The threat was not subtle.
Through his campaign, President Trump has pledged to carry out the largest massive deportation in US history. He said immigrants are “addicted to the blood” of the country and “getting them out would be a bloody tale.”
“If you think things are out of control,” the GOP candidate told Time magazine, “I’m sure there’s no problem using the military.”
So it was perhaps inevitable that after Trump was elected, the federal government was ready for a historic showdown with Los Angeles’ self-identified “sanctuary city.”
Although there are 800,000 undocumented immigrants, there is one of the most robust immigrant networks in the country. And these community groups organized patrols to host “know your rights” workshops, warn residents of immigrant sweep, and resist as much as possible.
Both sides have been built towards this moment for years. The city is well-known for accepting immigrant experiences, and the White House, which illegally characterized its agenda against the people here.
Last week’s turbulent street raids in Los Angeles – immigrant raids wiped out workers, terrified communities, and sometimes violent protests, and the deployment of the National Guard and Marines against local leadership challenges was not only spectacular, but also predictable, in retrospect.
Trump and his lieutenant had promised a clampdown, but much of Los Angeles still had shifted it by it being playful so quickly and dramatically.
And in a divided America, the perception of what actually happened depends on who you are. In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass said Trump is adopting tactics that “disrupt the fears of our communities and the fundamental principles of safety in our cities.” She accused the president of overturning the lives of hardworking people and their families, sending people underground and instigating a flame of protest by deploying troops.
“We don’t support this,” Bass said in X.
But Trump and his allies grabbed the chaos and chuckled the mayor as a small group of agitators set Waymo’s vehicle on fire and threw rocks at him at law enforcement. Meanwhile, federal agents and subsequent local law enforcement agencies fired back with tear gas and flash bangrounds.
Tricia McLaughlin, deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, retweeted the LA mayor’s post, sharing photos with “Ice,” “f-Ice” X, and repeated the words as she shared the disorderly symbols she ran around downtown the federal.
“We don’t support this.”
For months, officials set the stage for the White House media briefing, X-Post and Fox News hits’ deportation.
Hours after taking office in January, Trump signed a massive number of executive orders aimed at dramatically reducing US immigration. Homeland Security issued an order to retract Biden-era policies that protect areas such as churches and schools from immigration attacks. The Trump administration has also expanded its targets for arrests. It was illegal not only among people who pose security threats, but everyone in the country.
Ice continued to say that the priorities were violent criminals, but White House spokesman Caroline Leavitt warned in January.
These were not new ideas for Trump and his team, but his administration had embraced them with a new resolve.
Four months after Trump took office, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller held an emergency meeting with Ice Top Field officials in Washington.
“You guys aren’t doing a good job,” Miller said. “Why are you not at Home Depot? Why are you not at 7-Eleven?”
In late May, Miller appeared on Fox News and publicly announced that he had set a goal of arresting 3,000 undocumented immigrants a day.
“There’s no risk of letting these Biden illegals roam freely,” he told Sean Hannity.
Tom Homan, the White House’s top border policy advisor, told Fox News the following morning that authorities planned to speed up the arrests and increase the field’s team by 10 times. This time, cities that have barred city resources and personnel from being used for immigration enforcement, or sanctuary cities will be targeted.
“We’re going to send all the agents’ boat roads,” Homan told CBS News. “We’re trying to turn the city into a swamp. If we can’t arrest them in prison, we’ll go out into the community.”
The next day, Trump posted an image of a fleet of planes lifted from the tarmac.
“Let’s start deportation!”
On June 7, Miller shared a video about Customs Border Protection Agent X, wearing a gas mask and attempted to pilot the vehicle from an anti-ice protest in Paramount as protesters destroyed it with a rock.
“This is a violent rebellion,” Miller said.
The word choice was ominous. The National Army cannot legally arrest the United States unless the president invokes the Rebellion Act. This was something Trump had previously threatened but had stopped taking.
As anxiety continued, the rhetoric of Trump administration officials became more and more severe.
Trump portrayed the city as a “pile of garbage.” The Department of Homeland Security has issued a news release that captured “the worst illegal alien criminal in Los Angeles.” (The White House will later make it clear that two-thirds of those arrested on ice last week had no criminal history.)
Even if Trump officials concentrate their public narratives on violent and undocumented criminals, they have revealed that anyone who enters illegally breaks the law and is subject to deportation.
