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Trump Deploys 2,000 National Guard Troops to Los Angeles Amid ICE Protests. ICE Protests In Los Angeles. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired June 08, 2025 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, thanks so much for joining me this weekend. I'm Jim Sciutto, in for Fredricka Whitfield.
Breaking news that we've been covering out of Los Angeles. The National Guard as well as other enforcement officers now on the ground in Los Angeles after President Trump signed a presidential memorandum deploying 2,000 Guardsmen without, we should note, the state's request or consent. This is in response to back-to-back days of protests, as well as some clashes between protesters and law enforcement officers.
Officials from the administration described the protesters as lawless rioters. The LAPD said yesterday's demonstrations within the city limits remained peaceful and concluded without incident. Thats the word from the Los Angeles Police Department. The California governor, Gavin Newsom, called the deployment of National Guard troops, quote, "purposely inflammatory," and warned it would only escalate tensions.
CNN's Kyung Lah has been following the deployment of those forces outside a federal facility there. CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak is at the White House.
Kyung, I do want to start with you because each time I've spoken to you the last two hours, the size of that force has grown while from what you've been telling us, the protests have remained peaceful.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we haven't seen any sort of physical confrontation. Have some of these protesters been mouthy? Absolutely. But there has been no -- nothing thrown, no physical conflict. They have stayed pretty much in the public area where they are exercising their First Amendment rights. But I want you to take a look at what's happening here.
Just coming out right now, you can see the California National Guard coming out with shields. What we've seen is an increasing size in the number of soldiers that we're seeing, the type of weaponry that they are carrying, as well as non-lethal devices as well.
This is new. We're seeing this coming out right now. They -- these soldiers appear to be assembling inside the federal building, and we keep seeing waves and waves of them. But again, I haven't seen -- I've been standing here this entire time, and I have not seen any sort of physical conflict between these protesters and law enforcement. These soldiers standing behind -- I want to point something out. Can
we point something out here? The first wave of law enforcement that you see, these soldiers, these are National Guard soldiers, that gun he's carrying is standard issue rifle. But you can see there, I can see the bullets. I mean, these are -- these weapons, these guns are armed. I don't know what kind they are, you know, but, oh, wait. What's happening here?
And so for some reason, they're assembling right here, but I don't quite know why. So I haven't seen any skirmish here. So whatever is happening here appears to be some type of formation. So --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Behind the yellow post.
LAH: So they're telling us to stand behind the yellow post. We're going to -- Mike, watch out. We're just going to tuck in right here. Yes. You're right here. Fine. You're right here. And then, so what you see is beyond just the National Guard. We also see the Department of Homeland Security with those non-lethal weapons. And then, again, another wave of soldiers behind them. As far as why they are assembling this way, I simply don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not block the vehicle access. Please do not block the vehicle access.
LAH: It appears there's an announcement saying don't block any access, but I want to point out that the access area has barriers, so I'm not really sure what access they're talking about. There are these barriers. I mean, it's a little hard to gauge what they're the announcement actually means. But again, let's just take a look. There's a tremendous amount of photographers and media here documenting this.
As far as protesters, they're behind them. Excuse the coughing. That's just left over from yesterday when it was -- when the tear gas was deployed. But, yes, Jim, as you can see for yourself.
SCIUTTO: You know, Kyung, we have an aerial --
LAH: They are taking an aggressive, at least defensive posture.
SCIUTTO: And you've watched their numbers grow over time. What -- and you've consistently described no violent behavior by those protesters outside there, and certainly no weapons that you've seen.
LAH: Careful. Careful.
SCIUTTO: I see them going forward. Stay safe, Kyung.
[16:05:02]
LAH: Watch out, watch out, watch out. OK.
So they're pushing everybody into the street. I don't --
SCIUTTO: We're watching -- LAH: I don't know why.
SCIUTTO: We're watching live pictures here. This is from Los Angeles outside Metropolitan Detention Center where over the course of the last two hours, we've seen the size of the federal forces there grow, not just National Guard troops. And that's our Kyung Lah right in the middle of it. I want to make sure she stays safe and her photojournalist.
We've watched their number grow. That is of the uniformed federal forces there. The ones in camo, those are the National Guard troops. The ones in blue are actually DHS, Department of Homeland Security officers.
