Immigration raid protests spread to more cities as Trump threatens additional deployments

Geoff Bennett:

Welcome to the "News Hour."

A curfew in downtown Los Angeles remains in effect tonight. And hundreds of anti-ICE protesters have been arrested in Los Angeles and multiple cities this week. The National Guard said more troops could be deployed with immigration agents. That's as they continue their pursuit of undocumented immigrants.

Amna Nawaz:

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and more than two dozen other California mayors asked President Trump to end the sweeping immigration raids. But, today, they continued in California, Pennsylvania and Louisiana, among other places. In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson called President Trump a tyrant and authoritarian.

The president's team defended his approach and warned that Guard troops could be deployed to other cities.

Special correspondent Marcia Biggs continues our coverage tonight with this report.

Marcia Biggs:

From Atlanta, to New York City, where more than 80 people were arrested, and Chicago, where police clashed with demonstrators and several more were detained, to Texas, where police pinned protesters to the ground, and Governor Greg Abbott said he would deploy the National Guard ahead of a planned protest in San Antonio, across the country, anti-ICE protesters gathered in the streets in solidarity with those in Los Angeles.

Yesterday in L.A., protesters continued marching against ongoing immigration raids. And the city's Mayor Karen Bass declared a curfew for parts of downtown beginning at 8:00 p.m.

Last night, California Governor Gavin Newsom again condemned the administration's decision to send in the National Guard and the Marines.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA):

This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers and even our National Guard at risk. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next.

Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived.

Marcia Biggs:

And, yesterday at Fort Bragg, President Trump claimed the protesters were paid insurrectionists.

Donald Trump, President of the United States: These are animals, but they proudly carry the flags of other countries, but they don't carry the American flag. They only burn it. We will not allow an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy. And that's what they are. A lot of those people were let in here by the Biden administration.

Marcia Biggs:

He vowed to keep the troops in L.A. — quote — "until there's peace."

Downtown L.A. Vape and smoke shop owner Tony, who refused to give his last name, said he defended his business with pepper spray on Monday night after seeing looters breaking into neighboring stores.

Tony, Los Angeles Business Owner:

I'm an immigrant myself. I'm from Lebanon. I'm half-Armenian. And I have been here for 10 years. And I would never do something like that to another business. Destroying businesses and making us spend thousands of dollars boarding up businesses is not fair for us.

Marcia Biggs:

He supports having the National Guard on the streets to protect businesses.

Tony:

Where the protests are happening, it is peaceful, like at the building and stuff like that. But, usually, like, at night, late hours, people are starting to, like, start looting. I don't know if they were the protesters or they're just taking advantage of the chaos that it's creating.

Marcia Biggs:

But, last night, the curfew and heavy police presence seemed to keep looters at bay across downtown.

Lifelong Angeleno Sarah Rascon says looting and violence are a small part of what's happened in recent days.

Sarah Rascon, Los Angeles Resident:

It's unfortunate that that's what's highly televised and that's not what's happening. You know, 99 percent of us are here for peaceful protest and demonstration, and they taint the movement.

Marcia Biggs:

She says she's here to show support for the city's immigrants.

Sarah Rascon:

I am here for all the abuelitas, all the people who are afraid, those that have been working for our communities, those who make up our economy, those who are doing the backbreaking work and can't be here.

Marcia Biggs:

In nearby Glendale, the city this week terminated a longstanding contract that allowed ICE to use its jail to temporarily hold undocumented immigrants.

Ara Najarian, Mayor of Glendale, California: Here we are in Glendale offering them much more than a cold basement. We're offering them a clean, safe place where they can collect their thoughts, take care of their affairs, speak to attorneys, be fed, be washed, clean up. And we're taking that away from them.

Marcia Biggs:

Ara Najarian is Glendale's mayor.

Ara Najarian:

We clearly saw that we were on the target list and that made us very uncomfortable. As the leaders of Glendale, our primary goal is to keep our residents safe, our businesses safe, our property safe. We felt that continuing to have that contract, even though we felt we were doing nothing wrong and were being very humane in the process, would lead to the type of protests, the same type that we see in downtown L.A., to come to Glendale.

Marcia Biggs:

Najarian says the decision was difficult. Immigrant rights advocates praised the move. But the Department of Homeland Security said Glendale was standing with — quote — "criminal illegal aliens over American citizens."

Ara Najarian:

I really take offense at the characterization that I stand with illegal aliens and criminals. I believe that we should enforce our immigration laws.

I think, when you're discussing these issues, they are very nuanced. It's not just black or white. We don't want to be an oppressive authoritarian city. We have a city of 50 percent immigrants. My parents are immigrants. Most of my family are immigrants from Armenia. We have got a huge Armenian population here, Korean, Latino, Central American.

