LOS ANGELES (KTLA) — A significant military presence was observed in downtown Los Angeles early Sunday morning following unrest triggered by ICE raids in the L.A. area and in anticipation of a third consecutive day of protests. 

President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of thousands of National Guard troops on Saturday night after a raid in Paramount earlier that day led to a series of destructive demonstrations. Although Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass stated just after midnight on Sunday that the National Guard had not been deployed in the city, troops began arriving later that morning.

Military personnel were spotted at the Federal Building in downtown around 4 a.m. Sunday to ensure the protection of federal agents. Additional troops have been deployed to the Hall of Justice, located next to City Hall. 

“It’s one thing to see a heavy law enforcement presence, but it’s a whole other situation when we have [this many] military personnel in downtown L.A.,” Jennifer McGraw of Nexstar’s KTLA said Sunday.

On Sunday morning, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the National Guard would “keep peace and allow people to be able to protest but also to keep law and order.”

A rally has been planned for 2 p.m., but impromptu demonstrations are expected to pop up on Sunday morning.

Protests began on Friday after federal agents conducted raids in downtown LA and the Westlake neighborhood, which resulted in more than 40 people being detained, including a local labor union president. The tension continued the next day when ICE officials were seen in Paramount, and large crowds quickly gathered there and in neighboring Compton, where demonstrators set a car on fire. 

The unrest spread to downtown by Saturday evening, where protesters clashed with ICE agents outside the Federal Detention Center, where some detainees are believed to be held.

Immigrant advocates, legal representatives, and U.S. Rep. Jimmy Gomez (CA-34) attempted to enter the facility to see those who had been detained during raids but said they were denied entry multiple times.  

The situation has escalated tensions between local, state and federal leaders; President Trump has repeatedly called out L.A. Mayor Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom for their handling of the protests. 

Newsom called Trump’s move to deploy the National Guard “purposefully inflammatory” and less than ten minutes later, Trump put out a social media post that read: “If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can’t do their jobs, which everyone knows they can’t, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!” 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.