Let's listen in, because our Kyung Lah is trying to give us a sense of what's happening. What's not clear is why they're pushing the crowds back.
LAH: I'm not really sure, Jim, what --
SCIUTTO: Yes. Any sense? Have they communicated why?
LAH: I don't know why they're pushing the crowd back. I cannot figure out why this happened. So people are on the sidewalk and they decided to push us all the way onto the street.
SCIUTTO: Right.
LAH: I'm standing amid the crowd of protesters, so I didn't see any impetus for this. But we're just going to watch this unfold.
SCIUTTO: OK. You continue to watch it. Keep yourself safe and give whatever space you have to give. I believe we have John Miller, our law enforcement analyst, with us, too.
John, are you there?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: I'm here. I can hear you. And I'm seeing.
SCIUTTO: Do you see any necessity either for the number of federal and National Guard troops, their weaponry, and now this pushback against what is a relatively small number of peaceful, I don't want to say protesters, demonstrators. We haven't seen any violence certainly. Does the force match the threat?
MILLER: Well, we don't know what we don't know. So what we've been watching today is that they've been in the same place. The people have been on the sidewalk. The rule has been don't cross the line into the parking lot. And what they've done is they've pushed the people off the sidewalk into the street, and they've made a warning about don't block vehicle access.
Now, what that could suggest is that an ICE team is either about to move out, or one is returning to the facility, perhaps with prisoners or people that they have arrested on immigration matters today and that they're trying to clear a path for that. But that's not being communicated clearly.
One of the things you'll see here, though, is, and, Jim, you've covered as many of these demonstrations as I have, is what they don't have is they don't have a protest area where they have barricaded it off, where they've set them a place across the street or on the sidewalk where they're behind those barricades. So now they have pushed them off the property into the street, but they're not contained. And this is the kind of thing that can easily lead to a confrontation.
SCIUTTO: Can I ask you just -- this is a qualitative question. Is this a escalatory move? It doesn't appear to be de-escalatory, which I imagine would be part of their training?
MILLER: It is hard to describe what the logic behind it is. Even if we go with the theory that they're waiting for, you know, a group of vehicles to return, they haven't exactly formulated a good way for that to happen. Again the lack of the lack of barricades, the lack of creating a frozen zone, the lack of creating a place for the protesters to be as opposed to just creating a place for them not to be has led to a thing where you have a skirmish line.
That's the technical term, a skirmish line of National Guard armed with plastic shields but also firearms. You have a line of DHS police or FPS, Federal Protective Service behind them. And what you've gone from is a lot of people standing around to suddenly a faceoff.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
MILLER: And I am as little sure about why at this moment as you are.
SCIUTTO: I want to come back to you, John, because the idea of a skirmish line advancing towards what was a peaceful protest requires some explanation of their thinking. I do want to go back to Kyung. She is right there. She's bringing you that image you see on the left hand side of your screen. She and her photojournalist.
Kyung, any communication as to what's going on here?
LAH: Wait. Watch. Sorry. Do we have to move?
SCIUTTO: OK.
LAH: No. There has really not been very much communication. Sorry. They're just continuing to push the crowd back. I don't know if you can see in some of the images that we've been sending.
SCIUTTO: Are these vehicles coming into the detention centers now?
[16:10:04]
LAH: But the DHS officers now have gas masks on. Sorry about that car. But yes, they just keep pushing people beyond the sidewalk.
SCIUTTO: What are those vehicles? LAH: OK. All right. We've just seen some vehicles go in. There are
vehicles pulling in. I can't tell what those vehicles are, but there are -- I can see the insignia. Department of Homeland Security. There is a bearcat going in. Unmarked vehicle. Another unmarked vehicle.
SCIUTTO: No windows. So you can't see what's inside, I assume, or who's inside.
LAH: U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection. And what I'm seeing for the first time, too, are ICE officers carrying tear gas. That is the next wave of law enforcement that we've seen join this skirmish that you're seeing. But again, lots of vans that are coming in.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
LAH: So --
SCIUTTO: And can you tell -- just a simple question, Kyung.
LAH: They clearly wanted to create --
SCIUTTO: Like a pathway. Can you see --
LAH: Yes.
SCIUTTO: I mean they don't have windows on those. Well, actually some do have windows. Can you see if there are occupants inside? Does it look like they're taking detainees in?
