California to sue Trump over National Guard deployment; L.A. braces for more protests

Officers from nearly a dozen different local police forces were seen staging on Main Street in downtown Los Angeles late Monday morning, just before a protest convened by union leaders was set to begin in nearby Grand Park.

One officer from a southeastern L.A. County police department who was not authorized to speak publicly told the Times that “every” department he knew of had been summoned to perform mutual aid for the Los Angeles Police Department.

He and the other officers from his local department had zip ties hanging from their belts.

“South Pas ? How many guys do you have total?” a Beverly Hills Police officer asked a cluster of South Pasadena Police officers standing outside their vehicles.

After making notes on a piece of paper, the Beverly Hills officer walked further up the block, toward a South Gate police officer in a bullet proof vest. He greeted him with a handshake hug.

Other law enforcement agencies in downtown L.A. Monday morning came from South Gate, Bell, Whittier, Long Beach, San Marino, Inglewood, Culver City and Vernon.

Office workers and tourists gawked at the police presence.

Eric Wright and his wife, Margaux Cowan-Banker, vacationers from Knoxville, Tenn., were jogging downtown — past scores of police vehicles — when they paused at about 9:30 am to take a few photos of the graffiti-covered Federal Building at 300 N. Los Angeles, which houses offices for numerous agencies.

The couple — who laughed about being red-state denizens in L.A. during this time — said that it was bizarre seeing the city portrayed on the news and social media as a place of total chaos on the news when most of Los Angeles was carrying on like any other summer weekend.

The couple said that they had an idyllic Los Angeles Sunday visiting a food festival, the L.A. Pride March in Hollywood, and Grand Central Market.

“People back where we live are going to completely be horrified,” said Cowan-Banker, a 42-year-old personal trainer. “I’m sure they think it’s a war zone here.”

“And in the grand scheme, they should be protesting,” Wright added. “They’re stealing people off the streets from their families. This is America. To send the National Guard was intentionally inflammatory.”

“This feeds right into his voters,” Wright said of Trump.

“And they’re the people we go home to,” Cowan-Banker said. “I’m kinda glad we’re here to carry information, though no one’s gonna listen.”

The couple, at the halfway point of their five-mile morning run, kept on after snapping their photos, past a line of police cars.

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s tense, late-night phone call with Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday night came with a warning: “Get the police in gear.” The president was being shown evidence by his staff of robbery at a 7-Eleven and of federal law enforcement with lacerations.

His patience would last less than 24 hours before federalizing the National Guard in a historic action.

California officials on Monday said they would file a federal lawsuit over the mobilization of the state’s National Guard during the weekend’s immigration protests in Los Angeles, accusing President Trump of overstepping his federal authority and violating the U.S. Constitution.

As thousands of people gathered in the streets to protest raids and arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Trump mobilized nearly 2,000 members of the National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said Trump was sowing chaos in the streets for political purposes.

Federal immigration arrests taking place in Los Angeles at peak graduation season are prompting school leaders to speak out and take safety measures.

L.A. schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho said Monday that L.A. School Police would establish a safety perimeter around graduation venues where immigration enforcement activity might occur, based on reports of agents.

He also said that lines into venues would be minimized and that families could remain inside venues for as long as necessary should agents initiate a raid outside or in the neighborhood.

“I’m addressing you, there are two schools in our community that within a couple of blocks we see federal vans parked,” said Carvalho. “No action has been taken, but we interpret those actions as actions of intimidation, instilling fear that may lead to self deportation. That is not the community we want to be, that is not the state or the nation that we ought to be.”

Carvalho runs Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest school district. Some 100 graduation-related events are scheduled on Monday and Tuesday.

Carvalho said that a virtual option would be provided when possible for families to watch a graduation ceremony online.

A flier circulated earlier Monday calling for students to walk out of class to protest immigration arrests.

Carvalho said that students’ rights to protest would be respected but he asked families to ask their students to remain on campus when expressing themselves for safety reasons.

Carvalho also defended the basic mission of the nation’s second-largest school system, saying that L.A. Unified is following the law when it provides an education to all students and provides food for them through breakfast and lunch programs.

It is vital that families update their contact and emergency information with their school, Carvalho said. He also advised families to prepare backup plans should caregivers be taken into custody.

In a televised interview with reporters Monday afternoon eastern time, President Trump suggested that California Gov. Gavin Newsom should be arrested.

In the clip, a reporter can be heard telling Trump that Newsom is “daring” border czar Tom Homan to come and arrest him, before asking Trump if Homan should “do it.” The reporter was referencing a Sunday night interview Newsom had done with MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff, where Newsom did, in fact, dare Homan to arrest him.

“I would do it if I were Tom,” Trump said, pursing his lips as he appeared to consider the question. “I think it’s great.”

The question was asked shortly after Trump stepped off Marine One, and some of the president’s remarks are difficult to make out over the sound of the helicopter.

