Washington, D.C. — Confronted with swelling demonstrations from Boston to Bakersfield over his administration’s immigration dragnet, President Donald Trump signaled Wednesday that federal authority would hold firm, insisting the United States “will not be surrendered to street tumult.”
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered the message during a televised briefing flanked by looping footage of torched autonomous taxis, shattered storefronts, and phalanxes of riot police advancing through smoke-filled Los Angeles streets.
“This president does not outsource public safety to mobs,” Leavitt declared, condemning what she called the “spectacle of vandalism masquerading as protest.”
Los Angeles has borne the brunt of the unrest since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers launched a series of high-profile raids last week—operations California officials labeled heavy-handed and politically charged. Yet isolated violence, including rock-throwing and vehicle arson, prompted the administration to surge thousands of active-duty troops to the city under a rarely used emergency directive.
California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass blasted the deployment as “militarization for headline value,” arguing that the vast majority of demonstrators remained peaceful. Leavitt fired back, accusing both leaders of “tacitly encouraging disorder” by vilifying federal agents.
During a speech Tuesday at Fort Bragg, Trump intensified the rhetoric, promising to “liberate Los Angeles from lawlessness” and describing violent agitators as “animals.” He also suggested, without evidence, that professional organizers were bankrolling the clashes. Asked to elaborate, Leavitt said the administration was “examining financial trails” but offered no names.
Civil-rights advocates counter that the White House is inflaming tensions to bolster a hardline immigration agenda heading into an election year. “Deploying troops against civilians over policy disagreements is the definition of overreach,” said Maya Cortez of the Liberty Forum.
For now, the standoff shows no sign of easing. ICE officials intend to continue their sweep, the National Guard patrols downtown LA nightly, and protesters pledge to stay in the streets until the raids stop.
Whether the confrontation ends at the negotiating table or on city pavements may hinge on who blinks first: California’s leadership demanding restraint, or a president who, in his spokeswoman’s words, is bent on “proving that the rule of law still rules.”
