President Trump on Monday demanded the arrest of all masked rioters as violent clashes between thousands of anti-ICE agitators and law enforcement continued to rock Los Angeles — and spread to San Francisco.
“ARREST THE PEOPLE IN FACE MASKS, NOW!” the president boomed in an overnight Truth Social post.
“Looking really bad in L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!” he added.
The order came after Trump said he’d deploy 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles – as federal immigration agents faced off against scores of anti-ICE protesters in chaotic scenes over the weekend.
The Department of Defense warned, too, that it had 500 Marines ready to deploy if the violence continued.
The confrontations erupted on Saturday near a Home Depot in the heavily Latino city of Paramount when agitators started hurling rocks and cement at Border Patrol vehicles following a series of ICE sweeps.
The feds unleashed tear gas, flash bang explosives and pepper balls in a bid to quell the violence.
The unrest then spilled over into Sunday when at least 2,000 anti-ICE protesters took over a major highway in downtown LA – with rioters lighting self-driving cars ablaze and pelting cops with fireworks in wild scenes.
The LAPD chief eventually admitted his officers were “overwhelmed” by the violence and vandalism after three consecutive days of demonstrations.
“Jim McDonnell, the highly respected LAPD Chief, just stated that the protesters are getting very much more aggressive, and that he would ‘have to reassess the situation,’ as it pertains to bringing in the troops,” Trump shot off in another social media post late Sunday after signing a presidential memorandum to deploy the National Guard.
“He should, RIGHT NOW!!! Don’t let these thugs get away with this.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom, for his part, called the decision “purposefully inflammatory” and vowed to sue the administration.
He later said the federal government wants a spectacle and urged people not to give them one by becoming violent.
In a further sign of the administration’s push to crackdown, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also threatened to deploy the military.
“If violence continues, active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert,” Hegseth said on X.
Trump later raged that if Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass couldn’t do their jobs “then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”
Meanwhile, the chaos has since spilled into San Francisco, too, where rioters tore through buildings and violently clashed with police decked out in riot gear.
San Francisco Police said two officers had been injured in the city’s financial district.
“My first priority as mayor is, and has always been, the safety of everyone who lives or works in San Francisco,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said in an X post late Sunday.
“Everyone in this country has a right to make their voice heard peacefully, and local law enforcement will always protect that right and the rights of everyone in our city to be safe. But we will never tolerate violent and destructive behavior, and as crowds dwindled, a group that remained caused injuries to police officers, vandalized Muni vehicles, and broke windows of local businesses.”
Lurie said that law enforcement has arrested approximately 60 rioters.
“Violence directed at law enforcement or public servants is never acceptable. We are working right now to clean up damage, get Muni back to full operations, and coordinating across departments to remain fully prepared for any upcoming activities,” he added.“We will continue San Francisco’s decades-long practice of prioritizing everyone’s safety by supporting community organizations, investing in immigrant legal services, and continuing to build trust with local law enforcement.”
