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Downtown LA Declared Unlawful Assembly; California Governor Accuses Trump of "Putting Fuel on the Fire"; Interview with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass; Interview with Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired June 09, 2025 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church and we are following breaking news this hour. Unrest on the streets of Los Angeles where tensions over immigration raids have flared for a third straight day.

And right now police say an unlawful assembly has been declared throughout all of downtown LA. Police are warning demonstrators that violence will be met with oppression, appropriate force, and they are urging crowds to leave the area immediately.

California officials say the Trump administration is only inflaming the situation with the deployment of National Guard troops. Earlier in the day, authorities used pepper spray and tear gas to try to disperse crowds as demonstrators clashed with National Guard and ICE agents.

Police say arrests were made after thousands of protesters flooded the streets and caused traffic disruptions. The southbound lane of the 101 Freeway have been closed until further notice. Demonstrators are making clear why they have turned out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON GOCHEZ, LOS ANGELES RESIDENT: It is a beautiful day of resistance. And for every single minute that were here resisting against the Border Patrol, that was time that they were not out deporting people in our community. They could not kidnap people in our community today because the people came out to resist.

ALEX WALLS, PROTESTERS FROM LOUISIANA: I think it's very disturbing. You know, you're separating people from their kids, families and whatnot. Younger kids don't understand what's going on, seeing this going on. So it's just -- it's very disturbing.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: And as the Unrest continues, the U.S. Northern Command says about 500 active duty Marines are on prepared to deploy status. This despite the governor saying the state will sue the Trump administration to rescind the National Guard deployment. CNN's Kyung Lah has been following developments for us. She filed this report earlier from Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: It's been a long day of protests and skirmishes between the people who are opposed to federal law enforcement and the National Guard showing up in strong numbers here in Los Angeles, federalized by President Donald Trump as they've continued to have conflict with some of the law enforcement who's here.

What you're looking at is a long line of federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security. There are also some National Guard, the Customs and Border Patrol and also LAPD.

And this is where it all began. The area that we're standing in right here is right near where the initial protests began when we saw the California National Guard lining up. And then there was a skirmish with some of the protesters who were standing on the sidewalk and on the street. And throughout the day, there have been problems.

The LAPD was brought in, tried to clear the crowds, and then there was a conflict with the federal agents as well at that site. And now we've come to the part of the night where cars are being set on fire. You can see that this Waymo has been vandalized. There are people still sitting on the streets in various corners.

The LAPD has called these assemblies unlawful assemblies on this particular corner. I have not been here throughout the duration, so the unlawful assembly was a block away from here. The assumption is that that may be the case here as well. But this is all very fluid. At this point, this is still a city where there are many people on the streets and law enforcement still standing in force. Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

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CHURCH: And joining me now from Los Angeles is Steve Moore, a CNN law enforcement contributor and a retired supervisory special agent with the FBI. Thank you, Steve, for talking with us.

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you.

CHURCH: So after three days of protests in L.A., we are now moving into the overnight hours with warnings from law enforcement that this could be a pretty rough night. And we are already seeing that. What are your greatest concerns right now? Given vehicles have been set ablaze by protesters and law enforcement is responding with flashbangs, tear gas, rubber bullets, and in other ways?

[01:05:00] MOORE: Well, my biggest concern is the safety of the officers as opposed to the people who are remaining there who are really professional professional protesters, anarchists, things like this. The people who were in the city protesting and utilizing their First Amendment rights to speak. Those people are long gone because they're smart enough not to be out when the anarchist takes take over the protest.

And so I think what you're going to find right now is a different crowd out there taking advantage of a situation. And my concern is that the police are and the federal agents are safe, especially when Chief McDonald says the LAPD at this point is overwhelmed.

CHURCH: And Steve, President Trump went ahead Sunday and federalized California's National Guard without the go ahead from the governor. What's your reaction to that very rare move to deploy the National Guard without Governor Newsom requesting it? The governor saying the move was, quote, purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate the tensions.

