Trump warns that the military deployment of the could be the first “many” in response to ice demonstrations
President Donald Trump and his administration officials warned that the use of soldiers in response to demonstrations against his repression of immigration would not be limited to Los Angeles, saying that it could be the first “many” – and that the demonstrators could be welcomed with “equal or greater force”.
Trump told journalists on the oval office on Tuesday that his administration would strictly apply his expulsion policy and that she would not tolerate violent demonstrations against ice officers.
“This is the first, perhaps, many,” said Trump about the deployment of 4,000 national guards and 700 navies in Los Angeles while the demonstrators come up against the application of the law in the midst of the demonstrations.
The demonstrators clashed with the police sporadically for days, and Trump called the National Guard, against the wishes of Governor Gavin Newsom, in order to repress violence and allow the application of immigration to continue.
President Donald Trump speaks with journalists from the White House Oval Office on June 10, 2025 in Washington.
Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
“You know, if we have not attacked it very strongly, you would have them throughout the country, but I can inform the rest of the country, as when they do, if they do it, they will meet an equal or greater force,” continued Trump.
The threats of the president intervene as leaders of California and 22 Democratic governors denounce Trump’s strength spectacle as a violation of state sovereignty and provocative escalation.
Trump’s words were resolved in the testimony given by the defense secretary Pete Hegseth during a Congress hearing in Capitol Hill earlier during the day.
“Thus, in Los Angeles, we believe that ice, which is a federal law for application of the law, has the right to carry out operations in complete safety in any state, in any jurisdiction of the country,” said Hegseth. “Ice agents should be allowed to be safe and do their operations, and we have deployed the National Guard and the Marines to protect them in the execution of their functions, because we must be able to enforce … Immigration law in this country.”
The president suggested that he was open to invoking the insurgency law in response to demonstrations. The law authorizes the president to deploy military forces in the United States to suppress rebellion or violence.
The National Guard and the Marines, under Trump’s current authorization, are not authorized to act as the application of the law due to the Comitatus law of 1878.
“There were areas of Los Angeles last night when you could call it an insurrection,” said Trump.
Trump repeated, without evidence, that the demonstrators are “paid insurrectionists”. He criticized demonstrators who damaged the streets and aimed at members of the National Guard.
LAPD officers faced demonstrators after three days of conflicts with the police after a series of immigration raids on June 9, 2025 in Los Angeles.
Spencer Platt / Getty images
Despite Trump’s claims that there were fires and “bad scenes” on Monday evening, there was nothing violent. ABC News observed that the police moved demonstrators using skirmish lines and less deadly towers in the city for a few hours, but there was no general violence compared to the weekend.
And although Trump said Los Angeles was “besieged”, the incidents had been confined to a relatively small area in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday and on Monday – about an area of 10 blocks.
Until now, the presence and role of the National Guard in the management of demonstrations seem to have been minimal.
ABC News observed troops from the National Guard standing outside a federal building and the Los Angeles police service and other local agencies eliminating the streets and interacting with the demonstrators.
The administration did not immediately provide details on the actions of the goalkeeper on Monday.
A person raises their hands in front of a row of police officers outside the citizenship field office and the United States immigration services after reports on ice raids in Santa Ana, California, June 9, 2025.
Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images
The Republicans of Congress – including the president of the Mike Johnson Chamber and the head of the majority of the Senate John Thune – supported the use by the president of the military in the situation.
“Obviously, local officials there, for any reason, did not seem to do the work to do the work there,” Thune told journalists on Tuesday.
Although the head of the Senate minority, Chuck Schumer, said that “violence in the riots is scandalous”, he described Trump’s order to send “provocative” and “dangerous” troops.
“It really threatens the foundation of our democracy,” said New York Democrat.
Trump said the National Guard will be in the Los Angeles region “until there is no danger”, refusing to put a calendar at the end of the deployment.
“It’s easy. Look, it’s common sense. … When there is no danger, they will leave,” he said.
Alex Stone of ABC News, Lalee Ibssa, Isabella Murray and Kelsey Walsh and contributed to this report.
