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For the third consecutive day on Sunday, law enforcement in Los Angeles faced off against protesters after President Donald Trump sent the National Guard to suppress demonstrations reacting to raids on those suspected of being undocumented immigrants.

Throughout the day, these protests were mostly peaceful, but tensions escalated near a detention center in downtown LA as officers and National Guard personnel used tear gas, smoke canisters, and rubber bullets against the demonstrators. By late afternoon, some protesters successfully blocked traffic on the 101 highway close to City Hall, causing disruptions and leading officers to deploy flash-bang devices.

The action of deploying National Guard troops on Sunday led California Governor Gavin Newsom to criticize the Trump administration, calling it a “serious breach of state sovereignty.” This move marked the first instance since 1965 of a US president deploying a state’s National Guard without the governor’s request.

Over the weekend, Trump invoked a rarely used law designed to repress invasions and rebellions to send in the troops, a move deemed unnecessary by local law enforcement officials and decried by Newsom as “inflammatory”.

The US president justified the move on Sunday night with incendiary language: “A once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals.”

On his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed, without evidence, that “violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations”.

The large protest in downtown LA drew a crowd of thousands, some waving Mexican flags and carrying signs that said: “Immigrants Make America Great”.

When some protesters tossed water bottles at police, others in the crowd yelled: “Don’t throw things — this is what Trump wants you to do!”

The unrest in the second-largest US city has been prompted by federal agents arresting dozens of people in a sweep of local businesses.

On Sunday evening, Trump did not rule out sending in marines after defence secretary Pete Hegseth threatened the move on Saturday.

“We’re going to see what we need,” he told reporters. “We’ll send whatever we need to ensure there’s law and order.”

In his Truth Social post, Trump said he had ordered officials “to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion, and put an end to these Migrant riots.”

Deploying up to 2,000 guardsmen will test the ability of heavily Democratic states to resist the Trump administration’s agenda and protect their citizens from its enforcement actions.

Trump’s decision to “federalise” the National Guard — or transfer it from state to federal control — was highly unusual. It was last done in 1992, when then-President George HW Bush sent guardsmen to LA to control riots following the beating by police of Rodney King. In that instance, the Guard’s assistance was requested by California’s governor, Pete Wilson. 

This time Trump overruled the wishes of Newsom, a frequent target of the president.

Newsom said the Trump administration made the decision to deploy the National Guard “not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle” in a post on X.  

Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who votes with Democrats, warned that Trump was “moving this country rapidly toward authoritarianism”. He accused the president of defying the Constitution and the rule of law.

Nanette Barragán, a Democratic member of Congress whose district includes the areas of southern Los Angeles that witnessed many of the protests, told CNN that Trump was “sending in the National Guard because he doesn’t like the scenes. He doesn’t like the scenes of people peacefully protesting”.

She added that she had spoken to sheriffs on the ground who said they had things under control and that there was no need for federal backup.

Barragán said officials in Los Angeles had been told by the federal government to “get ready for 30 days of enforcement”, while border tsar Tom Homan told NBC that “around 150” undocumented immigrants had already been detained in the city over the past two days.

The deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles comes amid a broader stand-off between the White House and California.

The Trump administration, which has been aiming for a “minimum” of 3,000 migrant arrests daily, has clashed with the predominantly Democratic state, after officials vowed resistance and non-cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.

Trump has threatened federal funding cuts due to California’s positions on immigration, transgender rights and other matters. 

In retaliation, Newsom proposed that California might withhold federal tax payments, stating on X: “Californians pay the bills for the federal government . . . Maybe it’s time to cut that off.”

He noted that the state contributes over $80bn more in taxes than it receives back.