MOORE: Well, as somebody who worked the 92 riots for the FBI, I can tell you that you want not every bit of help you can get. I do understand that there are concerns about their deadly force policy versus our deadly force policy. That's very logical and very important.

But at the same time, you have to have enough people out there. And yes, it is absolutely unprecedented that a governor didn't first request the National Guard before a president sent it. The administrator -- the presidential administration, will say, well, it's because we had to protect federal buildings.

And the Democratic governor, for political reasons, wouldn't ask for the National Guard. The governor will say, well, it wasn't bad enough. And so you've got a political situation while the officers are on the street. They just want to get a home safe at night. And I suspect that they're grateful for any help they can get.

CHURCH: Of course, Sunday afternoon around 3:00 p.m., L.A. time, 6:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the LAPD entered the area trying to move the crowds back and declaring the gathering an unlawful assembly, warning protesters to clear the area or face arrest and the risk of injury.

What will likely happen from here in terms of law enforcement, as we're watching through the night hours, what's their likely next move here?

MOORE: I think, happily, from what I heard from Chief McDonald, there's going to be some cooperation between the federal agents who are protecting federal properties and the police. I believe that they're probably going to, if they haven't already, declared the entire city unlawful demonstration, and therefore clear the streets. Kind of the same thing as a curfew.

And that way, anybody who's on the streets, you can only assume that they're there for nefarious purposes. And I think they'll work together to try and clear the streets. If they do that expeditiously, I think we could have somewhat of a quiet night. But I don't think this is over.

CHURCH: And, Steve, I did want to ask you this because President Donald Trump is now urging LAPD, the LAPD to bring in the troops. Talk to us about your reaction to that. I mean, he wants to go hard on this, and he wants to do that now.

MOORE: I believe that Chief McDonald is a very competent police officer who is trying to avoid the politics of this particular situation. I mean, you have a president who was elected on enforcing immigration law, and you have a governor and a mayor who were elected on protecting people from federal immigration laws.

The chief is in a tough position. He wants to protect his city and he wants to protect his officers. And while he is not allowing his officers to assist in any ICE operation, I do believe he is well intended in protecting the city, his officers, and the federal agents and the federal property. And I believe and I trust him to do the right thing.

CHURCH: And, Steve, I do want to raise a point that our correspondent Kyung Lah raised when she was reporting earlier in the day, for many hours, in fact, in LA.

[01:10:07]

And she said that she noticed a difference in the crowd. Like once the sun went down, it was a different group of people out on the streets. And how often does that happen? Is that generally what happens in these sorts of situations?

MOORE: Every time you see civil unrest, there are times. Kyung was very insightful in seeing this. I would almost analogize it to a nightclub where there are people at 8 to 9 o' clock and they're kind of a different crowd, but the people from 1 to 2 a.m. are a different crowd.

In a civil disobedience, in a riot or mob situation, you find that the people who were initially trying simply to exercise their First Amendment rights to protest, they're all gone home, they probably have jobs, they got to work tomorrow morning.

Then what you find are people who are radical at some level. And so you get kind of the extreme version. But then after that you find people who are professionals at protesting. You find anarchists who really don't care about this First Amendment thing that people were talking about.

They just want to cause chaos and they want to hurt people. So I think about this time that's who you see on the streets. And that's why I'm not concerned that clearing the streets will be a violation of anybody's First Amendment rights to protest.

CHURCH: It's a very important distinction to make and we thank you for that. Steve Moore coming to us live from LA. Appreciate it.

MOORE: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Still to come, more on the California protests over federal immigration raids and how the state plans to fight President Trump's deployment of the National Guard. Back with that in just a moment.

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CHURCH: Back to our breaking news. All of downtown Los Angeles has been declared an unlawful assembly by police after a third day of major protests triggered by immigration raids across California. It's now nighttime in the city. Police had said they wanted to clear protesters by nightfall. Protesters swarmed the streets and blocked a major highway, clashing with police and National Guard troops.

