Police advance on protesters who had shut down Highway 101 in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025. In a meeting on Tuesday, California’s senators were careful to differentiate between isolated cases of vandalism in Los Angeles and the larger number of peaceful protesters. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
- Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles and leaders of more than 30 smaller California cities call for an end to federal immigration sweeps.
- White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt attacks Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom, and says “left wing riots” won't halt the ICE raids.
- Bass’ comments come after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tells a Senate hearing that troops could be sent to other cities.
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Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles and leaders of more than 30 smaller cities in California called Wednesday for an end to the federal immigration sweeps that have disrupted cities across the region.
Bass and the other mayors — of Montebello, Downey and other municipalities — spoke at a news conference after five days of protests sparked by immigration raids and President Donald Trump’s deployment of 4,700 National Guard troops and Marines to the Los Angeles area.
“When you raid Home Depots and workplaces, when you tear parents and children apart, and when you run armored caravans through our streets, you’re not trying to keep anyone safe — you’re trying to cause fear and panic,” Bass said, suggesting the raids were a purposeful provocation by the White House. “I posit that maybe we are part of a national experiment to determine how far the federal government can go in reaching in and taking over power from a governor, power from a local jurisdiction,” she added.
Bass’ comments came just hours after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Senate hearing that troops could be sent to other cities “if there are riots in places where law enforcement officers are threatened.”
In Los Angeles, 700 Marines were receiving training on how to handle civil disturbances and not yet assisting the National Guard troops or federal immigration agents. Under Department of Defense policy, they can detain, but not arrest, people, and then they must hand them over to local officials as soon as possible.
Protests have swept across the Los Angeles area since federal deportation raids there Friday prompted clashes. As standoffs intensified in Los Angeles, similar demonstrations have cropped up in other cities, and more were expected Wednesday, including in Raleigh, North Carolina; Eugene, Oregon; and St. Louis.
At the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt opened her briefing by attacking Bass and the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, and insisting that “left wing riots” would not halt the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
By Shaila Dewan, Jesus Jiménez, John Yoon and Eric Schmitt/Philip Cheung
c.2025 The New York Times Company
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