PROTESTS against Donald Trump’s harsh immigration policies spread Wednesday across the United States despite a military-backed crackdown in Los Angeles and threats by the hard-right Republican president to use “heavy force.”
In Los Angeles, where the unrest began last Friday, an overnight curfew intended to keep people out of the downtown area was largely effective, with police arresting around 25 people who had refused to leave.
Officers patrolled near government buildings, and storekeepers boarded up windows to protect against vandalism.
But the area was quiet Wednesday.
“I would say for the most part everything is hunky dory right here at Ground Zero,” protester Lynn Sturgis, 66, a retired school teacher, told AFP.
“Our city is not at all on fire, it’s not burning down, as our terrible leader is trying to tell you.”
Around 1,000 troops from the 4,700 that Trump ordered to the city were actively guarding facilities and working alongside ICE agents, said Scott Sherman, Deputy Commanding General Army North, who is leading operations.
The rest — including 700 active duty Marines — were mustering, or undergoing training in dealing with civil disturbances, he said.
The Pentagon has said the deployment will cost taxpayers $134 million.
The mostly peaceful protests ignited over a sudden escalation in efforts to apprehend migrants who were in the country illegally.
Pockets of violence — including the burning of self-driving taxis and hurling stones at police — triggered a massive response from authorities using tear gas and other crowd-control weapons.
Trump won the election last year partly on promises to combat what he claims is an “invasion” by undocumented migrants.
He is now seizing the opportunity to make political capital, ordering the California National Guard to deploy despite Governor Gavin Newsom’s objections, the first time a US president has taken such action in decades.
“If our troops didn’t go into Los Angeles, it would be burning to the ground right now,” Trump insisted on social media Wednesday.
The White House doubled down on that rhetoric.