President Trump has taken the unprecedented step of deploying the National Guard. And Governor Gavin Newsom says California will sue the Trump administration over what he describes as an illegal, immoral and unconstitutional deployment.

I'm joined now by Pablo Alvarado. He is co-executive director of the National Day Labour Organizing Network and joins us from Pasadena. Thank you, Pablo for talking with us.

Now, earlier in the day you made a non-violent call to action to all concerned citizens to stand by those under threat of deportation. What response did you get from those citizens?

PABLO ALVARADO, CO-EXEC DIRECTOR, NATIONAL DAY LABORER ORGANIZING NETWOR: I happened to live in Pasadena, nearby the areas that were impacted by the Eaton fires. And this morning were notified that there were ICE agents lodging at AC Hotel, a local hotel.

And the community began coming to protest the presence of those ICE agents who had already questioned the workers who cleaned the rooms of the hotel. And people from all walks of life came to stand with those workers and to demand that they leave our city.

Because our communities have witnessed the families being torn apart. Mothers, sons, daughters, grandfathers, children are being detained. We've seen ICE agents going to Home Depots to pick people up. So we're asking people who have the privilege to come out and protest and exercise their free speech rights to come and protest for those vulnerable communities peacefully.

And today the Pasadena community showed up in large numbers and the message was loud and clear. We don't want to see your armored vehicles, men in masks, coming to our communities to pick people up to rip families apart. The message was loud and clear and it was peaceful. And this is what we want. This is the moment where we need to protest peacefully.

CHURCH: Yes, that is the big message here, isn't it? Because I did want to ask you how concerned you are when you look at the images that we're seeing there from downtown L.A, when you see that violent protesters, and this is a completely different group, violent protesters hijacking your nonviolent cause, how does that make you feel?

ALVARADO: Well, the anger is understandable because you've seen armored vehicles and ICE agents armed to the teeth coming into the neighborhood. So I don't know who the violent protesters are, but the anger is justifiable.

Now, the violence, in my view, it's not because we can send the message that we want to send without attacking anybody. And every time that there is violence, the most vulnerable communities pay the price. Every time that there are riots, we see the business of low income communities that get burned down. We see the violence that impacts people.

So obviously, we don't want that kind of violence, but we don't want the violence that the ICE agents are actually engaging in as well.

[01:20:00]

because it's -- in my view, in some instances it's more violent. To rape a child from a family, from a mom, is more violent than what's happening in downtown LA. Obviously, any violence is condemned here and we don't want that in our communities.

CHURCH: And Pablo, where do you take your fight from here, your nonviolent fight? What will happen in the morning, in the hours ahead? What is your next step here?

ALVARADO: Well, we're talking to the authorities. We're talking to them about keeping peace, you know, because when you have a situation of violence, deescalation is very important. And I believe that the authorities would actually, hopefully, they take the right measures to deescalate and allow peaceful protests to take place.

This is the moment when we really have to be careful about what the next actions are. We are asking people of good conscience, people who believe that immigrants are part of the socio fabric, economic -- the socioeconomic fabric of our communities to come out. People who give the keys to their nannies, to their housekeepers to come and clean their homes. We're asking them to come to Home Depot and protect those who are in vulnerable circumstances peacefully. That's what we expect and that's what we want to see.

And I am sure that's what we -- that were going to see in the next days. But it doesn't mean that things are not going to get out of control. And there are individuals that might want to engage in acts of violence. There are also provocateurs that we don't know who they are. They might not even be protesters.

So this is all happening when there is chaos. And the chaos is not the community that it's initiated. It's the ICE agents that have come into communities that have engaged in that kind of violence. And the community responds. And it's unfortunate that we're going through this in this moment.

CHURCH: Pablo Alvarado, thank you so much for talking with us. We appreciate it.

ALVARADO: Thank you for inviting me.

CHURCH: Our breaking news coverage continues after a short break. Stay with us.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. All of downtown Los Angeles has been declared an unlawful assembly by police at this hour. The governor has accused President Donald Trump of adding fuel to the fire with the National Guard deployment. CNN's Kevin Liptak has more on the president's decision to activate those forces against the wishes and local officials.

