The protests tick every box for the Maga brigade. Illegal aliens and criminals – as they see it – running amok in a deeply blue Democratic city with radical left lunatics in charge but unable to cope.
It was only a matter of time before the Trump administration’s scorched earth deportation strategy was met with fire and fury.
And no surprise that it happened here, on the streets of Los Angeles, a city that’s emblematic of the deep cultural diversity of America.
In one of the neighbourhoods that Trump’s ICE agents raided, the population is more than 70 per cent Latino. People who have worked in the garment industry in the town of Paramount for more than a decade – suddenly ripped from the factory floor, taken into custody and separated from their families. Trump’s immigration czar Tom Homan even admitted some of those arrested weren’t criminals. In other words, just law-abiding, hard working people in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong paperwork.
‘Shock and awe’ strategy
It’s all part of the shock and awe strategy that many believe is designed to spread fear into the heart of the immigrant community. And for the first time, anger too.
In a Truth Social post, the president said Los Angeles “has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals”, and “violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations.”
It’s no wonder people think Trump is revelling in the scenes unfolding on LA’s streets.
The protests tick every box for the Maga brigade. Illegal aliens and criminals – as they see it – running amok in a deeply blue Democratic city with radical left lunatics in charge but unable to cope. And to cap it all, Trump’s nemesis, the slick California governor Gavin Newsom, is sitting right in the centre.
Many suspect that Trump only ordered 2,000 National Guards to LA to fan the flames. The protests had been largely calm to that point, but taking the rare step of bypassing Newsom and deploying the troops over his head was always going to antagonise an already febrile situation. And it worked.
Testing power
But beyond throwing red meat to his base, this is also about testing the power of the presidency. So far, Trump has chosen not to invoke the Insurrection Act, meaning the National Guard is only there to protect the LA police, immigration officers and government buildings. They’re not there to engage directly with the protesters themselves. But the Democrats feel that’s exactly what could come next; US troops, trained for military operations in active war zones, being authorised to turn against the American people.
LA’s mayor Karen Bass says in that sense, her city is being used as a “test case” for the administration expanding its powers over local governments.
“I don’t think our city should be used for an experiment,” she told reporters last night.
She was speaking after the Pentagon announced it had deployed 700 US Marines to LA as back-up, along with an additional 2,000 National Guard.
Gavin Newsom has said what Trump is doing is illegal, immoral and unconstitutional. And he described the Marines’ involvement as un-American.
U.S. Marines have served honorably across multiple wars in defense of democracy. They are heroes.
They shouldn’t be deployed on American soil facing their own countrymen to fulfill the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial President.
This is un-American. pic.twitter.com/v5Va7hbgBb
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 9, 2025
But contrast that with Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller who says what’s happening in LA is “a fight to save civilization” and you can see why the stakes are so high and why LA could be a testbed for an even more dramatic immigration crackdown to come.
Watch more here:
Trump suggests he would support arrest of California Governor
‘I’ve been hit’ – photographer on being shot covering LA unrest
National guard in LA as Trump attempts ICE protest crackdown