LAH: I -- I can't tell because for this -- these vans that you're looking at, for example, this van doesn't have any windows at all. And then, yes, it's very, very difficult to tell if this is part of an immigration enforcement and bringing people in.
SCIUTTO: Understood. Yes.
LAH: But I am outside the Metropolitan Detention Facility, so -- oh, now they're backing up.
SCIUTTO: OK. You take --
LAH: Now they're backing up.
SCIUTTO: Take care of yourself there. I want to go back to John Miller, who's with us as well.
John, does this look to you like they cleared a pathway to bring in a detention mission? I mean, we don't know. It's not clear those vehicles are full. But what does it look like to you?
MILLER: As I suggested at the beginning of the time when they moved out and pushed the crowd out of the driveway and off to the side, it appeared that the only reason to do that would be to clear a pathway for either vehicles for arrest teams to leave or for what it appears, which is arrest teams that have been gathering up people in the field to come back. And it appears, it appears that what you just saw, given the configuration of those vehicles, appears to me the multiple arrest teams that operated at probably multiple locations and then decided rather than to push the crowd back five times or six times to gather somewhere and come back all at once in one fell swoop so that they could discharge those prisoners into the MDC. This is somewhat what happened last night when the DHS forces and now we're seeing --
SCIUTTO: OK. We're seeing them fire.
MILLER: We're seeing some firing of pepper balls.
SCIUTTO: Is it pepper balls? That's what I thought the -- when I saw those yellow colored weapons, that almost looked like what you would take to a paintball range, right? They had the kind of receptacle on top. I thought that might be the rubber bullets or pepper balls.
MILLER: Yes. And I mean, what you're seeing is you're seeing the less than lethal weapons being used to fire what is OC spray essentially into the crowd to get them back.
SCIUTTO: But why do they need that -- I'm sorry. They had moved them back. The vehicles are in. What is the need to fire this?
MILLER: Not clear from what I saw.
SCIUTTO: I want to make sure. Kyung, I'm just going to ask Kyung because she's in the midst of it.
Kyung, what sparked them? First of all, are you getting peppered yourself? Are you feeling this because that smoke is insidious. It'll get in your eyes.
LAH: Yes.
SCIUTTO: Yes. OK. Put some space between yourself, OK?
LAH: Yes. I mean, OK. Right. We're backing up. We're backing up. Yes, I don't -- there wasn't a specific thing other than the announcement, but the announcement was very vague. I mean, you heard it live here. It's a little, I don't really know. And certainly this crowd is very confused as to why this is happening.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
LAH: I think we can get a little closer, Mike.
SCIUTTO: It's a public place.
LAH: Are you OK? Are you OK? Here. No, no, no. So --
SCIUTTO: Take care. Take care of your PJ for us, Kyung. Want to make sure -- make sure your PJ is OK. John --
LAH: Water in his eyes.
SCIUTTO: You know, I hesitate to ask this question, but did you see a deployment there and a use of force looking for a use of force?
[16:15:04]
I suppose as I was watching, I saw the crowd move back and I saw the vehicles go in. I didn't see anybody stop the vehicles. They got in, and then they fired pepper spray. Why?
MILLER: Can't tell from the angle. And I mean, I've got both angles. I've got Kyung Lah's angle from on the ground. I've been watching the aerials. And as you point out, if the object of the mission was to clear a path for the vehicles after being notified that they were two minutes out and then to get those vehicles in and get the door closed behind them, what the confrontation was for after the fact is right now unexplained.
Now, is it possible that we miss something? Is it possible that somebody threw something from the back of the crowd? Is it possible that there was some aggressive act that they were trying to enforce against? It's possible, but I'd have to go back over that video with a fine tooth comb to locate what that was, especially since, as you point out, the difficult part of the mission, which is getting those vehicles in and doing that without a physical confrontation was complete.
SCIUTTO: Yes. And we've been watching that crowd over the course of, well, more than two hours here. And they were, one, small, and two, peaceful, and no weapons that we saw.
Our Kevin Liptak covering the White House for us today.