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KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Trump's decision to call up National Guard troops in Los Angeles is really one that's without precedent, at least in recent memory. You have to go all the way back to the civil rights era to find another example of a president calling up a state's National Guard without the explicit request of that state's governor, which has not happened this time around.

In fact, it's quite the opposite. The Democratic governor Gavin Newsom, calling on Sunday for President Trump to reverse his decision, saying that there is currently no need for the National Guard to be deployed in Los Angeles.

And to do so in this unlawful manner and for such a lengthy period is a serious breach of state sovereignty that seems intentionally designed to inflame the situation while simultaneously depriving the state from deploying these personnel and resources where they are truly required.

Now, as of Sunday evening, there was no sign that President Trump planned to back off this decision. He said at multiple points on Sunday that this was about instilling law and order and that he could potentially deploy these troops in other cities across the United States. Listen to more of what President Trump said as he was heading to Camp David.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are the rules of engagement for federal troops?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We're going to 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.

UNDIENTIFIED MALE: How would you define an insurrection? TRUMP: You have to really just have to look at the get 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 that it could have gotten much worse. You have an incompetent governor.

LIPTAK: Now, later Sunday, the president reiterated that point of view on Truth Social, saying that violent insurrectionist mobs were swarming and attacking our federal agents to try and stop our deportation operations. But these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve.

The president went on to say that he was instructing federal officials to, quote, take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the migrant invasion and put an end to these migrant riots.

Now, President Trump has mused in the past, including during his first term in office, about using federal military personnel to tamp down on protests and on crime. But aides previously had talked him out of it, taking such an extreme action. This time, he seems unencumbered by these so called guardrails around him. And the president clearly tried to follow through on things that he said he would do as a candidate.

[01:29:44]

Now, he's long seen California and its Democratic leaders as something of a foil. You've seen that really escalate over the last several months as the president threatens to withdraw federal aid from that state.

Now clearly, the president willing to take it a step further as he deploys these National Guard troops against that state's wishes.

Kevin Liptak, CNN -- the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get more now from CNN's senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein, who joins me live from Los Angeles. Thanks Ron, for talking with us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So first, I do want to get your response to what's unfolding in downtown L.A. since President Trump federalized California's National Guard, deploying them on the third day of protests. What are your thoughts?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Look, preserving public order and public safety is the first responsibility for any level of government, there's no question. I mean, the question is whether President Trump's actions to this point have been advancing or undermining that goal from the way that the original ICE raids were conducted that triggered all of this to the choice to federalize the National Guard over the objections of the governor.

I mean, as Kevin pointed out, we have not seen this since the civil rights era, when there were a very different set of circumstances on the ground. At that point, you had southern segregationist governors actively impeding the enforcement of federal law. And only then did JFK and LBJ federalize the National Guard. Here you have something very different.

And just think about, as this situation is evolving on the ground in L.A. and you have a, you know, somewhat chaotic situation that is by the indications of the L.A. police commissioner becoming more dangerous. How extraordinary it is that the president and the governor and the mayor are not working together to ensure order.

And instead, the president is attacking them and the governor, you know, feeling that he has been bypassed is going potentially to court tomorrow to try to reverse.

I mean, this is not normal in the U.S. It is not really consistent with our history, but it is consistent with the way President Trump has viewed blue states less as a partner in governing than almost as a hostile territory to be subdued.

CHURCH: Yes, very important to emphasize this is not normal. So Ron, how likely is it do you think that President Trump would go further and decide to invoke the Insurrection Act? And what would be the consequences of such a move?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first, you know, he has tweeted tonight that he'd send in the troops, I think were the four words of his -- of his Truth Social post.

The order he signed on Saturday, Rosemary, it's important to understand -- the authority that he's claiming has usually been applied, experts tell me, in conjunction with the Insurrection Act. He is now trying to decouple them in a way that does not take the inflammatory step of formally declaring an insurrection, but basically claiming much of the same authority without it.

