The state of California will file a lawsuit Monday challenging President Donald Trump’s order federalizing its National Guard forces, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on social media, as the city of Los Angeles braced for a fourth consecutive day of clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement officials over the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Protests were expected in more than a dozen cities nationwide, including Sacramento, where the Service Employees International Union of California said it would demonstrate outside the state Capitol after a prominent labor leader was arrested Friday in Los Angeles.

About 150 arrests have occurred since Friday in Los Angeles, officials said, where officers fired gas and other munitions during confrontations, and demonstrators tossed scooters and aimed fireworks and stones at police vehicles.

The demonstrations have only escalated in intensity in recent days, turning the city into a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Over the weekend, Trump took extraordinary action by calling up 2,000 National Guard troops to quell immigration protests, making rare use of federal powers and bypassing the authority of Newsom, a Democrat, who has struck a defiant tone.

“Tough guy,” Newsom told MSNBC Sunday about a question that Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, said he had not ruled out arresting public officials who interfere with the federal operations. “But you know what? Let your hands off 4-year-old girls that are trying to get educated. Let your hands off these poor people just trying to get live their lives, man.”

As state officials urged protesters to be peaceful, videos taken Sunday so far have shown that the National Guard troops have largely avoided clashing with demonstrators, and most of the sprawling city kept to its usual sunlit rhythms.

Here’s What Else to Know

• Normal life: Most of Los Angeles operated as usual Sunday. There was a Pride parade and music at the Hollywood Bowl, along with traffic jams and swim meets.
• Trump doubles down: In a series of social media posts around midnight, Trump defended his decision to send in the National Guard, saying it was “looking really bad in L.A.” He and his FBI director showed no sign of easing the administration’s aggressive response, even as California leaders accused Trump of attempting to inflame the situation for political gain.
• Marching in solidarity: Some of the people demonstrating in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday said they were first- or second-generation immigrants showing solidarity with their neighbors or family members.
• Mexican flags: Latin American flags emerged as emblems in the weekend protests. Trump officials have cast flag wavers as insurrectionists and seemed to assume they are not U.S. citizens. But for many protesters who are American citizens, the flag signifies pride in their roots.
• A rare decision: One expert said Trump’s order for the troops was the first time since 1965 that a president had activated a state’s National Guard force for a domestic operation without a state governor’s request for the purposes of quelling unrest or enforcing the law. That year, President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Rick Rojas, Livia Albeck-Ripka, Shawn Hubler, Jesus Jiménez and Yan Zhuang/Mark Abramson
c. 2025 The New York Times Company