And Kevin, if you're still there, the president, I understand, spoke just a short time ago regarding this federal deployment there. And we should note these are not just National Guard troops. They also federal law enforcement officers from the Department of Homeland Security. How did he defend this action? Well, not this specific action, but the order that he issued.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And one of the questions that I think the images that we're seeing now raises is what exactly the rules of engagement for these National Guard troops is that hasn't been stated publicly by the White House, hasn't been stated publicly by the Pentagon. What we've heard from officials is that they're there to defend federal personnel and federal property, but we don't know exactly what they have been told about what the limits are on their engagement with these protesters.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
LIPTAK: President Trump was just heading back to Camp David. He just left his golf course in New Jersey, and he was asked this specific question of what the rules of engagement for these troops will be. Listen to his answer there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What are the rules of engagement for federal (INAUDIBLE)?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll see what happens. If we think there's a serious insurrection or less than that, we're going to have law and order.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIPTAK: So you hear his answer there is incredibly vague. He says, we'll see what happens. Not stating explicitly what the limits on these troops will be. The president was also asked about the prospect of invoking the Insurrection Act, which is something he's mused about. Previously, aides had talked him out of it. He essentially says, we'll have to see if there's an insurrection. That would allow him to deploy active duty U.S. troops on domestic soil to tamp down on these protests.
In fact, that's something that the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had mused about yesterday, saying that there were troops, Marines at Camp Pendleton, about 100 miles south of Los Angeles, who are on high alert to deploy. That had gained the ire of Gavin Newsom, the governor, who said that that was deranged behavior.
The president just now was asked about the prospect of sending the Marines. He said, we're going to see what we need. He says, we're going to see whatever we need to make sure that there is law and order. So the president this afternoon very much defending what is, at the end of the day, an action that is without precedent, at least in recent memory. You'd have to go back all the way to the civil rights era to have a president deploying a state's National Guard without an explicit request from that state's governor, Jim.
SCIUTTO: That's right. And as we noted earlier, that was in 1965. It was President Johnson. He deployed National Guard forces to protect civil rights marchers, to protect them. We're seeing quite a different scene here.
So, John, thankfully, it seems calm has been restored there. You have that continuing cordon around the detention center. You have the crowd now moved back. Let me just ask you a very basic legal question, given that you served not just the NYPD, but the LAPD, those protesters, they're not breaking the law, are they?
MILLER: Well, they're not breaking the law in that they haven't defied a particular order. They were told to move back. They were pushed back. The amazing thing here is because this is being done by the National Guard as force protection basically for the building and the ICE personnel and the Federal Protective Service, they don't have the expanded tools of law enforcement, which is to set up a basic perimeter, bring in barricades, give the protesters a protest area behind those barricades, and to control the streets.
[16:20:15]
So essentially, they've created a condition where they have a crowd which is completely fluid, that can move up on them, can be pushed back from them, can take the street so what you're seeing here is very undesirable from a police crowd management perspective.
SCIUTTO: Right.
MILLER: And, you know, we just saw the cost of that, which is apparently, and we've got to go back over that videotape, but apparently after the vehicles got in, someone from the back of the crowd, I am told, threw something towards the National Guard skirmish line, and they responded with gas, which of course gets people in the front of the crowd. So, you know, you see tensions rising and lowering.
And last night they had a very similar situation at the same place, at the same building. They called in the LAPD, which transitioned into taking control of that. And after that, outside of some graffiti on the building, there were no further incidents. We don't know whether they are asking for police to take over this particular protest or not.
SCIUTTO: To your point, John, and this is Jim Sciutto in Washington, as we continue to cover these breaking events in Los Angeles.
To your point, the LAPD has resources and training to control the crowd and to, in effect, resolve the situation or de-escalate, whereas here you still have the crowd, you have that interaction. You had the pepper spray fired. And it's not clear what the next step is.
I'm going to go back to Kyung Lah, who is there on the ground with her photojournalist Mike Love.
First of all, Kyung, how are you guys now? Are you guys taken care of? You're clear from the sprays.
LAH: Yes. I think my photographer, Mike Love, took the brunt of it, as oftentimes photojournalists do in trying to bring you the story. He's limping along, we're going to try to take care of him through the day, but he wanted to come back and show you these live images. After they pushed the crowd back, what you're seeing here now is the front flank is now the Department of Homeland Security. They have those, you know, the non-lethal gas. It looks like they're pellets from what we saw.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
LAH: It seems to sort of eject a pellet, and then the gas comes out. There are ICE agents behind them. Those ICE agents have large canisters of tear gas. And the entire effort is to push the crowd back. Just to get a little sense of what it looked like before this skirmish, this area that you see where the yellow posts are everything seemed to be fine. They were allowing protesters to stand here to the right of those yellow posts or the sidewalk.
