Los Angeles protests: Donald Trump warns of more ICE operations, California emergency block rejected

US President Donald Trump has warned Americans that ICE raids seen in California are ‘the first of many’, defending National Guard and Marine mobilisation, as a Federal court denies an emergency block request.

Protests and riots have broken out across large parts of Los Angeles and surrounding areas after Mr Trump ordered ICE raids to remove illegal immigrants from the United States and mobilised 4000 National Guard troops and around 700 marines in response to protests.

Mr Trump on Tuesday (local time) said he had called California Governor Gavin Newsom to tell him “you gotta do a better job”.

“He is causing a lot of death, a lot of potential death.

“If we didn’t send the national guard... you would have... Los Angeles would be burning right now.

“You gotta remember we have the Olympics coming.

“We have people they look in your face, they spit right in your face, they are animals.

“They are paid insurrectionists

“We ended it and we have in custody some very bad people.

Mr Trump warned Americans they should expect to see more large scale ICE operations across the United States.

“We’re moving murderers out of our country who were put here by Biden

“We’re gonna get them out. We’re getting them out.

“We don’t want them. They come from jails, they come from mental institutions.

“We’re not going to let them stay.

“This is the first of perhaps of many.

“I can inform the rest of the country, that when they do it, if they do it, they will be met with equal or greater force. We did a great job.”

Hundreds of US Marines have arrived in Los Angeles under orders from Mr Trump, who has also activated 4000 National Guard troops to quell protests in the city despite objections from Governor Newsom that the deployments are politically motivated.

The city has seen five days of public protests since the Trump Administration launched a series of immigration raids on Friday. State officials said Mr Trump’s response was an extreme overreaction to mostly peaceful demonstrations.

About 700 Marines were in a staging area awaiting deployment to specific locations, a US official said.

The Marines do not have arrest authority and will protect federal property and personnel, according to military officials.

There were approximately 2100 Guard troops in greater Los Angeles on Tuesday, with more on the way, the official said.

The troop deployments are estimated to cost about $US134 million ($A206 million), a senior Pentagon official said on Tuesday.

Bryn MacDonnell, who is performing comptroller duties at the Pentagon, told lawmakers the cost included travel, housing and food for troops.

“Think of how much veteran nutrition assistance and housing (the Trump administration) could be providing instead of dishonouring these troops using them as pawns,” Newsom wrote on X.

Governor Newsom took aim at Mr Trump, saying he was “behaving like a tyrant, not a President.”

“By turning the military against American citizens, he is threatening the very core of our democracy,” he wrote on X.

“I’m asking the court to immediately block these unlawful actions.”

Governor Newsom had filed an emergency motion with a Federal judge, asking them to immediately block the “ongoing and unnecessary militarisation of Los Angeles”.

However, hours after lodging the emergency block request, a Federal judge denied the restraining order. A hearing has instead been set.

Senior US District Judge Charles R. Breyer asked both the State of California and the Trump Administration to submit more detail before he hears the case on Thursday.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called for demonstrations to continue but pleaded for vandalism and violence to be stopped.

Marines are not yet deployed, instead, are being held outside the city awaiting orders.

Protests have spilled out of California across the US, with Americans mobilising in places like New York and Texas.

More to come...