NATIONAL NEWS

Los Angeles imposes downtown curfew as protests against Trump’s immigration crackdown continue

Jun 10, 2025, 10:24 PM | Updated: Jun 11, 2025, 12:28 am

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles leaders imposed a downtown curfew through Wednesday morning to deal with protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, while the governor accused him of drawing a “military dragnet” across the nation’s second-largest city with his escalating use of the National Guard.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom asked a court to put an emergency stop to the military helping federal immigration agents, with some guardsmen now standing in protection around agents as they carried out arrests. He said it would only heighten tensions and promote civil unrest. The judge chose not to rule immediately, giving the administration several days to continue those activities before a hearing Thursday.

The change moves troops closer to engaging in law enforcement actions like deportations as Trump has promised as part of his administration’s immigration crackdown. The Guard has the authority to temporarily detain people who attack officers but any arrests ultimately would be made by law enforcement.

Trump has activated more than 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines over the objections of city and state leaders, though the Marines have not yet been spotted in Los Angeles and Guard troops have had limited engagement with protesters. They were originally deployed to protect federal buildings.

As the curfew went into effect Tuesday night, a police helicopter flew over downtown federal buildings that have been the center of protests and ordered people to leave the area. Riot police on horses and foot surrounded a group of a few hundred that had gathered in the area, shouting: “Move!” Most of the protesters scattered, with some regrouping and refusing orders to disperse.

Officials said the curfew was necessary to stop vandalism and theft by agitators looking to cause trouble.

Demonstrations have spread to other cities nationwide, including Dallas and Austin, Texas, Chicago and New York, where a thousand people rallied and multiple arrests were made.

In Texas, where police in Austin used chemical irritants to disperse several hundred demonstrators Monday, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s office said Texas National Guard troops were “on standby” in areas where demonstrations are planned, Abbott spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris said Tuesday evening.

Guard members were deployed to San Antonio, according to assistant police chief Jesse Salame. He said he did not know how many were sent or details on the deployment.

LA mayor puts curfew in place

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared a local emergency on the fifth day of protests and said the curfew will run from 8 p.m. Tuesday until 6 a.m. Wednesday. She said it was expected to last for several days.

“We reached a tipping point” after 23 businesses were looted, Bass said during a news conference Tuesday.

The curfew covers a 1 square mile (2.5 square kilometer) section of downtown that includes the area where protests have occurred since Friday. The city of Los Angeles encompasses roughly 500 square miles (nearly 2,300 square kilometers).

The curfew doesn’t apply to residents who live in the designated area, people who are homeless, credentialed media or public safety and emergency officials, according to Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell.

McDonnell said “unlawful and dangerous behavior” had been escalating since Saturday.

“The curfew is a necessary measure to protect lives and safeguard property following several consecutive days of growing unrest throughout the city,” McDonnell said.

Trump says he’s open to using Insurrection Act

Trump left open the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, which authorizes the president to deploy military forces inside the U.S. to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations. It’s one of the most extreme emergency powers available to a U.S. president.

“If there’s an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We’ll see,” he said from the Oval Office.

Later the president called protesters “animals” and “a foreign enemy” in a speech at Fort Bragg ostensibly to recognize the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.

Trump has described Los Angeles in dire terms that Bass and Newsom say are nowhere close to the truth.

In a public address Tuesday evening, Newsom called Trump’s actions the start of an “assault” on democracy.

“California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next,” he said.

Newsom warned people against inciting violence, but urged them to stand up to the president’s actions.

“What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence. To be complicit in this moment,” he said. “Do not give it to him.”

The protests began Friday after federal immigration raids arrested dozens of workers in Los Angeles. Protesters blocked a major freeway and set cars on fire over the weekend, and police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades.

The demonstrations have been mostly concentrated downtown in the city of 4 million. Thousands of people have peacefully rallied outside City Hall and hundreds more protested outside a federal complex that includes a detention center where some immigrants are being held following workplace raids.

Despite the protests, immigration enforcement activity has continued throughout the county, with city leaders and community groups reporting ICE present at libraries, car washes and Home Depots. School graduations in Los Angeles have increased security over fears of ICE action and some have offered parents the option to watch on Zoom.

McDonnell said that police had made 197 arrests on Tuesday, including 67 who were taken into custody for unlawfully occupying part of the 101 freeway.

Several businesses were broken into Monday, though authorities didn’t say if the looting was tied to the protests.

The vast majority of arrests have been for failing to disperse, while a few others were for assault with a deadly weapon, looting, vandalism and attempted murder for tossing a Molotov cocktail. Seven police officers were reportedly injured, and at least two were taken to a hospital and released.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested Tuesday that the use of troops inside the U.S. will continue to expand.

The Pentagon said deploying the National Guard and Marines costs $134 million.

___

Baldor and Copp reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Dorany Pineda and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, Amy Taxin in Orange County, California, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, Hallie Golden in Seattle, and Greg Bull in Seal Beach, California, contributed to this report.

National News

A protester raises the U.S. flag after police use tear gas and flash-bangs at the Federal Building ...

Associated Press

AP PHOTOS: Protests over immigration raids spread beyond Los Angeles

Protests that sprang up in Los Angeles over immigration enforcement raids have begun to spread across the country, with more demonstrations planned. ___ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

3 hours ago

Associated Press

Los Angeles imposes downtown curfew as protests against Trump’s immigration crackdown continue

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles leaders imposed a downtown curfew through Wednesday morning to deal with protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, while the governor accused him of drawing a “military dragnet” across the nation’s second-largest city with his escalating use of the National Guard. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom asked a court to […]

4 hours ago

Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during an address on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Office of California Governo...

Associated Press

California governor says ‘democracy is under assault’ by Trump as feds intervene in LA protests

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Calling President Donald Trump a threat to the American way of life, Gov. Gavin Newsom depicted the federal military intervention in Los Angeles as the onset of a much broader effort by Trump to overturn political and cultural norms at the heart of the nation’s democracy. In a speech Tuesday evening, […]

5 hours ago

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the Oval Office of the the White House, Tuesday, Ju...

Associated Press

A federal appeals court is set to hear arguments in Trump’s bid to erase his hush money conviction

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s quest to erase his criminal conviction heads to a federal appeals court Wednesday. It’s one way he’s trying to get last year’s hush money verdict overturned. A three-judge panel is set to hear arguments in Trump’s long-running fight to get the New York case moved from state court […]

5 hours ago

FILE - Brandon Wolf, a survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting and activist, looks at the photos t...

Associated Press

Pulse massacre survivors are set to revisit the nightclub before it’s razed

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Survivors and family members of the 49 victims killed in the Pulse nightclub massacre nine years ago are getting their first chance Wednesday to walk through the long-shuttered, LGBTQ+-friendly Florida venue before it’s razed and replaced with a permanent memorial to what was once the worst U.S. mass shooting in modern […]

5 hours ago

Harvey Weinstein appears at Manhattan criminal court in New York, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Michael ...

Associated Press

Weinstein jury deliberations scrutinize one accuser’s account

NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors in sex crimes retrial are drilling down on one of the three charges against him: a rape accusation from a woman who also said she had a consensual relationship with him. The seven female and five male jurors are poised to start their fifth day of deliberations Wednesday by re-hearing […]

5 hours ago

Los Angeles imposes downtown curfew as protests against Trump’s immigration crackdown continue