The National Guard will be deployed to Los Angeles County after anti-ICE protests continued to escalate Saturday afternoon, Trump administration border czar Tom Homan told Fox News Saturday.
On Saturday, tear gas was deployed near Home Depot in Paramount, California, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were allegedly conducting a raid.
Following the raid, a violent protest broke out and several arrests were made for assault on a federal agent, according to U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael W. Banks.
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Videos and photos provided to Fox News by a federal source showed Border Patrol agents’ perspective from inside their vehicle as they attempted to leave the protest area.
Footage shows their vehicle being pelted with rocks, stones, and concrete, as the windshield shatters.
Federal sources stressed the violence at the Paramount riot could have killed an agent or caused a crash.
“ANY attack on our agents or officers will not be tolerated,” Banks wrote in an X post. “You will be arrested and federally prosecuted.”
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While protesters reportedly targeted law enforcement vehicles, they also allegedly damaged and robbed nearby property.
FOX LA reporter Matthew Seedorff shared a video to X showing the station’s SUV with its windows smashed with bricks.
“F*** ICE” was spray painted in white on the passenger side of the car.
“So this is what’s left of our work car,” Seedorff said in the video. “We had it parked near the scene. Obviously, we got here right at the beginning before we knew it was going to escalate to the situation that it got to. This is a brand-new news truck that we just got. Looks like the tires were slashed. They busted into the windows. Our personal bags were in the car [and] they stole all the stuff that was inside.”
In an interview with Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show,” Homan said authorities are “stepping up” and “mobiliz[ing]” to address violence and destruction occurring near raid locations where demonstrators are gathering.
“American people, this is about enforcing the law, and again, we’re not going to apologize for doing it,” Homan said.
ICE operations in LA this week resulted in the arrest of 118 illegal immigrants, including five gang members and those with prior criminal histories of drug trafficking, assault, cruelty to children, domestic violence, robbery, and alien smuggling, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Nationwide, 2,000 illegal immigrants were arrested this week.
The Paramount protest comes less than 24 hours after more than 1,000 Los Angeles rioters surrounded a federal law enforcement building and assaulted ICE agents, slashed tires, and defaced buildings.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem took to X Saturday afternoon with a strong to protesters.
“A message to the LA rioters: you will not stop us or slow us down,” Noem wrote in a post. “@ICEgov will continue to enforce the law. And if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and Los Angeles County Fire Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