Anyone who identified with a foreign country was deemed suspicious. “Look at all foreign flags,” Miller said in X as he shared a video of a crowd of protesters waving Mexican flags. “Los Angeles is an occupied territory.”
And just as they blurred the boundaries between law-abiding immigrants and people with criminal history, they cast all protesters as criminals, rioters and rebels.
“Deport the invaders or surrender to the rebellion,” Miller said as the administration deployed National Guard troops to the city.
Trump vowed to restore order. “The illegals will be expelled and Los Angeles will be released,” he said in the Truth Social Post.
Soon he mobilized a Marine convoy and joined the National Guard. Both were deployed against the will of local officials. This kind of action has not been carried out for more than half a century.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed a federal lawsuit against Trump, calling the mobilization of the state’s National Guard “abusiness of power.”
Critics of Los Angeles’ immigration crackdown and subsequent military deployments were called “public relations activities” already directed exclusively to those who support Trump.
Efren Perez, professor of political science and psychology at UCLA, said: “Angelenos is “a typical Persona non-grata for Trump and his followers,” he said.
June 9th – The day Homeland Security announces 700 active Marines heading to LA – Trump issued an extraordinary statement.
“Insurrections tend to spit in the face of national security guards/women and more,” Trump said in the Truth Society. “These patriots are told to accept this. It’s just the way they do life. But that’s not the case in the Trump administration. If they spit, we’ll hit.”
The ongoing conflict amplified by sparring X between Trump and California officials has angered, scared and confused many Angelenos.
“We don’t know where the next city raid will be, and when, when,” Bass told CNN:
The Northern US Command has repeatedly said that LA federal forces could not be arrested, but Trump’s previous threat, coupled with deviations from normal practice, has given him a lot of uncertainty.
“What is their mission? What are they doing?” Sean Parry Gills, director of Rosenker’s political communications and civic leadership at the University of Maryland, spoke of the federal forces. “It seems to be confusing all along, and the Trump administration hasn’t done much to alleviate that sense of confusion.”
Gregory P. Magalian, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said that Trump’s chaos development was no coincidence.
“In a political and tactical sense, I think uncertainty will help Trump’s interest,” he said. “I think there are people in the administration who know, ‘OK, if we’re going to call a rebellion law that actually puts a different level of public backlash and disapproval.” “But if it’s just “OK,” I sent the army, and who knows what I’m trying to do with them, “I think such a measure of chaos would make the president serve the kind of political theatre that is attractive.”
Homan dismissed the idea that the Trump administration’s policies were unclear or that the immigrant raids caused confusion among Angelenos.
“They shouldn’t be confused,” he told The Times. “From day one, we said we’re going to implement the biggest deportation operation this country has seen. We’ll focus on public safety and national security threats, but everything I say is that there will be a collateral arrest.”
As rhetorical skirmishes and mountains continued, it became clear that deep differences between local, state and federal officials left almost a way for a resolution.
Trump officials were set to massive deportation claiming they performed a general mission after winning the election. Meanwhile, Los Angeles officials have been appointed to resist cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, even if they focus on criminal offenders.
On June 9th, Bass called the very existence of ice agents in the city a provocation.
“News Flash, Karen: There’s an immigrant raid happening as Joe Biden granted illegal alien criminals in Los Angeles, and you have a dangerous sanctuary urban policy to protect them,” Levitt said in X.
But even if Newsom was tricking Trump officials with X, he still showed possible central signs.
In an interview Thursday with The New York Times’ “The Daily” podcast, Newsom expressed “deep sympathy” for immigrants who have lived in California for decades and contributed to society. However, he also appeared to distance himself from LA County’s approach of refusing to coordinate with federal immigration officials.
“Take the criminals out, I’m not a problem with that,” he said. “But we do that as a citizen and responsible.”
Newsom then celebrated what appears to be Trump as he retreats from immigration enforcement efforts targeting farm and hotel workers after industry leaders were pushed back.
“Major Wins: Trump just reversed the immigration course,” Newsom told Instagram. “This happened because you spoke. Keep it up. Keep it peaceful. It’s working.”
But as thousands of demonstrators poured into Los Angeles on Saturday to protest Trump administration policies, federal officials remained unshakable that they would continue.
“All governors achieved with his sleazy political assault on ice officers,” Miller said in X. “It’s about raising our determination to support Los Angeles’ immigration law.”
Times staff writer Andrea Castillo contributed to this report.
