Los Angeles protests: mayor says unrest ‘provoked by White House’ after more than 200 arrested during curfew – live | Los Angeles Ice protests

Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios, mayor of the city of Ventura, says she is “outraged and heartbroken by Ice activities targeting of immigrant families in our area”.

She calls the raids “inhumane” and “an affront to the values we uphold throughout the state of California”.

She highlights immigrant labor that sustains agriculture in the region. “Every American who relies on the labor of these individuals will be affected,” she says.

She notes that these individuals made up much of the “essential” workforce who kept the state running during the Covid pandemic.

“These people are also human, at the basic level,” she says.

“We condemn the separation of immigrant families. No-one deserves to live in fear simply for seeking a better life for themselves or for there loved ones,” she says.

“We call on our fellow leaders to centre humanity at every decision they make,” she says.

“When you raid Home Depot and workplaces, when you tear parents and children apart, and when you run armored caravans through our streets – you’re not trying to keep anyone safe, you’re trying to cause fear and panic,” says Bass.

Deploying federalized troops on the heels of the immigration raids, was a “drastic and chaotic escalation and completely unnecessary”, she says.

The cause of the problems in the city of Los Angeles started on Friday with Ice immigration raids, says Bass.

“This was provoked by the White House,” she says, positing that “maybe we are part of a national experiment to determine how far the federal government can go in reaching in and taking power from a local governor, local jurisdiction and leaving our residents in fear.”

She is joined by more than 30 mayors from across the region. “All of us represent cities in this region where immigrants are key. And if in some cases, not the majority of the population,” Bass says.

She accuses the Trump administration of creating “fear and panic” by raiding workplaces and going after “mothers and fathers, restaurant workers, seamstress, home care workers, everyday Angelenos trying to make a living”.

“The individuals that are here with me today are all leaders in their area and we all stand in support and solidarity and call for the raids to end,” Bass says.

Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass is about to hold a press conference after a 10-hour curfew was imposed for parts of downtown LA last night. I’ll bring you all the key lines here.

Leavitt says “of course” peaceful protests would be allowed to go ahead on Saturday for the military parade.

“Of course the president supports peaceful protests. What a stupid question,” she says.

Donald Trump received a phone call from Elon Musk late on Monday before the billionaire expressed regret over some of the posts he made on social media last week, according to the New York Times (paywall), citing three people briefed on the call.

Leavitt dodges a question asking what the president makes of homeland security secretary Kristi Noem’s memo to the Pentagon asking it to direct members of the military to arrest or detain “lawbreakers” inside the United States.

Pressed to comment on the fact that the military is not authorized to arrest people unless the president invoked the Insurrection Act, Leavitt says “the president understands the legal authority that he invoked [in federalizing California’s national guard]”.

Leavitt says California governor Gavin Newsom and LA mayor Karen Bass “need to actually do more”.

Referring to Newsom’s address last night and hinting at “his future political ambitions”, Leavitt says “he spoke a lot of words, we haven’t seen action”.

Donald Trump is reviewing the details of the China trade deal with his team, Leavitt says, adding that the president likes what he has learned about it so far.

Leavitt says the administration agreed to comply with the terms of the Geneva agreement it reached last month with officials from Beijing.

Since 6 June, “there have been 330 illegal aliens arrested as part of the riots in Los Angeles”, says Leavitt.

Donald Trump appreciates Elon Musk’s apology, Leavitt says, adding that the administration has made no efforts to review government contracts with Musk’s companies.

More than 200 people were arrested after police said they failed to leave the downtown area in compliance with the mayor’s curfew, the Los Angeles police department said in a post on X. They face a charge of failure to disperse.

In addition, 17 people were arrested on a charge of curfew violation. Others were taken into custody on charges of possessing a firearm, assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, and discharging a laser at a police airship.

Police said that two officers were injured and received medical treatment, but did not say what caused their injuries.

At the press conference earlier, US attorney for the central district of California, Bill Essayli, had also fed into Trump’s claim that the protesters are “paid insurrectionists”, saying that anti-Ice protests in Los Angeles appear to be “organized and orchestrated”.

“Well-funded agitators are coming into town and they are resisting federal law enforcement operations,” he said.

The Trump administration has yet to provide evidence for these claims, including Leavitt who dodged a request for more detail behind the claims just now.

Asked about Trump’s claims that protesters are “paid insurrectionists”, Leavitt says this is “common sense”.

She says images appear to show “boxes and boxes of very professionalised masks and rioting equipment being dropped off for these protesters”.

Leavitt says this raises questions “about who is funding these insurrectionists”.

Leavitt says Trump was in contact with Gavin Newsom on Friday evening and “told him to let law enforcement in California do their jobs”.

She says Trump warned Newsom to “get it together” and “24 hours later we had images like this”, she says holding up photos of the unrest, with “illegal criminals throwing rocks at our border patrol and Ice agents”, leading Trump to federalize California’s national guard.

Karoline Leavitt is speaking to reporters now. I’ll bring you all the key lines.

US attorney for the central district of California Bill Essayli says federal immigration laws will be enforced in the state.

“Some people really seem to have the notion that California is a sanctuary from federal immigration laws,” says Essayli. “Let me assure you: there is no sanctuary. Federal laws are applicable here and they will be enforced.”

He says that “nothing [protesters] have done to date” has impacted immigration enforcement efforts, “and they are continuing as we speak”.

Essayli says authorities are collecting video, photos, social media evidence and body-camera footage to identify other people who may have committed acts of violence during the unrest in Los Angeles last weekend.

Officials are looking into “hundreds of people”, he says.

He vows to identify and bring charges against those who were committing violence.

We’re coming after all these people, so let’s be clear this is the beginning, not the end.

ABC News had the story this morning that Emiliano Galvez and Wrackkie Quiogue were being charged by the US attorney in Los Angeles for possession of an unregistered destructive device for their alleged roles in the unrest in LA over the weekend.

Per ABC’s report:

When the LAPD approached Quiogue – who officials said was armed with a Molotov cocktail at Sunday’s protest in downtown LA – he allegedly “threw the Molotov cocktail into the air and attempted to flee”, the complaint said. The confrontation was caught on officer body camera.

LAPD officers subdued Quiogue and arrested him, prosecutors said.

Quiogue’s device was described as a clear bottle with a yellow rag sticking out of it; he also had a lighter, the complaint said.

Galvez is accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail over a wall toward LA sheriff’s deputies who were “engaging in crowd control activities” during a protest in Paramount, a city in south LA County, on Saturday, federal prosecutors said.

Home surveillance video showed Galvez allegedly throwing an object lit on fire over the wall, the complaint said.

Galvez was arrested after a foot chase, officials said.

A detective recovered a burnt wick or fuse from the area, the complaint said.