized Democratic politicians including Mayor Bass, saying their anti-ICE rhetoric was contributing to violence against immigration agents.
“From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is beyond the pale. This violence against ICE must end,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
FBI deputy director Dan Bongino posted on X that they were reviewing evidence from the protests.
“We are working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice,” Bongino said.
(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Additional reporting by Michael Martina and Alexandra Ulmer; Writing by Lucia Mutikani and Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Diane Craft)
By Omar Younis
