Newsom alleges 'abuse of power'

More protests of ICE expected in Los Angeles

By: Thao Nquyen
and John Bacon
USA Today

..... Authorities braced for a fifth day of protests in Los Angeles on June 10 [2025] as the standoff between California leaders and the Trump administration escalated after President Donald Trump deployed Marines and the National Guard without California Govern Gavin Newson's approval.
..... Violence once again marred the protests June 9. [2025] The Los Angeles Police Department said protesters threw objects at officers near the feral courthouse, prompting the sue of gas canisters and other munitions.
..... "The use of less lethal munitions has been authorized," LAPD Central Division said in a post on X, warning that "less lethal munitions may cause pain and discomfort."
..... Officers had running confrontations with protesters as people watched from balconies and tourist huddled inside hotels. LAPD offices and Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies fired tear gas and flash bangs that boomed through side streets.
..... Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said more than 100 people were arrested. She blamed "fringe groups" for the violence .
..... "What we're seeing downtown is just horrible but you know that the majority of people that attended the protest this afternoon were peaceful," Bass told KABC-TV.
..... Protests also sprang up in at least nine other cities across the United States on June 9, [2025] including New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco.
..... Tension remained high behind the scenes as well as California officials sued the Trump administration over its decision to "trample" Newson's authority by calling in the National Guard without his consent.
..... The Trump administration then announced the deployment of 700 active-duty marines. The president has insisted that he had no choice but to increase the level of force in response to growing unrest over his immigration crackdown.
..... The protest began June 6 [2025] after Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweep near Los Angeles resulted in more than 40 arrests. The protests were initially largely peaceful but flared up when heavily armed, masked agents raided Los Angeles businesses.
..... Bass said local immigrant rights groups had confirmed at least five ICE raids in the Los Angeles region as of June 9. [2025]
..... California alleges that the president's deployment of Guard troops was unnecessary and unlawful. Newsom said he will also sue to prevent the Marines from being deployed describing the order as a "blatant abuse of power."
..... "The Courts and Congress must act Checks and balances and crumbling," Newsom said on X.
..... The social media sparring continued into June 10. [2025] "when the rioters swarmed, you handed over your streets, willingly. You will refuse to arrest and prosecute the arsonists, seditions and insurrectionists," Stephen Miller, Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy, said of Newsom on X.
..... "The only people defending insurrectionists are you and @realDonaldTrump," Newsom replied, referring to people convicted in connection with the assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. "Or, are we pretending like you didn't pardon 1500 of them?"
..... Bass called the escalated military presence a "deliberate attempt to create disorder and chaos in our city."
..... "It makes me feel like our city is actually a test case,: Bass said at a news conference. "A test case for what happens when the federal government moves in and takes the authority away from the state or away form local government."
..... Although Trump has legal authority to unilaterally take control of California's Guard troops a process called "federalization." federalized Guards cannot directly participate in civilian law enforcement unless the president invokes the Insurrection Act, which he has not done.
.... On June 7, [2025] 29 people were arrested for failing to follow orders to disperse, police said. The next day, 21 people were arrested. Charges against them included attempted murder with a Molotov cocktail and assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, LAPD said.
..... But Newsom's office has said the Trump's mover to put National Guard members and Marines in Los Angeles has provoked the worst of the unrest. He announced June 9 [2025] that an additional 800 state and local police officers would be deployed to Los Angeles to handle confrontation between protesters and guardsmen that were sent in "illegally,: according to the governor's office.
..... And LAPD officials said June 9 [2025] that local police can handle whatever protesters throw at them and that federal help is unnecessary and could become a hindrance.
..... Multiple members of the media have reported being caught in the crossfire or targeted by authorizes using tear gas or rubber bullets.
..... They included Australian journalist Lauren Tomasi, who was hit in the leg by a rubber bullet on camera in a video that shows an officer appearing to aim at her. A New York Post photographer, Toby Canham, said he was shot in the forehead with a nonlethal round. British freelance photographer Nick Stern told the BBC he underwent emergency surgery after he was hit in the leg by a plastic bullet.
..... In addition, police briefly detained CNN correspondent Jason Carroll while he was on air June 9, [2025] leading him away with his hands behind his back, Carroll retired to the mic, informing the anchors: "I am being detained."
..... An officer then can be heard telling Carroll: "We're letting you go. You can't come back. If you come back, you will be arrested."
..... CNN issued a statement saying "we are pleased the situation resolved quickly once the reporting team presented law enforcement with their CNN credentials. CNN will continue to report out the news unfolding in Los Angeles."
..... The committee to Protect Journalists has sounded the alarm.
..... "Any attempt to discourage or silence media coverage by intimidating or injuring journalists should not be tolerated," Katherine Jacobsen, a committee program coordinator, said in a statement. "It is incumbent upon authorities to respect the media's role of documenting issues of pubic interest."

..... Contributing: Jeanine Santucci, Michael Loria, Davis Winkle and Christopher Cann, USA today; Reuters

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