(AFP) – US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Los Angeles is “safe and sound” after he ordered troops into the streets, but critics accused him of an authoritarian power grab and a judge was set to review the deployments’ legality.
Protests erupted last week in the second biggest US city over aggressive new immigration raids targeting migrants at workplaces, courthouses, and gathering places for day laborers seeking work. Anger at Trump’s crackdown and the use of masked, armed immigration agents, backed by uniformed soldiers, is spreading to other cities. Nationwide protests were planned for Saturday.
Trump has repeatedly exaggerated the scale of the unrest, which has been largely peaceful, despite isolated clashes, vandalism, and burning of cars. The Republican credited the arrival of troops for ensuring a quiet night in Los Angeles, where the mayor had ordered a nighttime curfew. Nearly 4,000 National Guard soldiers have been sent to Los Angeles, as well as 700 members of the US Marines—an elite force trained to fight in foreign wars and only very rarely deployed on US soil.
“Our great National Guard, with a little help from the Marines, put the L.A. Police in a position to effectively do their job,” Trump said on Truth Social, adding that without the military, the city “would be a crime scene like we haven’t seen in years.” A federal judge in San Francisco was set to hear arguments on whether the use of the troops is constitutional, with California Governor Gavin Newsom alleging the president “is creating fear and terror.” Newsom accused Trump of aiming a “wrecking ball” at US democracy and urged Americans “not to give in.”
Trump on Thursday said Newsom—seen as a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028—had “totally lost control of the situation” and should thank him for “saving his ass.”
– Labor shortage fears –
Trump was elected last year in part on his promises to expel people who enter the country illegally and then commit serious crimes. However, his immigration crackdown is far broader, targeting mostly Latin American migrants who may have entered illegally but form the backbone of farming, construction, and other manual industries in many parts of the country.
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, spoke up Thursday, saying she had told a visiting US official that “we didn’t agree with the use of raids to detain people working honestly in the United States.” The raids will “not only hurt people but also the US economy,” she said. Trump indicated he was under pressure, conceding he had heard complaints about laborers being rounded up. “We’re going to have an order on that pretty soon, I think. We can’t do that to our farmers—and leisure too, hotels,” he said.
In Spokane, in the northwest state of Washington, a nighttime curfew was declared after police arrested more than 30 protesters and fired pepper balls to disperse crowds, officials said. In Seattle, the state’s biggest city, police arrested eight people after a dumpster was set on fire and projectiles were thrown. Three people were arrested in Tucson, Arizona, following clashes with police, the Arizona Republic reported.
Protests also took place in Las Vegas, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Milwaukee, Chicago, Atlanta, and Boston, according to CNN. A nationwide “No Kings” movement was expected on Saturday, when Trump will attend a highly unusual military parade in the US capital. The Washington, DC parade, featuring warplanes and tanks, has been organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US Army but also happens to be the day of Trump’s 79th birthday.
– Huw Griffith and Sarah Titterton
© 2024 AFP