What's more, that order really -- people really need to understand that order does not mention L.A. specifically at any point. It basically authorizes the use of the National Guard and potentially the active-duty military anywhere in the U.S., where he believes that there are either protests against ICE or the potential for protests against ICE.

So this is a very broad reaching vision. You know, as we've talked about before, Donald Trump doesn't often admit regrets in public. But one of the things he says he's regretted is that he did not send in the National Guard to Minnesota during the George Floyd protests because of resistance from the governor and the mayors.

Whatever the merits of sending in the guard here, or certainly as they are evolving, this is something he has wanted to do for a while to basically send the signal that he will use every means necessary to impose his agenda on blue states and cities. And it would not be shocking based on his own language, if they -- if the administration views this as a test case for whether they can do this again. Again, the situation may be evolving. It may be appropriate to use the

National Guard in L.A., depending on what happens in the next few hours. But wouldn't it be better for everyone if the governor and the president were making that decision jointly, instead of in such an adversarial posture?

CHURCH: So Ron, how likely is it that President Trump would have deployed troops to a Republican state under similar circumstances? And what will be the real political and legal consequences of all of this, do you think?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, you know, he was asked today, what are the grounds on which, you know, what is the standard by which you will decide whether to send the active-duty military, which again, he has said tonight that he intends to do into American cities.

[01:34:52]

BROWNSTEIN: And he said, basically, you know, the standard is me. Me deciding. And look, the president has, as I said, made clear that he views blue states and blue cities more as kind of hostile territory than as part of, you know, the same constitutional republic.

They've already arrested a judge in Wisconsin, a mayor in New Jersey, a U.S. representative in New Jersey. You had Tom Homan today and the president talking about potentially arresting the mayor of Los Angeles, the governor of California.

What was in the news on Friday before all of this really took off, which was the reports that the administration is considering a widespread canceling of federal assistance to California, including all research grants to the university of California.

In many ways, he has, as I said, he has governed as a wartime president with blue America rather than any foreign adversary as the enemy.

None of that changes the dynamic that the president has an obligation and a responsibility to ensure public safety, as does the governor. They should be working together toward that end. But I think we are now in this extraordinary situation where rather than, you know, trying to figure out the best way out of this, you have a president who in many ways is looking to inflame the situation. And a governor that, you know, is in a confrontational posture toward him.

It's just utterly dysfunctional and dangerous for the country if we allow this to proceed along the road that were going down.

CHURCH: And Ron, Governor Newsom says the deployment of the California National Guards in L.A. by President Trump is, quote, "purposefully inflammatory" and will only escalate the tensions. What do you say to that?

BROWNSTEIN: Clearly, it's escalating the tensions and clearly it's impeding a kind of rational response to this. I mean, you know, the president did this from the outset, from the way the raids were done to the federalizing of the guard, in a way that kind of was maximum provocation to the state, to the community, to the -- to the protesters.

Now, you know, as I said, situation evolves. Everyone's got to kind of re -- you know, be open to changing facts on the ground. The LAPD, you know, chief said tonight that maybe we do need the National Guard. So maybe the National Guard will be appropriate at some time.

But we do -- what we really need is for the president and the governor and the mayor all to be working together rather than the president kind of triggering this cycle of acrimony and even potentially litigation.

While you know, this challenge is going on, this is just a very dangerous road when you have a president who is using national power, in effect, to punish sections of the country that he views as adversarial to him.

It is a very dangerous road to go down. We did it once before, Rosemary in the 1850s and the outcome of that was not very pleasant.

CHURCH: Indeed. 10:37 p.m. at night there in Los Angeles, on the streets talking to our Ron Brownstein at that time as well from L.A. Many thanks for your analysis. Always appreciate it.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me. Yes.

CHURCH: Well, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is lashing out against the Trump administration for sending in the National Guard to deal with protesters. Her interview with CNN next.

