Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem promised Thursday to move forward with the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Los Angeles despite the waves of unrest that have followed, saying agents have thousands of targets.
"This is only going to continue until we have peace on the streets of Los Angeles," she said during a news conference that was interrupted by shouting from Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat who was forcibly removed from the event.
Noem spoke hours before President Donald Trump's use of troops to help carry out immigration raids faces its biggest challenge yet when a federal judge weighs a request from California Gov. Gavin Newsom to put an emergency stop to the practice.
Newsom has warned that the military intervention is part of a broader effort by Trump to overturn norms at the heart of the nation's democracy. He also said that sending National Guard troops on the raids has further inflamed tensions in Los Angeles, where large and sometimes volatile protests have broken out since the crackdown began nearly a week ago.
So far, the protests have been centered mostly in downtown LA near City Hall and a federal detention center where some immigrants are being held. Much of the sprawling city has been spared from the protests.
The Trump administration on Wednesday called Newsom's lawsuit a "crass political stunt endangering American lives." A hearing is set for Thursday afternoon in San Francisco.
Demonstrations have picked up across the U.S., with protests emerging in more than a dozen major cities. On Wednesday, police in Seattle used pepper spray to clear out protesters, and officers in Denver used smoke and pepper balls to control a crowd.
Police in riot gear — many on horseback — charged at a group of protesters Wednesday night in LA just before the start of the second night of the city's downtown curfew. The officers struck some demonstrators with wooden rods and later fired crowd-control projectiles. After the curfew went into effect, a handful of arrests were made before the area cleared out.
Noem Calls Action in LA a Blueprint
The immigration agents conducting the raids in LA are "putting together a model and a blueprint" for other communities, Noem said.
She pledged that federal authorities "are not going away," even though, she said, officers have been hit with rocks and bricks and assaulted. She said people with criminal records who are in the country illegally and violent protesters will "face consequences."
"Just because you think you're here as a citizen or because you're a member of a certain group or you're not a citizen, it doesn't mean that you're going to be protected and not face consequences from the laws that this country stands for," she said.
Noem criticized the California senator's interruption, calling it "inappropriate." A statement from her agency said Noem and Padilla met after the news conference for about 15 minutes, but it also chided him for "disrespectful political theater."
Padilla said later that he was demanding answers about the "increasingly extreme immigration enforcement actions" and only wanted to ask Noem a question. He said he was handcuffed but not arrested.
"If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, I can only imagine what they are doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers throughout the Los Angeles community," he said.
Military Involvement Escalates in LA
The Trump administration has rapidly expanded military deployments to Los Angeles over the past week and has said it is willing to send troops to other cities to assist with immigration enforcement and controlling disturbances — in line with what Trump promised during last year's campaign.
Some 2,000 Guard soldiers are in the nation's second-largest city and are soon to be joined by 2,000 more, along with about 700 Marines, said Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, who's in charge of the operation.
About 500 of the Guard troops deployed to the Los Angeles protests have been trained to accompany agents on immigration operations, the commander said Wednesday. The Guard has the authority to temporarily detain people who attack officers, but any arrests must be made by law enforcement.
While some troops have already gone on such missions, he said it's too early to say if that will continue even after the protests die down.
"We are expecting a ramp-up," Sherman said, noting that protests across the nation were being discussed. "I'm focused right here in LA, what's going on right here. But, you know, I think we're, we're very concerned."
States Face Questions on Deploying Troops
With more demonstrations expected over the weekend and the possibility that Trump could send troops to other states for immigration enforcement, governors are weighing what to do.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has put 5,000 National Guard members on standby in cities where demonstrations are planned. In other Republican-controlled states, governors have not said when or how they're planning to deploy troops for protests.
A group of Democrat governors earlier this week signed a statement calling Trump's deployments "an alarming abuse of power."
"Illinois follows the law. But let me be clear: We expect the federal government to follow the law, too," Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Thursday during a Capitol Hill hearing on state immigration policies. "We will not participate in abuses of power."
Hundreds Have Been Arrested in LA Protests
Los Angeles police have made about 470 arrests since Saturday, the vast majority of which were for failing to leave the area at the request of law enforcement, according to the police department.
There have been a handful of more serious charges, including for assault against police officers and for possession of a Molotov cocktail and a gun. Nine police officers have been hurt, mostly with minor injures. Some were transported to a hospital and released.