We don't want to be the big bad guy, but we saw that we were giving an opportunity for respite along this process that now those detainees do not have.

(Singing)

Marcia Biggs:

Back in L.A. last night, thousands attended a vigil with faith leaders.

Reverend Jaime Edwards-Acton was in the crowd.

Rev. Jaime Edward-Action, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church:

and If you're a daughter or son and your father was taken away, you're not just going to be grieving. You're going to be angry, right? You're going to be angry and you want justice. And so you're going to make that known. And so you're going to shout. You're going to scream. You're going to yell at people.

But it's very few that take it beyond that, right? And so — and we're here to try to be — to show that alternative, right, that nonviolent alternative.

Marcia Biggs:

The crowd then marched to the federal complex nearby where the National Guard stood watch.

Like in previous nights, there were some tense moments outside the federal complex here. Police had to block roads and even fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. The crowd eventually thinned. Protesters are back at it again today, but after a calmer night, there are some small signs of a return to normalcy with crews even out trying to clean up the graffiti in the area.

But all of this is happening as we hear reports today of more ICE raids in various parts of the city — Amna.

Amna Nawaz:

Marcia Biggs reporting for us from Los Angeles tonight once again.

Marcia, thank you.

Well, for more now on how lawmakers are viewing the protests and the president's response, we're joined by congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins .

So, Lisa, I know you have been speaking with members of Congress all day today. Let's start with the Republicans you have been speaking to. How are they viewing the president's actions?

Lisa Desjardins :

There is one overall theme for most Republicans. They support the president. They support the actions here. There is a small minority that has some questions about what's happening and maybe has an issue, has an issue with the Marines themselves.

But the vast majority of Republicans here on Capitol Hill that we spoke to today support the president. And they say three specific things. One, they're telling us that they think the situation in Los Angeles was too volatile, too dangerous. And they have even pointed to past situations, in their opinion, to say that California was not going to get the situation under control.

Number two, repeatedly, there is sort of a talking point, a messaging and a belief by these Republicans that President Trump did need to take action because his job is to protect Americans. Number three, and this is important, Amna, Republicans today, many of them repeated this idea to me, that the Marines are there only to protect federal buildings and federal personnel.

So while they weren't saying this was a red line for them, this was something that made it easier for Republicans to support active-duty troops going into Los Angeles from President Trump.

Now, we spoke to many Republicans today. I want to play a little bit of what some said, but many of them, while they're defending President Trump, were criticizing California Governor Gavin Newsom. So here's some of what we heard starting with a California Republican.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA):

To be honest, my governors on the wrong side of history, like governors in the past who stood in the way of civil rights.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE):

I want to see rule of law. I mean, in the end, we can't rationalize or accept the violence and the burning of cars. So I guess I think the president's doing the right thing.

Lisa Desjardins :

Well, this has been the dominant thought, supporting the president from Republicans.

I will say this conversation, this topic is not actually dominant itself on Capitol Hill. More members left and right seem to be focused on the president's budget bill.

Amna Nawaz:

Well, Lisa, you mentioned there a minority of Republicans who disagree with the federal response.

Tell us who we're talking about there and what their criticism is.

Lisa Desjardins :

Right.

We're talking about those who are speaking out publicly. There's a nuanced layer here, but let's talk about this small number of people who are questioning President Trump's actions. You can look at this right here. We talked to Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins today. She is someone who does not believe the president should send active-duty Marines into the sphere.

She says that is a problem, especially with state-owned authority. The other one, Tony Gonzales, of Texas, he's someone who generally supports the president taking action here, but has called for the president to de-escalate what he's doing in Los Angeles.

Now, what's interesting here is, Democrats, of course, they are united in terms of opposing what President Trump is doing and his actions. Here's some of what they have said.

Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA):

This is not a rebellion. This is not an insurrection. These are demonstrators, only a small number of whom have engaged in violence. It's a very serious issue for every governor in every state if the president, on his own whim, decides to take command of a state's National Guard.

Lisa Desjardins :

Multiple Democratic sources stressed this point to me, saying, if Trump did this in a rural or red state, then Republicans might feel differently.

Amna Nawaz:

Lisa, before you go, I know you have some reporting on the rescissions package before Congress. What's the latest on that?

Lisa Desjardins :

Quickly, this is touch and go right now. This is our exclusive reporting, as far as I know, right now.

We know of four House Republicans who are questioning the rescissions package. You can look at some pictures of them. These are generally moderate Republicans. They're questioning the rescissions package on two grounds, the public broadcasting cuts and also the cuts to PEPFAR, the program that tries to prevent and treat HIV across the world.

Amna Nawaz:

Lisa Desjardins , thank you very much.

Lisa Desjardins :

You're welcome.