This entire area, you can't drive up because there are posts there. So they want the crowd, though, to back away. And so that's what happened. I haven't seen any movement from the vehicles. There are -- if you want to go this way, Mike. This is what the crowd looks like. The crowd has spilled into the street. So in many ways just kind of blocking traffic here. There is some vehicle movement on the street, but, you know, people say they are going to stick it out, that they do not intend on leaving.
And, you know, we don't have any clarity, Jim, on those vehicles that went into the detention center. We just simply don't know who was in there, what was in there, other than the insignias that I could read.
SCIUTTO: Well, Kyung, our thanks to you and Mike Love, your photojournalist, right in the middle of it there, as we've been bringing you these images and updates from Los Angeles.
Just to recap here, these are protesters outside a detention center in Los Angeles. And there are, by our count, three different categories of federal officers there, not just members of the National Guard, but ICE -- agents from ICE, as well as from Department of Homeland Security and based on the rough count we've been doing, and you can even see on your screen there, because there are more officers that were deployed earlier about even numbers and there were times when it appeared that the soldiers and other law enforcement officers outnumbered what had been to that point peaceful protesters.
Please do stay with us. We're going to keep an eye. And these are live pictures. We're going to keep an eye on our situation, on the situation there, and be right back.
[16:25:04]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: Welcome back. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. Let's go back to our top story today, the breaking news, which has continued to develop over the course of the last hour. Live pictures there.
President Trump has deployed the National Guard to the city of Los Angeles, as well as, as our reporter on the ground told us, other federal agents present there from DHS, from ICE. We should note this deployment without the request or consent of the governor of California.
This is the first time that has happened in this country in some 60 years. You have to go back to the civil rights' protests of the 1960s, when President Johnson deployed the National Guard to protect civil rights' protesters.
CNN Correspondent Julia Vargas, she is also in Los Angeles at a site of another protest. I wonder what you're seeing there? Are you seeing similar law enforcement and national -- well, National Guard response?
JULIA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, Jim, not at all. So, this is a very peaceful protest. I would say it's also older. From Kyung's description, the crowd is a bit older. It's very focused on both ICE and National Guard. They're protesting their presence in Los Angeles.
But they're here in West Los Angeles right outside a federal building. This is a building that most Angelenos would know as the Passport Building, but it also houses other agencies.
I'm not sure that you can see, but in this courtyard, we do see some members of the National Guard. We have not seen DHS here. We have not seen ICE here. This has been mainly a place where the National Guard is staging.
We've spoken to some of those soldiers who are here from the southern command of California, I believe, who've gotten -- we're one of the first people to get here, out of those 300 that we know are already here.
This is one of the locations that they are staging at. We know now of two other locations. One of them is where Kyung Lah is in downtown Los Angeles. And a third location near where the raids happened on Saturday in Paramount, California.
That is where we saw the beginning of those clashes with federal agents with ICE and DHS in Paramount, about half an hour, 45 minutes just south of Los Angeles. The suburb that is mostly Latino, about 80 percent Hispanic.
That's where we saw those clashes happening. That's where National Guard is now staging. That total going up to 2,000 National Guard members in the coming days.
As of now, we've seen many of them going in and out here. This remains a very peaceful scene. They have not interacted with this crowd at all, Jim.
SCIUTTO: Julia Vargas Jones, thanks so much. Well, joining me now is a former mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa. Good to have you on. Thanks so much for taking time this Sunday.
ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, FORMER MAYOR, LOS ANGELES: Jim, good to be on. Thank you.
SCIUTTO: I'd like to know your reaction, as a former mayor of the city of Los Angeles, witnessing the scenes we witnessed there, just over the course of the last hour. And there's another aerial shot there.
We were observing these protests, our reporter on the ground, for more than two hours. They were peaceful. They were small, by our count. They seem to be outnumbered at times by the federal officers there.
And then, you just had this interaction, within the last half hour, where they forced the crowd back, fired pepper spray. Is this a legitimate use of federal force, in your view?
VILLARAIGOSA: You said it. We haven't done something like this in 60 years. And back then, it was to protect the civil rights of people, not to infringe on their civil rights.
