LA riots latest: Border czar Tom Homan reveals bombshell truth about how LA riots started: Live updates

Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan revealed that the raids that ignited the LA protests were not for immigration purposes.

Homan explained on MSNBC that the raids that took place in downtown Los Angeles were actually part of a criminal investigation.

‘That’s why no one is talking about the Fashion District, it wasn’t an immigration raid. It was to service of three criminal warrants at locations based on a large criminal conspiracy that ICE is investigating,’ Homan said.

‘That has to do with money laundering, tax evasion and customs fraud where a company under-declared over $80 million in goods, failed to pay $17 million in fees. And it’s part of an overall conspiracy on numerous businesses that they believe that some of this money is being laundered in Mexico and Colombia, the cartel activity.

‘So, this was a criminal investigation that they all responded to in the beginning. That’s how it all started. But the facts never got out.’

The Los Angeles Police Department has faced a massive staffing shortage in recent years, leaving fewer officers to combat the violence that erupted over the weekend.

Los Angeles has fewer police per capita than many major cities, with only 246 officers per 100,000 residents, according to Governing.com.

Recent projections indicate that the LAPD could be facing its lowest staffing level since 1995 this fiscal year, reported the Los Angeles Times.

LAPD leaders expect to lose more than 150 officers, resulting in a force of approximately 8,620. Officials have argued that 10,000 officers are needed to ensure public safety.

Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to assist the police in quelling the unrest.

Roughly 300 National Guard members arrived in the city over the weekend, and Trump said he had authorized 2,000 members to deploy if needed.

Businesses reported looting in Downtown Los Angeles overnight, sending officers scrambling to investigate.

Looters targeted businesses, including Michael Jordan’s flagship store, in the area of 6th Street and Broadway.

The LAPD has encouraged all residents and businesses to report all cases of looting as it prepares an official report.

‘The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor. This is a day I hoped I would never see in America,’ Newsom said on X.

‘I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation — this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.’

A senior administration official revealed to DailyMail.com the violent pasts of illegal immigrants detained in LA, including ones convicted of cruelty against children, manslaughter and molestation.

Service Employees International Union California President David Huerta, who was arrested during an ICE raid on Friday, will appear in court on Monday.

Huerta was arrested for obstructing immigration officials executing a warrant, according to U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.

‘Federal agents were executing a lawful judicial warrant at a LA worksite this morning when David Huerta deliberately obstructed their access by blocking their vehicle,’ Essayli said.

‘He was arrested for interfering with federal officers and will face arraignment in federal court on Monday.

‘Let me be clear: I don’t care who you are—if you impede federal agents, you will be arrested and prosecuted. No one has the right to assault, obstruct, or interfere with federal authorities carrying out their duties.’

Donald Trump said he would support arresting California Gov. Gavin Newsom and called the rioters in Los Angeles ‘insurrectionists.’

‘I would do it,’ the president said when asked about Newsom daring his administration to arrest him.

‘I like Gavin Newsom, he’s a nice guy but he’s grossly incompetent, everybody knows it,’ the president added.

Mexico’s foreign minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente said 42 Mexicans were detained in the ICE raids.

Per NBC, 37 of those detainees are men and five are women. Four people have been deported, two by previous removal orders and two voluntarily.

The president defended his decision to deploy the National Guard in California without the governor’s permission.

‘We made a great decision in sending the National Guard to deal with the violent, instigated riots in California,’ Trump said on Truth Social.

‘If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated. The very incompetent “Governor,”  Gavin Newscum, and “Mayor,’ Karen Bass, should be saying, “THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP.”

ABC7 reporter Tim Caputo insisted that the ‘vast majority’ of protestors involved in the demonstrations were ‘people taking videos [and] people waving flags’ during his one-the-ground report.

He made the remarks as black smoke billowed into the air behind him and a loud explosion could be heard in the distance.

Mayor Karen Bass claimed the immigration raids in Los Angeles on Friday sparked the violent protests over the weekend.

‘If you dial back time and go to Friday, if immigration raids had not happened here, we would not have had the disorder that went on last night,’ Bass told CNN.

‘We do not know where and when the next raids will be. That is the concern because people in this city have a rapid response network. If they see ICE, they go out, and they protest, and so it’s just a recipe for pandemonium that is completely unnecessary.’

She insisted that the chaos was isolated and the city is under control.

‘This is not citywide civil unrest taking place in Los Angeles. A few streets downtown – it looks horrible. People committed crimes,’ Bass said.

‘It is absolutely unacceptable, and those people that set cars on fire or did other forms of vandalism will be sought to be arrested and prosecuted.’

