President Donald Trump has vowed to restore order and ‘liberate Los Angeles’ from illegal aliens which have ‘invaded and occupied a once great American city.’
Trump issued an extraordinary directive on Sunday after the National Guard was forced to step in amid mounting civil unrest and pro-migrant riots throughout California following the detainment of dozens of immigrants on Friday.
A combined effort led by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Attorney General Pam Bondi will restore order, Trump said.
He has directed his key personnel to ‘to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion, and put an end to these Migrant riots.
‘Order will be restored, the Illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday afternoon.
Trump lamented the current state of the city, expressing concern that ‘a once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals.
‘Now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations.’
But he vowed ‘these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve’ as images emerge of troops on the ground in the downtown area of the city ready to defend the city from more violent demonstrations.
Trump earlier said he has deployed 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell the protests, which he called ‘a form of rebellion.’
The president congratulated the National Guard on doing a ‘great job’ in the city in the early hours of Sunday morning, although they hadn’t arrived yet.
Early Sunday, the deployment was limited to a small area in downtown Los Angeles, with the rest of the city of 4 million people largely unaffected.
Their arrival follows days of protests that began Friday in downtown Los Angeles before spreading on Saturday to Paramount and neighboring Compton.
Hegseth had warned on Saturday that ‘active duty Marines’ were on ‘high alert’ as the riots created havoc on the streets.
On Sunday, Noem said the National Guard would ‘keep peace and allow people to be able to protest but also to keep law and order.’
The troops included members of the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, according to a social media post from the Department of Defense that showed dozens of National Guard members with long guns and an armored vehicle.
Governor Gavin Newsom called Trump on Friday night and they spoke for about 40 minutes, according to the governor´s office. It was not clear if they spoke Saturday or Sunday.
Newsom described Trump’s decision to call in the National Guard as a ‘provocative show of force’ that would only escalate tensions.
He added that Hegseth’s threat to deploy Marines on American soil was ‘deranged behavior.’
The Los Angeles Police Department warned rioters on Saturday night that the use of non-lethal munitions has been authorized.