Look, on Friday, David Huerta, a union leader, was demonstrating peacefully, thrown to the ground, taken to a hospital and injured, and then jailed. People have a right to protest.
Now, they don't have a right to engage in violence. And I'm asking people to please maintain peaceful demonstrations the way most of them have. But, look, when you come in with flash bang grenades. When you come in with -- fully masked like Putin soldiers in Russia. When you come in in the way that they have this military-style mass deportations. Going into shopping districts. Going into courthouses. Going into schools.
Look, people believe that we should secure our borders. We all believe that. Every country does. But we should do so humanely. To do what they're doing. They said they were going to go after criminals. No serious, violent criminals. Nobody has a problem with that.
But they're not doing that. They're dividing children from their parents. They're coming in like, you know, brownshirts, and it's actual -- absolutely unacceptable, these military-style mass deportations.
SCIUTTO: Do you believe the state of California or the city of Los Angeles should challenge this presidential claim of power in court? Because the President here, in deploying the National Guard without the consent or request of state officials, is claiming a rebellion, in effect.
[16:35:09]
SCIUTTO: A rebellion against federal authority. Should the state of California or should the city of Los Angeles challenge this in court?
Antonio Villaraigosa: Absolutely, they should. Both the city, the county and the state. Because, remember, Paramount is not in the city of Los Angeles. It's in the county of Los Angeles. And I think all three entities ought to challenge this in court.
Look, the courts, as conservative as they become, are still our option to challenge laws that -- and actions on the part of this administration that violate people's rights. And so, yes, I do believe they should challenge them in the courts.
SCIUTTO: I wonder, given that the Los Angeles Police Department, which you have a great deal of experience with, has its own not just law enforcement officers, but officers trained in crowd and riot control. Is there anything the LAPD can't do that these federalized forces are doing? Because, as our reporter noted a short time ago, following the protests last night, the federal -- the LAPD said they were contained and largely peaceful.
VILLARAIGOSA: Exactly. The LAPD said they were contained, largely peaceful. That's what we've seen on the news. At least on most of the news' stations. On some, they've tended to focus on just, you know, the few places where there were violent demonstrations.
And, again, there's no place for that. We should demonstrate peacefully. But there's also no place in the United States of America for military-style mass deportations. Nobody bought into that.
They believe we should secure our borders. The majority of us believe we should do so humanely. We ought to provide a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million people that work and pay their taxes and contribute to this nation.
We should go after, you know, serious, violent criminals. But what they're doing here is terrorizing people. They're inciting chaos in this town. And it's absolutely unacceptable.
SCIUTTO: There are other ways that the Trump Administration is coming after the state of California, as you're aware, including now threatening to deny federal funding to all California state universities. What's your reaction to those moves and tactics?
VILLARAIGOSA: We've never seen anything like this. Going after law firms. Going after, you know, universities. Taking away scientific grants. Telling people that are here legally on a student visa that they have to leave immediately.
This is the kind of thing that so many of us feared before Donald Trump got elected. That we talked about. The threat to our democracy.
You've worked in security, national security, virtually your entire life, Jim. This is not in the national security of the United States of America. The best way to secure us is to obey the Constitution, the Bill of Rights.
People have a right to demonstrate. It should be peacefully. And the police in this town can handle that. There was no need to bring in the -- or deputize the National Guard without the consent of the governor in the way that happened here. There's no need to do much of what they're doing here.
Go after serious criminals. Secure the border. People don't take issue with that.
What they take issue with is dividing children from their parents. What they take issue with is terrorizing entire communities. Coming in with a military-style mass deportation. People covered to -- from their head to toe. You can't even identify them.
So, if they engage in the violation of people's rights, you don't even know who did it. Just like in Putin's Russia. Which you're well familiar with.
SCIUTTO: Well, I am, sadly. But before we go, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has suggested that this deployment of forces here is intended to inflame. And I wonder if you agree with that.
VILLARAIGOSA: The mayor said the same thing. I said, they're trying to incite chaos. They're trying to inflame the situation, absolutely.
Look, nobody is taking issue with securing the border. We need to understand that nobody takes issue with prioritizing people who have committed serious crimes, violent criminals.
But to do this the way that they're doing it.