No president has done so since Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

Johnson, unlike Trump, invoked the Insurrection Act, an 18th-century wartime law that allows presidents to deploy military forces during times of rebellion or unrest.

Trump invoked Title 10 authority, a legal provision allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is ‘a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.’

Roughly 300 National Guard members arrived in the city over the weekend, and Trump said he had authorized 2,000 members to deploy if needed.

MAGA loyalists have defended the president’s decision to deploy the National Guard to California without the governor’s permission.

Vice President JD Vance said, ‘This moment calls for decisive leadership. The president will not tolerate rioting and violence.’

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, ‘There is plenty of room for peaceful protest, but ZERO tolerance for attacking federal agents who are doing their job. The National Guard, and Marines if need be, stand with ICE.’

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, ‘Federal law enforcement officers were attacked by violent radicals and illegal criminals waving foreign flags because Governor Newsom was too weak to protect the city.

‘The Los Angeles Police Chief has even said the riots were getting out of hand. President Trump has stepped in to maintain law and order and protect federal buildings.’

Donald Trump Jr. suggested Korean rooftop shooters shoot Los Angeles protesters.

The president’s son posted a meme on X that stated, ‘Everybody rioting until the roof starts speaking Korean.’

He captioned the post, ‘Make Rooftop Koreans Great Again!’

The term ‘Rooftop Koreans’ refers to Korean-Americans who armed themselves and took to the roofs of their businesses to defend themselves during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

There are no confirmed reports that anyone was shot or killed by the ‘Rooftop Koreans.’

Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan clarified that he was not calling for Gavin Newsom’s arrest over the weekend.

On Sunday, Homan warned the governor: ‘It’s a felony to knowingly conceal and harbor an illegal alien. It’s a felony to impede law enforcement from doing their job.’

However, he insisted on Monday that there was no actual discussion about arresting him.

‘I’ve said it many times. You an protest, get your First Amendment rights, but when you cross that line, you put hands on [an] ICE officer, or you destroy property, you impede law enforcement or you knowingly harbor or conceal it in any way, that’s a crime, and that, the Trump administration is not going to tolerate,’ Homan told Fox News.

‘The reporter asked me, well, could govern Governor Newsom or Mayor Bass be arrested? I said, well no one’s above the law — if they cross the line and commit a crime, absolutely they can.

‘There was no discussion about arresting Newsom.’

California Governor Gavin Newsom is under fire after posting a ‘war room’ style photo of officials meeting while Los Angeles was being torched by rioters.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of LA for a third day on Sunday to protest President Donald Trump‘s crackdown on illegal immigration.

Newsom, however, was meeting with state emergency officials, LA police and the LA County Sheriff’s Department as the chaos unfolded.

Sharing a photo of the meeting on social media, he said authorities had gathered to ‘respond to protests provoked by chaos from Washington.’

‘I don’t want people to fall into the chaos that I believe is being created by the administration completely unnecessarily,’ she told a press conference Sunday.

The city of Glendale canceled its contract with federal immigration authorities to house detainees within its local jail as protests erupted in LA.

Glendale officials announced in a statement on Sunday that the city would formally terminate its agreement with the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

”[T]he City recognizes that public perception of the ICE contract—no matter how limited or carefully managed, no matter the good—has become divisive,” the statement said.

ICE’s agreement with Glendale had been in place since 2007.

Waymo, which offers rides from Santa Monica Pier to Downtown, decided to suspend service after its vehicles were vandalized in the LA riots.

‘We will not be serving any rides in the protest area until it is deemed safe,’ a Waymo spokesperson told NBC News.

At least five self-driving Waymo cars were set on fire in Los Angeles over the weekend.

Dramatic images showed large plumes of black smoke rising and intermittent explosions as the electric vehicles burned.

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell told a media briefing on Sunday evening that the violence he had seen by some was ‘disgusting’ and the protests were getting out of control.

‘This violence that I’ve seen is disgusting. It’s escalated now since the beginning of this incident. What we saw the first night was bad,’ he said.

‘What we’ve seen subsequent to that is getting increasingly worse and more violent. Tonight, we had individuals out there shooting commercial-grade fireworks at our officers. That can kill you.’

At least 56 people were arrested over the weekend as rioters set cars on fire and looted businesses.

California Governor Gavin Newsom vowed to sue the Trump Administration for calling on the state’s National Guard as the streets of Los Angeles descended into chaos.

Newsom called Trump’s deployment ‘illegal’ and announced he plans to file a lawsuit against the administration.

‘There’s a protocol, there’s a process. He didn’t care about that,’ the governor said on MSNBC.

Newsom then posted on X, ‘Donald Trump is putting fuel on this fire. Commandeering a state’s National Guard without consulting the Governor of that state is illegal and immoral. California will be taking him to court.’

