(The Hill) The White House said on Wednesday that 330 immigrants have been arrested in Los Angeles since Friday.
“Since June 6, there have been 330 illegal aliens that have been arrested as part of these riots in Los Angeles,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Wednesday briefing.
“One-hundred and thirteen of those illegal aliens had prior criminal convictions,” she added.
The Trump administration has taken a hardline stance on immigration during its first few months, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests topping 100,000 under President Donald Trump this year, per a White House spokesperson.
“There’s been 157 people arrested for assault and obstruction-related charges,” Leavitt said during the Wednesday briefing.
Trump deployed thousands of National Guard soldiers in Los Angeles over the weekend to quell expanding demonstrations in the city. Protesters were pushing back on local ICE raids that came amid the administration’s crackdown on immigration.
“If our troops didn’t go into Los Angeles, it would be burning to the ground right now, just like so much of their housing burned to the ground,” Trump said on social media Wednesday.
On Wednesday, federal prosecutors announced charges against two men accused of possessing Molotov cocktails amid recent Los Angeles protests in response to immigration raids.
The Los Angeles Police Department said Tuesday more than 100 arrests were made Monday night amid recent protests, with 96 people arrested over “failure to disperse.”