“He’s done a terrible job,” Trump continued. “I like Gavin Newsom. He’s a nice guy. But he’s grossly incompetent. Everybody knows. All you have to do is look at the little railroad he’s building. It’s about a hundred times over budget.”

Newsom vehemently decried Trump’s remarks, characterizing them as a descent into authoritarianism.

“The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor. This is a day I hoped I would never see in America,” Newsom tweeted just after 10 a.m. Pacific time. “I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation — this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.”

The White House is not actively discussing or planning Newsom’s arrest. But Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told The Times in an interview Monday that the governor would be vulnerable to charges if he “obstructed” the Trump administration’s efforts.

“It is a basic principle in this country that if you break the law, you will face a consequence for that,” Leavitt said. “So if the governor obstructs federal enforcement, or breaks federal laws, then he is subjecting himself to arrest.”

The environs directly outside Los Angeles City Hall felt like they were in the eye of the storm early Monday morning, with no protesters in sight and a cluster of city workers quietly assessing damages to the building in the overcast morning light.

Just before 9 a.m., two workers who had been sent over from C. Erwin Piper Technical Center carried planks of plywood to board up broken windows on the towering Art Deco seat of city government.

The workers said they were planning to head across the street to the Los Angeles Police Department’s headquarters to repair damages there when they were done covering the roughly dozen broken windows on the south and west sides of the building. At least 17 glass-covered light boxes surrounding the building had also been smashed, with broken shards of blue-grey glass covering the light fixtures. A dented metal can of non-GMO green beans rested next to one of the broken light boxes, after likely having been used to smash it in.

Empty water bottles and spray paint cans (red high-performance enamel and gloss true blue paint and primer) also dotted the area. The granite walls of the building sported an array of newly-acquired graffiti, with one ubiquitous expletive preceding the word “ICE” in about a dozen places.

On the front steps of City Hall, white spray paint paired Mayor Karen Bass’ first name with a sex act; on the north steps someone wielding navy spray paint had suggested that President Trump loves male genitalia, using a crude name for genitalia and a heart symbol in place of the letter “o.”

The words “death to fascism” were on the building’s north wall, next to the purple detritus of a jacaranda tree.

A representative from the city’s General Services Department did not immediately respond to questions about the damages and repairs needed.

Federal authorities on Monday charged David Huerta, the president of the Service Employees International Union California, in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to impede an officer tied to an immigration enforcement raid last week.

Huerta, 58, has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown L.A. since Friday and is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court on Monday afternoon. He is facing a felony charge that carries up to six years in federal prison, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in L.A.

California Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla sent a letter Monday to the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice demanding a review of Huerta’s arrest.

Huerta was detained and injured while documenting a workplace immigration raid in downtown L.A. on Friday. He was treated at a hospital and transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Labor leaders around the country have called for his release.

According to the criminal complaint, on June 5, U.S. Magistrate Judge Margo A. Rocconi authorized four search warrants for four business premises “suspected of unlawfully employing illegal aliens and falsifying employment records related to the status of its employees”.

In an affidavit filed with the federal complaint, a supervisory special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, whose name was redacted, said news quickly spread about “ICE raids” taking place throughout L.A.

According to the complaint, Huerta arrived at the scene before noon, joining several other protesters.

“The protesters, including HUERTA appeared to be communicating with each other in a concerted effort to disrupt the law enforcement operations,” the agent wrote.

The agent wrote that Huerta was yelling at and taunting officers and later sat cross-legged in front of the vehicle gate.

“In addition to sitting in front of the gate, HUERTA at various times stood up and paced in front of the gate, effectively preventing law enforcement vehicles from entering or exiting the premises through the gate to execute the search warrant,” the agent wrote in the affidavit. “As far as I was aware, this gate was the only location through which vehicles could enter or exit the premises.”

The agent wrote that they told Huerta if he kept blocking the gate, he would be arrested.

The agent wrote that Huerta responded that he couldn’t hear the agent through his mask. Huerta used a curse word, the agent wrote.

According to the complaint, as a white law enforcement van tried to get through the gate, Huerta stood in its path.

Because Huerta “was being uncooperative, the officers put his hands on HUERTA in an attempt to move him out of the path of the vehicle.”

“I saw HUERTA push back, and in response, the officer pushed HUERTA to the ground,” the agent wrote. “The officer and I then handcuffed HUERTA and arrested him.”

Huerta on Friday released a statement through his union, saying: “What happened to me is not about me; This is about something much bigger.

“This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that’s happening. Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals. We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice. This is injustice. And we all have to stand on the right side of justice.”

California Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla sent a letter Monday to the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice demanding a review of the arrest of union leader David Huerta.

Huerta, president of Service Employees International Union, was detained and injured while documenting a workplace immigration raid in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. He was treated at a hospital and transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center. He remains in custody.

