Anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles: What is behind the clashes, arrests in LA? - explainer

Riots have been raging in the Los Angeles area since Friday, June 6, with the situation continuing to escalate. 

After just one day, the California National Guard was called in to help quell the riots, which has so far seen hundreds of protesters in an uproar. 

And if that isn't sufficient, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that active duty US military troops, specifically marines from Camp Pendleton, could be deployed should the riots continue. 

But what was the trigger behind the riots? How have law enforcement officers cracked down? And how have lawmakers and government officials responded? 

Here's everything you need to know.

What's causing the LA riots?

The raids, carried out alongside other federal agencies, were authorized by a judge because the agencies found probable cause that the employer was using fictitious documents for some of its workers, US Attorney Bill Essayli confirmed to NBC4, a local NBC-affiliate. 

However, other reports indicate that ICE raids also took place outside a doughnut shop and Home Depot locations, ABC News reported.

Dozens of people were taken into custody both during the raid and subsequent protests, with the total number of immigrants arrested in the area in the past week rising to over 100, according to the Associated Press.

This crackdown on immigrants is part of US President Donald Trump's push to arrest and deport undocumented migrants throughout the country, with the president setting a goal for ICE to arrest 3,000 immigrants a day.

Following the widespread arrests, impromptu demonstrations erupted at some of the raid sites, and dozens of protesters began demonstrating outside a local federal detention center demanding the detained immigrants be set free, ABC News reported. They ended up being confronted by law enforcement officers who formed a wall of riot shields to block off an entrance to the center.

From there, the protesters and law enforcement officers began to clash, with reports indicating that the officers threw tear gas at the protesters and tried to push them back by walking slowly in a wide line down the street.

Protests continued in the nearby city of Paramount at the entrance to an industrial park, near a Home Depot, the Associated Press reported, noting that the protesters set of fireworks and threw pieces of cinder blocks at Border Patrol vans. According to Reuters, some protesters were also waving Mexican flags.

Protests also spread to nearby Compton, where rioters faced off against ICE agents and police lit a car on fire, as reported by local ABC-affiliate ABC7 LA. 

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), over 1,000 rioters surrounded a law enforcement building, where they allegedly assaulted ICE officers, slashed tires, defaced buildings, and more. 

Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) were also deployed to maintain public safety, but according to the DHS, it took them two hours to respond. The police authorized the use of "less-lethal munitions" at around 8 p.m. local time after reports of a small group of protesters throwing pieces of concrete at officers, the LA Times reported.

DHS further claimed that ICE officers are facing a 413% rise in assaults against them, and that their family members have been doxed and targeted. 

In response to the continued riots, Trump announced that 2,000 National Guard troops would be deployed, with Hegseth further warning that active duty military troops could follow. 

What are the issues the protesters have with ICE?

According to the LA Times, immigration rights advocates claim that the Metropolitan Detention Center is extremely overcrowded, with a center meant to hold only 100 people now holding 200. 

"They didn't have access to food and water on a schedule. They definitely don’t have access to their medicines," said US Rep. Jimmy Gomez said Saturday morning, according to the LA Times.

"That’s not healthy for anybody. They do have a right to make sure that they're treated fairly and that they’re allowed to see their attorney."

Gomez and other lawmakers had come to the facility to check on the conditions there, but they claimed they were turned away by a federal agent who told them to come back on Monday, despite the lawmakers claiming federal law says that members of Congress can show up at any time for an oversight visit, the LA Times reported.

How have US officials responded to the riots and clashes?

"As Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place. These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city," she wrote on X/Twitter on Friday evening. "We will not stand for this."

Paramount Mayor Peggy Lemons further criticized the ICE operations. “When you handle things the way that this appears to be handled, it’s not a surprise that chaos would follow,” she noted, according to the Associated Press.

Gov. Gavin Newsom also took to social media to criticize the raids. "The federal government is sowing chaos so they can have an excuse to escalate. That is not the way any civilized country behaves."

He further described Trump's move to take over the California National Guard - a move done under Title 10 authority - and deploying troops was "purposefully inflammatory."

However, other US government officials were supportive of the raids and criticized the protesters and California leadership.

ICE actions, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed in a statement, is "essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States. In the wake of this violence, California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens."

"The Left's dangerous rhetoric against brave American law enforcement has fueled hatred and inspired violence. Democrats must immediately call on their supporters to stop the attacks on ICE officers who are simply doing their job — and have every right to do so," White House spokesperson Abigail Johnson said, according to the LA Times. "To those who harm law enforcement officers, know this: you will be held accountable to the full extent of the law."

"The violent targeting of law enforcement in Los Angeles by lawless rioters is despicable and Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom must call for it to end. The men and women of ICE put their lives on the line to protect and defend the lives of American citizens," Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, accusing Democrat politicians of vilifying ICE and contributing to the rise in assaults on ICE agents. "From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is beyond the pale. This violence against ICE must end."

White House aide Stephen Miller further called the protests a "violent insurrection," with Vice President JD Vance further noting that "Insurrectionists carrying foreign flags are attacking immigration enforcement officers."

However, some protesters have said their efforts have sent an important message.

"Now they know that they cannot go to anywhere in this country where our people are, and try to kidnap our workers, our people," protester Ron Gochez said, according to Reuters. "They cannot do that without an organized and fierce resistance."

However, government officials have also stressed that ICE operations will continue and warned against further interference from the public.