Tensions continue to flare up between Trump admin, California over troop presence in LA

California and Los Angeles officials insisted that calm prevailed even after several days of demonstrations, but calling in the troops escalated tensions.

NEW YORK, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The Donald Trump administration redoubled its rhetoric on Monday on the decision to deploy National Guard soldiers on the streets of Los Angeles, California, to quell immigration protests, while state and city officials traded barbs, if not stones as in the protests in the recent days, with the federal government.

"The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators," said the president at the White House. "They're insurrectionists. They're bad people. They should be in jail."

Asked about the idea just floated by California Governor Gavin Newsom for Tom Homan, former acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to arrest him, Trump said that "I'd do it if I were Tom. I think it's great. Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing. He's done a terrible job. … He's grossly incompetent."

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said that the state's sovereignty was "trampled" by Trump when he ordered National Guard troops to the immigration protests in Los Angeles. Bonta announced plans on Monday to sue the Trump administration.

Bonta said the move "abused the federal government's authority and violated the 10th Amendment" of the Constitution, and "skipped over strategic steps that should have been deployed to quell unrest and prevent escalation."

Meanwhile, city and state officials insisted that calm prevailed across most of the nation's second-largest city, even after several days of demonstrations, and said that calling in the troops had needlessly escalated tensions.

According to U.S. officials, there are currently about 1,000 National Guard members in Los Angeles under federal orders, and officials believe that the full 2,000 that the president has put on federal Title 10 orders will be on the ground there by the end of the day.

More than 1,000 protesters clashed and faced off with National Guard troops in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday during the latest demonstrations against immigration raids that swept across California over the weekend.

Xinhua reporters at the scene observed National Guard soldiers, along with agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, repeatedly firing tear gas and smoke grenades to disperse the crowd. Some protesters and journalists were hit during the confrontation.

More protests are expected in the city on Monday, while other protests of the kind are planned in cities like Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Harrisburg, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Raleigh-Durham, Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C., according to the Service Employees International Union. ■