Los Angeles protests: Trump blames 'insurrectionists', calls troops deployment a 'great decision'

A man looks at the charred remains of a burned Waymo vehicle in the street following a night of protests in response to federal immigration operations in Los Angeles, on June 9, 2025.

US President Donald Trump on Monday blamed "insurrectionists" for unrest in Los Angeles, after he sent in National Guard troops to quell protests against immigration raids.

"The people are causing the problems are professional agitators and insurrectionists. They're bad people," Trump told reporters at the White House when asked about the clashes occurring in small areas of the second biggest US city.

Earlier, in a Truth Social post, Trump congratulated himself for making a "great decision" to deploy National Guard troops to quell protests in Los Angeles, against the wishes of the California governor and city mayor.

"If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated," Trump said, as parts of the California city remained on edge after three days of clashes between demonstrators and police forces over Trump's immigration raids.

Los Angeles remained on edge Monday after violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces over immigration raids, with the Californian governor vowing to sue Trump for deploying National Guard soldiers.

Police stood watch after ordering people not to gather in the city's downtown where cars were torched over the weekend and security forces fired tear gas at protesters.

"This is exactly what Donald Trump wanted," Governor Gavin Newsom said on social media. "He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard."

"We're suing him."

The White House also ratcheted up the standoff between the hard-charging Republican president and California's Democrat-led authorities.

"Gavin Newsom did nothing as violent riots erupted in Los Angeles for days," Trump's Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted Monday. "President Trump has stepped in to maintain law and order."

She added that "America must reverse the invasion unleashed by (former president) Joe Biden of millions of unvetted illegal aliens into our country."

The protests in Los Angeles, home to a large Latino population, were triggered by raids and dozens of arrests of what authorities say are illegal migrants and gang members.

Critics say Trump -- who has made clamping down on illegal migration a key pillar of his second term -- deliberately stoked tensions by sending in California's National Guard, a stand-by military usually controlled by the state governor.

"You have the National Guard with loaded magazines and large guns standing around trying to intimidate Americans," protester Thomas Henning told AFP on the scene Sunday.