“It is deeply troubling that a U.S. citizen, union leader, and upstanding member of the Los Angeles community continues to be detained by the federal government for exercising his rights to observe immigration enforcement,” the senators wrote.

The letter, led by Schiff and also signed by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), asked the leaders of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to review which federal agencies and personnel were involved in Huerta’s arrest and what disciplinary actions may be necessary for those involved in the actions that resulted in his injuries. The senators also asked the DOJ to state the legal authority under which Huerta is detained.

“We have a constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice and its components to ensure that the rights of Californians are upheld,” they wrote.

They gave a deadline of Friday for a response. The Homeland Security and Justice departments did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Rallies are scheduled in more than a dozen cities across the U.S., including in Los Angeles, by union members and other supporters demanding Huerta’s release and an end to the workplace immigration raids.

In an interview with NBCLA-TV over the weekend, Bill Essayli, the U.S. attorney in L.A, accused Huerta of obstructing law enforcement vehicles from getting into a facility where they were conducting a search warrant.

“They tried to move him and then he got into a physical altercation with one of our agents and he resisted and he had to be pepper sprayed and subdued,” Essayli said.

Essayli said authorities “had no idea who he was” and found out later after politicians reached out, “suggesting that he get special treatment.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Essayli said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said on social media Monday that California planned to sue over President Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles.

After a night of unrest on L.A. over immigration sweeps, Newsom said on X: “This is exactly what Donald Trump wanted. He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard. The order he signed doesn’t just apply to CA. It will allow him to go into ANY STATE and do the same thing. We’re suing him.”

The move by President Trump to activate nearly 2,000 guardsmen marked the first time since 1965 that a president has deployed a state’s National Guard without a request from that state’s governor. The decision was met with stern rebukes from state and local officials, including Newsom who said the deployment was “not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis.”

Newsom’s office on Sunday afternoon sent a formal letter to the Trump administration asking them to rescind their deployment of troops.

“There is currently no need for the National Guard to be deployed in Los Angeles, and to do so in this unlawful manner and for such a lengthy period is a serious breach of state sovereignty that seems intentionally designed to inflame the situation, while simultaneously depriving the state from deploying these personnel and resources where they are truly required,” the letter read.

Trump administration officials have seized on the isolated incidents of violence to suggest wide parts of L.A. are out of control. On Sunday, Trump took to social media to claim “violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking” federal law enforcement.

“A once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals,” he wrote, blaming Democratic politicians for not cracking down earlier.

While officials have not said how long the immigration enforcement actions will continue, Trump told reporters Sunday, “we’re going to have troops everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country.”

Many California officials, who have long been at odds with Trump, say the president was trying to exploit the situation for his political advantage and sow unneeded disorder and confusion.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the deployment of federalized troops a “chaotic escalation” and issued a reminder that “Los Angeles will always stand with everyone who calls our city home.”

It is unclear when the suit will be filed.

Trump said in a memo to the Defense and Homeland Security departments Saturday that he was calling the National Guard into federal service under a provision called Title 10 to “temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions.”

Title 10 provides for activating National Guard troops for federal service. Such Title 10 orders can be used for deploying National Guard members in the United States or abroad.

Erwin Chemerinsky, one of the nation’s leading constitutional law scholars, told The Times Saturday that “for the federal government to take over the California National Guard, without the request of the governor, to put down protests is truly chilling.”

“It is using the military domestically to stop dissent,” said Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. “It certainly sends a message as to how this administration is going to respond to protests. It is very frightening to see this done.”

Amid rising tensions over immigration raids in the Los Angeles area, the city of Glendale announced Sunday night it has ended its agreement with the federal government to house detainees captured by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“After careful consideration, the City of Glendale has decided to end its agreement with U.S. Homeland Security/ICE to house federal immigration detainees,” the city said in a statement posted online. “This local decision reflects our core values: public safety, transparency, and community trust.”

As police struggled with another day of unrest in downtown L.A., several Waymo autonomous taxis were set on fire, sending thick plumes of black smoke billowing high into the air.

The dramatic images were captured during an afternoon of clashes between large groups who were protesting immigration raids by the Trump administration and L.A. police who were trying to maintain order.

The Trump administration announced Saturday that National Guard troops were being sent to Los Angeles — an action Gov. Gavin Newsom said he opposed. President Trump is activating the Guard by using powers that have been invoked only rarely.

Trump said in a memo to the Defense and Homeland Security departments that he was calling the National Guard into federal service under a provision called Title 10 to “temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions.”

It began as another Saturday morning at the Home Depot in Paramount, a working class, predominantly Latino suburb south of downtown Los Angeles.

Typically, the store that is nestled along the Los Angeles River bed would be filled with weekend warriors tackling home improvements, workers collecting supplies and immigrants in search of work.