Roughly 300 National Guard members arrived in the city over the weekend, and Trump said he had authorized 2,000 members to deploy if needed.

Trump invoked a legal provision allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is ‘a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.’

Chaos erupted on Friday after federal immigration officials clashed with protesters as they raided several downtown locations.

Protests continued on Saturday with Donald Trump exploding on ‘incompetent’ LA leaders who he said are responsible for the pro-migrant riots.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that ‘active duty Marines’ were on ‘high alert’ as roving mobs of violent thugs created havoc on the streets of Los Angeles.

Tensions escalated on Sunday as Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to descend on the city.

Protesters blocked off a major freeway and set self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has criticized the US government over the immigration raids and National Guard deployment.

‘We do not agree with this way of addressing the immigration issue,’ Sheinbaum, who has sought to cultivate a positive relationship with President Donald Trump, said at a public event Sunday.

‘The phenomenon will not be addressed with raids or violence. It will be by sitting down and working on comprehensive reform.’

She also said that ‘Mexicans living in the United States are good men and women, honest people who went to the United States to seek a better life for themselves and to support their families.’

‘They are not criminals! They are good men and women!’ she added.

Horrifying scenes showed Waymo cars erupting into flames and emitting toxic gases as rioters chained themselves to furniture and created blockades to grind Downtown Los Angeles to a complete halt on Sunday night as violence stretched into a third day.

Extraordinary vision captured the moment these rioters set fire to the Waymos and celebrated the carnage by dancing on the roof of cars and waving Mexican flags high above the flames.

‘Burn, burn, burn,’ the protesters cheered.

At least five Waymo self-driving cars were set alight and vandalized, prompting an indefinite shutdown of Los Angeles St north of Arcadia, and south of Alameda amid safety concerns about the lithium batteries.

San Francisco Police also declared gatherings ‘unlawful gatherings’ in the city’s financial district, reporting that rioters there injured two officers.

Around 60 people – including some under the age of 18 – were arrested Sunday in San Francisco, KGO reports.

US correspondent for Nine Lauren Tomasi was reporting on the ‘rapidly deteriorating’ riots in the city on Sunday evening, local time, when she was hit.

As she told viewers the police were ‘moving them (protesters) on through the heart of LA’ several loud bangs were heard in the distance.

Just moments later a policeman was seen turning his gun towards Tomasi.

A cloud of smoke appeared next to the journalist and she doubled over in pain.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who has announced his candidacy for California governor in 2026, has accused Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom of gaslighting.

He said that Democratic leaders the likes of Harris, Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass ‘own this.’

Harris then went on to express her support for the protests – which she called ‘overwhelmingly peaceful.’

California Governor Newsom said he requested the Trump administration to withdraw its order to deploy 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles County, calling it unlawful.

Newsom said in a Sunday interview with MSNBC he planned to sue the administration over the deployment, adding that President Donald Trump ‘has created the conditions’ around the protests.

He accused the president of trying to manufacture a crisis and of violating California’s state sovereignty.

Asked if the National Guard was needed, LA police chief Jim McDonnell said police would not ‘go to that right away,’ but added, ‘Looking at the violence tonight, I think we’ve got to make a reassessment’.

In a social media post, Trump called on McDonnell to do so.

‘He should, right now!!!’ Trump added. ‘Don’t let these thugs get away with this. Make America great again!!!’

The White House disputed Newsom’s characterization, saying: ‘Everyone saw the chaos, violence and lawlessness.’

The National Guard arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday after days of civil unrest following pro-migrant riots across the city.

On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the National Guard would ‘keep peace and allow people to be able to protest but also to keep law and order.’

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) was met with a door shut in her face after she demanded to check on an ICE detainee.

Waters was seen trying to enter the Los Angeles Federal Building to exercise her ‘congressional authority’ to check on SEIU California President David Huerta.

Huerta was injured and detained by federal agents during an ICE raid in downtown LA on Friday.

Footage shared on X shows how Waters pleaded with law enforcement to check on Huerta, but was not permitted to enter the building.

Waters later hit out at police over the incident, saying in a tweet: ‘I pled with the National Guard, which was heavily armed, not to use their weapons against peaceful demonstrators who were simply exercising their rights to freedom of speech and protest.

‘All people deserve to be treated with dignity and due process under the law. Peaceful, nonviolent demonstrations are critical to protecting our constitutional rights!’

The FBI is searching for rioters accused of assaulting federal officers and damaging government property during the LA immigration protests on Saturday.

The suspect injured an officer when he allegedly threw rocks at law enforcement vehicles on Alondra Boulevard in Paramount, California.

Officials are offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information that leads to the identification, arrest and conviction of the rioter.