[16:40:01] VILLARAIGOSA: To terrorize people in restaurants and courthouses and schools. To dividing children from their parents. That's un-American. That's not who we are, Jim. We're proud Americans. We believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
People have a right to demonstrate. It should be peaceful. And when it's not, yes, there will be consequences. But not flash-bang grenades. Not coming in with military assault rifles, in the way some of them have come. That is not what we need right now.
SCIUTTO: And, of course, the world is watching these images as well. Well, Mayor Villaraigosa --
VILLARAIGOSA: The world is watching these images.
SCIUTTO: Yes. Mayor Villaraigosa, we do appreciate you taking the time on this Sunday. Thanks so much for joining.
VILLARAIGOSA: Always to be -- great to be on with you, Jim.
SCIUTTO: If you've been watching us here, this is just moments ago, outside a detention center in Los Angeles where the many federal forces there, both the state National Guard federalized, as well as DHS and ICE law enforcement officers, formed a skirmish line, as our John Miller described it. And forced what had been peaceful protesters back before firing some pepper spray from that yellow weapon you see there that one of the officers is holding.
We're going to continue to follow developments there. And we'll be right back.
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SCIUTTO: Right now, you're looking at live pictures of protesters outside a detention center in Los Angeles, as well as a quite sizable presence of not just National Guardsmen, who were federalized by President Trump over the last 24 hours, but also ICE and DHS agents and officers. We saw them clashing with protesters, forcing them back into the street a short time ago. Then, firing pepper balls at them.
Just moments ago, President Trump spoke about his deployment and federalization of those National Guard troops.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, on California, are you prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It depends on whether or not there's an insurrection.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe there is, sir?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, no. But you have violent people. And we're not going to let them get away with it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think if Democrats continue to side with illegal aliens over law enforcement that they'll ever be able to win a national election again?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I love this guy. I think -- that is a great -- who are you with?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breitbart News.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Great -- a great group, Breitbart. A great group. I think that you're going to see some very strong law and order.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have a response to CNN's Dana Bash suggesting that this wasn't a real riot in Los Angeles?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Is that what she said?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Oh, I think it was a riot. I think it was very bad. It was covered really -- as a riot by almost everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, what is the purpose of your meeting at Camp David in the next 24 hours?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going up to Camp David. We have meetings with various people about very major subjects. And we thought we'd do it at Camp David. There's probably better security there than any place. We'll be meeting with a lot of people, including generals. as you know, and admirals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, no. But we'll be meeting with military people and others.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are there going to be any foreign -- any foreign visitors at Camp David?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can't say that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even if you don't plan to invoke the Insurrection Act, do you plan to send troops to Los Angeles?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even if you don't plan to invoke the Insurrection Act, do you plan to send troops to Los Angeles?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, we're going to have troops everywhere. We're not going to let this happen to our country. We're not going to let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden and his autopen. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is the bar for sending Marines?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The bar is what I think it is. I mean, if we see danger to our country and to our citizens, then we'll be very, very strong, in terms of law and order. It's about law and order.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) people, sir. Secretary (INAUDIBLE.)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to see what we need. We'll send whatever we need to make sure there's law and order.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) do you foresee those protests spreading to other cities? Chicago, New York, for example, in the next few days.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, if there are protests, we're going to be watching it very closely. And when they spit at people -- you know, they spit. That's their new thing. They spit. And worse, you know what they throw at them, right? And when that happens, I have a little statement. They say, they spit, we hit.
And I told them, nobody's going to spit on our police officers. Nobody's going to spit on our military, which they do as a common thing. They get up to him, this far away, and then they start spitting in their face. That happens, they get hit very hard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are the rules of engagement for federal troops?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can see (?) what happens. If we think there's a serious insurrection or less than that, we're going to have law and order. Very important.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How would you define an insurrection?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You really just have to look at the site. You have to see what's happening. Last night, in Los Angeles, we watched it very closely. There was a lot of violence there. There was a lot of violence, and it could have gotten much worse. And you have an incompetent governor. Just take a look at the at the train stations that he's building, like 20 times over budget. Nobody's ever seen anything like it.
So, I did call him the other night. I said, look, you got to take care of this.
[16:50:00]
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Otherwise, I'm sending in the troops. That's what we did.
