The riots that started last week in Los Angeles in protest of illegal immigration deportations have spread to other cities, sparked by labor groups and left-wing organizations.
Hundreds of people have been arrested in violent uprisings in Los Angeles. Smaller gangs of protesters have sprung up in Austin, Texas, Boston, New York City and other metropolitan areas. The spread has led to claims of a coordinated effort from left-wing organizations to throw the nation into chaos over President Trump’s immigration policies.
Mr. Trump called the unrest in Los Angeles “a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and national sovereignty.” He promised to “liberate” the city and make it safe again.
He said the Justice Department is investigating whether the riots spreading across the country are coordinated and funded.
“Somebody is financing it,” Mr. Trump said.
Police in New York clashed with hundreds of protesters Tuesday night outside the federal building that houses U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is leading Mr. Trump’s effort to round up thousands of migrants daily.
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In Austin, police arrested more than a dozen protesters. Large rocks thrown by the protesters injured three officers, local news outlets reported, and one officer was spat on.
Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott deployed the National Guard to San Antonio on Wednesday in preparation for protests.
“Peaceful protests are part of the fabric of our nation, but Texas will not tolerate the lawlessness we have seen in Los Angeles,” the governor’s office said in a statement. “Anyone engaging in acts of violence or damaging property will be swiftly held accountable to the full extent of the law.”
Protesters in Omaha, Nebraska, hurled rocks and jumped on the front bumper of an ICE vehicle participating in a raid of a meatpacking plant.
Hundreds more demonstrators gathered downtown later in the day. The protest was coordinated by a workers rights group and the League of United Latin American Citizens, a Hispanic civil rights organization.
Left-wing groups also organized the protests in the Texas capital. The Party for Socialism and Liberation planned the Austin march, which escalated into property damage and a confrontation with police. Officers dispersed the crowd with pepper balls, local news outlets reported.
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The Service Employees International Union, the Communist Party of the United States and pro-immigration groups organized and participated in the New York protests. On Tuesday, the Communist Party of the United States’ social media handle urged followers to ramp up demonstrations against ICE.
“All across the country, we’re standing up against ICE, Trump and the MAGA menace,” party organizers posted on X. “Don’t be provoked by cop violence. ICE melts under the [people’s] heat. Turn it up!”
The New York Police Department said 86 people were detained after they broke through metal barriers surrounding Federal Plaza. Three dozen people were charged criminally in the fracas after officers pepper-sprayed and tackled the instigators to the ground.
Police had more minor clashes with protesters Tuesday in Boston, Denver, Dallas and Chicago.
Mr. Trump campaigned on securing the southern border and removing millions of illegal immigrants who poured into the country under the Biden administration. The administration has emphasized the deportation of criminals, but protesters say many others with no criminal records, other than breaking the law by entering the U.S. illegally, have been rounded up.
In Los Angeles, thousands of protesters have burned cars, damaged other property and blocked traffic. More than a dozen law enforcement officers have been injured. Mr. Trump deployed the National Guard and Marines to restore order to the city, and Mayor Karen Bass imposed a nighttime curfew.
Hundreds of protesters have been arrested.
Two men were charged with federal crimes for throwing Molotov cocktails at law enforcement in Los Angeles, and one was identified as an illegal immigrant with a criminal record.
The Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights is one of the main organizers of the Los Angeles protests, and dozens of its members were arrested this week.
Until recently, the group received six-figure funding from the Department of Homeland Security. However, the organization’s $100,936 contract was terminated in March, said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for Homeland Security.
A half-dozen left-wing organizations also coordinated to protest in Los Angeles, among them Indivisible and the L.A. chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, which called the ICE raids “ethnic cleansing” and posted a hotline to “report ICE activity.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the violence, including hurling bricks and chunks of concrete, appeared to be coordinated.
The protesters are breaking up the sidewalks with sledgehammers and throwing large pieces of concrete off bridges and aiming them at people.
“It’s orchestrated,” Ms. Bondi said. “They had hammers in place. It’s truly a miracle that no one has been seriously injured or killed yet, but we’re going to do everything within our legal authority to protect our law enforcement officers and all the people in California right now.
The White House on Wednesday criticized Ms. Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom for embracing “radical views” about illegal immigrants and provoking the violence in the city.
Ms. Bass and Mr. Newsom have blamed the rioting on the Trump administration and asked him to remove the military and stop rounding up illegal immigrants.
California is thought to be home to more illegal immigrants than any other state, partly because of its sanctuary policies.
“Things began to be difficult on Friday, when raids took place. That is the cause of the problems that have happened in the city of Los Angeles and other cities,” Ms. Bass said. “This was provoked by the White House. The reason why, we don’t know.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said 330 illegal immigrants have been arrested on charges of rioting in Los Angeles, and a third of them have prior criminal convictions. Among all arrests, she said, 157 people were charged with assault and obstruction-related crimes.
She described the Molotov cocktail attack as an “attempted murder of a police officer,” though the only charges so far are for possessing the device.
Ms. Leavitt said video footage showed unknown people dropping off boxes of masks and riot gear for the protesters.
“So it’s a good question the president is raising and one we are looking into about who is funding these insurrectionists and these rioters, and these protesters and these illegal criminals,” Ms. Leavitt said.
• Matt Delaney contributed to this report.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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