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CHURCH: Back to our breaking news in Los Angeles as we monitor the ongoing clashes between demonstrators and federal law enforcement agents.

Police say that the entire downtown Los Angeles area has been declared as an unlawful assembly. They are warning that any violence will be met with appropriate force.

It is the third day of protests against immigration raids that swept across California over the weekend. The governor is threatening to sue the Trump administration for deploying the National Guard, calling the move illegal, immoral and unconstitutional. But President Trump is urging the Los Angeles police department chief to bring in the troops.

President Trump's border czar says California officials could be arrested for impeding ICE raids. Tom Homan told NBC News that the mayor of Los Angeles or Governor Newsom could be arrested if necessary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TOM HOMAN, DONALD TRUMP'S BORDER CZAR: I would say about anybody, you cross that line. It's a felony to knowingly harboring and concealing an illegal alien. It's a felony to impede law enforcement from doing their job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think that the mayor of L.A. is doing that?

HOMAN: If she crossed that line, we'll ask DOJ to prosecute. Do I think she's crossed the line? I don't think she's crossed the line yet.

But I'm telling you, the warning we're sending is we're not going to tolerate people attacking our officers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Governor Newsom is blaming the president for inflaming the protests.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Donald Trump has created the conditions you see on your TV tonight. He's exacerbated the conditions. He's, you know, lit the proverbial match. He's putting fuel on this fire.

Ever since he announced he was taking over the National Guard -- an illegal act, an immoral act, an unconstitutional act. And we're going to test that theory with a lawsuit tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I Was going to ask you that. Sorry to interrupt you, but governor. So that's news. If you're going to sue the administration, tell me a little bit about it. Give us a preview of this lawsuit.

NEWSOME: Well, under his executive order, specifically notes and under what the DOD did is they had to coordinate with the governor of the state. They never coordinated with the governor of the state. I've worked with the National Guard. We've deployed the National Guard. We did three plus thousand folks have been doing logistics work and fire recovery work, and they're fighting the fires, the Rattlesnake Teams.

We did the same back in George Floyd. We have no problem working collaboratively on a mutual aid system with local law enforcement. But there's a protocol. There's a process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass tells CNN the federal government has created what she calls "intentional chaos" with the deployment of National Guard forces. She says the city was ok to handle protesters and keep the peace by themselves.

[01:44:49]

CHURCH: Here's part of her conversation earlier with my colleague, Jessica Dean. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYOR KAREN BASS (D), LOS ANGELES: A sense of fear has been created in this city beginning on Friday, when numerous workplaces were raided.

Initially, we were told only violent criminals. I don't know how that relates to a workplace. We have people that are detained right now and they've not been in contact with their families. They've not been allowed to have legal counsel. And to me, it just seems like this is intentional chaos.

You know, I had talked to representatives of the Trump administration earlier on to tell them that the Los Angeles Police Department could control things that were happening here and that there was no need to federalize troops.

And so to have this here is really just a provocation and something that was not needed in our city.

We're still recovering after five months from the city's worst natural disaster in decades. And now to go through a trauma like this, that is really traumatizing the whole city, because everybody knows somebody in a city where more than 50 percent are Latino.

This just sows chaos that is not warranted nor needed in the city of Los Angeles at this point in time.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I know LAPD, as you just noted, declared some of these gatherings unlawful assembly. Is that something you were made aware of before they did that? Did you ok that?

BASS: Yes. Well, I didn't OK it. I don't run the police department. The chief does. But I was aware of it. And what I was told is, is that the protesters had begun throwing things.

So to me, it is most important that everybody be allowed to exercise their First Amendment right. But it absolutely has to be done peacefully. Now with federal troops on the ground, we do not need to have our city under siege.

I remember the last time federal troops were on the ground here, and it was in 1992 when there was massive civil unrest. Nothing like that is happening here. So there is no need for there to be federal troops on our ground right now.

DEAN: And Mayor, we've seen since the federal troops arrived, there were those clashes earlier today. And then we saw LAPD essentially trying to build some space between where the protesters were located, where the National Guard troops were located, try to spread them out a bit. Now, obviously, they're trying to disperse them.