Thank you very much. You have a question for Marco? Question for Marco?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) California officials could face federal charges if they stand in the way of the deportations. Something that Homan may have suggested.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If officials stand in the way of law and order, yes, they will face charges. Thank you very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: Some of the President's words there were quite notable. He said, when asked whether he will invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy forces in this country, he said, quote, "We're going to have troops everywhere." That was President Trump's comment just as he arrived there back in Washington.
We're going back to our Kyung Lah, who's outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. Along with her photojournalist, Mike Love, and producer, Norma Galeana, who have been right in the midst of it. As these National Guardsmen and other federal agents fired pepper spray and pepper pellets at the crowd. Tell us what the situation is now. Has it calmed down?
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: It has calmed down some. But I want you to take a look first at what we've seen on the law enforcement military side and then the crowd that is growing.
So, let's start here. You can see that everyone is wearing -- almost everyone, without exception, is wearing a gas mask. The reason for that is because what we witnessed -- I have seemed to lose a little sense of time. I think it's about 30 minutes ago, where the non-lethal pepper spray was deployed in this crowd.
And, you know, we have a mix of DHS, ICE, as well as the National Guard that has been federalized. They appear to be in a much more relaxed state. They also have shields that they use to push back the crowd.
And then, I just want you to take a look in that dark hole back there, that that area that's a little difficult to see. There are many more officers staging in that one area.
Now, here is where things are starting to change. I'm going to have Mike take a look at the crowd. This crowd has grown. So, after that skirmish, we are seeing more and more people come.
So, who are they? This is very much -- at least to my eye, it looks like a cross section of Los Angeles. I'm seeing gray-haired people who say they are retirees. I saw a man in a walker. There are very young people wrapping themselves in flags. Many of them carrying signs.
What we have not seen -- and I can say that I've seen some water bottles thrown during the skirmish at law enforcement. But other than that, we haven't seen massive, physical fights between these demonstrators and the law enforcement.
But the numbers of officers and soldiers here just continues to remain quite high. I can't gauge a guess. I can't state a guess. But it is not going down. If anything, these numbers are simply growing, both on the military side as well as the people who've come here to protest in the street.
SCIUTTO: While you were speaking there, Kyung, and I heard this before, the revving of an engine. Who's revving the engine there? Where is that coming from?
LAH: I think this is just people coming by to show their support. It looks like regular vehicles just stopping and revving their engines. Some people are honking their horns. Other people are playing music as they drive by. A lot of looky-loos because now people know where to come.
And so, what we have here is this -- and I've been using this word for a while. It's this cauldron. You have this collusion that is being made and created in this very location.
SCIUTTO: And that's exactly what the governor of California and the mayor of Los Angeles have said, that this is provocative, in effect. This deployment of forces intended that their assessment to inflame.
Kyung Lah along with her team, Mike Love and Norma Galeana, there. Thanks so much for bringing us this.
I want to note that the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, just posted on X, formerly Twitter. California, don't give Donald Trump what he wants. Speak up. Stay peaceful. Stay calm. Do not use violence. And respect the law enforcement officers that are trying their best to keep the peace.
Notable there. John Miller, final thoughts as you watch this play out here, asking the crowd to keep the peace. From your experience in law enforcement, are those law enforcement officers, National Guardsmen, are they keeping the peace as best they can?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST (via Webex): Well, I think what you see is a very complicated thing here, Jim. I mean, first of all, you've got the skirmish line of National Guardsmen, who are trained in disorder control or crowd control. But don't have a great deal of experience in it in real world situations.
You've got the Federal Protective Service.
[16:55:01]
MILLER: Those guys in the blue uniform with these space-age looking weapons, the less than lethal munitions and the gas guns.
And, you know, what you don't have is you don't have the LAPD on the scene. You don't have the California Highway Patrol. You don't have the L.A. County Sheriff's office. All of whom have extensive experience in disorder control, crowd management.
What you don't have is a designated area for the demonstrators. They've taken the streets. So, you know, what you're seeing is the opposite of a unified command.
And we'll have to see, as the night goes on, whether they transition into some organized version of this --
SCIUTTO: Right.
MILLER: -- or just leave this situation fluid.
SCIUTTO: John miller, it's been so good to have your experience, as we witnessed those events live in Los Angeles. Thank you, John Miller.
And thanks so much to all of you for joining me today. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. We're going to continue to find -- follow these breaking news events in California. Newsroom continues with Jessica Dean, next.
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