I'm curious if now that the National Guard troops are there on the ground, if there is any urgency on the police department's part to really put out an even stronger force and a stronger posture to get this under control so you can, and I know your governor has said that they don't want -- that he's formally requested that the National Guard troops go back, that they're not needed. Were those things correlated?

BASS: Well, I absolutely agree with the governor in asking that the troops be withdrawn. I don't think that is a way to bring peace in Los Angeles. I think that our law enforcement officers can handle this situation.

But I just have to repeat again, it's a feeling here of intentional chaos in a situation that had not broken out to violence short of a few people, and there's nothing unusual about that. And our police departments can manage that.

But it is as though troops were rolled out in a provocative manner. And I do not see how that is helpful to Los Angeles right now. It's not the type of resources that we need in the city.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass speaking there with our Jessica Dean.

Our breaking news coverage continues after a short break. Stay with us.

[01:48:34]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is publicly criticizing the federal immigration raids in Los Angeles. On Sunday, she said Los Angeles, quote, "would not be what it is without the Mexican men and women who live there."

She also demanded the rights of Mexican men and women be respected, while offering her approach to resolving the migrant crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM, MEXICAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We do not agree with this way of addressing the migration phenomenon. It is not through raids or violence that the migration phenomenon will be addressed.

It is by sitting down and working on the comprehensive immigration reform that takes into account all Mexicans who are on the other side of the border. That is our position. And we will always call for peace, for nonviolence, for non-exacerbating any form of violent demonstration. None.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: California Governor Gavin Newsom says the state intends to sue President Trump. He says the federal deployment of National Guard troops in L.A. is illegal, immoral and unconstitutional.

Earlier, CNN's Brian Abel spoke with the mayor of Pasadena, Victor Gordo. The mayor said he stands with Governor Newsom. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR VICTOR GORDO, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA: As an immigrant, I'm appalled. I'm appalled that a community that's just gone through the worst of times with the fire is now targeted and bullied. Its un- American. It's immoral. It's wrong.

And so I stand with the governor to say, let's correct the record. Let's make clear that in this country, in this state, and certainly in the city of Pasadena, we don't attack people. We don't separate families. We welcome people.

BRIAN ABEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can you give us a sense, Mayor, of what's been happening in your city in Pasadena? You're not too far away from where we have been showing most of these images throughout the evening, just a little ways northeast.

GORDO: Well, we've had some reports of federal agents in Pasadena. We have confirmed that there're federal agents that were present in Pasadena. And, we don't believe they were here for enforcement purposes.

But that's part of the fear that's being instilled by the administration and others. And it's wrong. It's wrong for people to live in fear.

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GORDO: There's no place in this world for people to live in fear, in their own homes, in their own communities. There's no place in this country. There's no place in this state, and certainly not in Pasadena for people who live in fear.

And we are going to make our opinion known, but were going to do it peacefully, respectfully and in the Pasadena way which is in deliberate, educated response with real facts.

ABEL: It seems that this immigration enforcement expanded beyond at least the campaign promise from President Trump of going after violent criminals. And it seems to expand to many people that just are still in the immigration process at this point with where they are visiting and detaining individuals during immigration hearings and things of that nature.

At some point how does the community -- like how does the community reckon with the concept that they have not been granted legal status and they are subject to a removal of this nature, however cruel it may be?

GORDO: Well, you know, we in this country believe in due process. I myself am an immigrant. My parents are -- I am -- I was born in Zacatecas, Mexico. I was brought to Pasadena at age five. I lived in a garage. And I know what it's like to live in fear. And it's wrong.

And, you know, at the time thanks to Jimmy Carter, we had a process to full citizenship. If you follow the rules, if you did what was right, and you worked hard there was -- there was a path to citizenship. And that's what's missing today.

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CHURCH: And thanks so much for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church.

Our breaking news coverage continues though, after a short break. Stay with us.

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