Reaction to Trump’s crackdown on LA protests splits sharply on party lines

Unrest in Los Angeles has become a microcosm of America’s political divisions on immigration enforcement operations, with political leaders offering vastly different interpretations of the Trump administration’s deployment of national guard troops and the mass targeting of undocumented communities.

The divide over the same events came into full view when the California Democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters was denied entry to an LA detention center over the weekend, with Marjorie Taylor Greene, her Republican colleague from Georgia, mocking her on social media.

“Maxine Waters is big mad she got turned away by ICE when she went to go check on her CRIMINAL ILLEGALS!!” Greene posted on X, comparing Waters’ situation to her own denial of access to the DC jail to visit “AMERICAN CITIZENS being held in solitary confinement.”

Greene later added that “2,000 National Guard is not enough for the LA insurrection and Democrat led war on America!!!”

The exchange crystallizes the demonstrable split over the politicians: Democratic lawmakers condemn what they characterize as cruelty and federal overreach, while Republicans defend Trump’s actions as necessary law enforcement.

The California Democratic senator Adam Schiff urged restraint from protesters, warning on social media that “violence is never the answer” and cautioning that attacking law enforcement officers “plays directly into the hands of those who seek to antagonize and weaponize the situation for their own gain”.

On the other hand, Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, posted “deportations have never sounded better”.

Several thousand protesters have so far gathered around federal facilities and city hall in Los Angeles, with demonstrations spilling on to freeways and disrupting traffic throughout downtown – with instances of law enforcement officers shooting non-lethal bullets at an Australian reporter and a British news photographer, heavy clashes with law enforcement, and setting fire to autonomous vehicles.

It is unclear how many national guardsmen have actually been deployed, but the Los Angeles police department declared the downtown area an unlawful assembly zone early on Monday morning.

The Florida Democratic congressman Darren Soto criticized the administration’s immigration enforcement sweep, arguing that “American citizens are even getting snatched up just for looking Hispanic” and that “due process has also been largely ignored”.

But Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio branded the demonstrations “a violent uprising in defense of criminal illegal aliens”, declaring that “President Trump is absolutely right to restore law and order.”

Eli Crane, a Republican congressman from Arizona, mocked California’s leadership over the chaos, while the California Republican Darrell Issa accused Democrats of believing “enforcing our immigration laws should incite people to attack Ice agents and riot in the streets”.

Democrats fired back with accusations of federal tyranny. Former vice-president Kamala Harris called the national guard deployment “a dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos” and part of a “cruel, calculated agenda to spread panic”.

The California Democrats Sam Liccardo and Lateefah Simon focused on supporting immigrant communities.

Liccardo warned that Trump’s actions risk “pushing our nation down a dangerous path toward tyranny”, while Simon said that immigrant communities “are not alone” and vowed to protect community rights.

The senior Democratic congresswoman Pramila Jayapal condemned “weaponizing the military against US citizens and immigrants alike”.

The enforcement battle in Los Angeles has created an unusual dynamic where state and federal law enforcement agencies operate in the same area with different mandates, contributing to confusion and escalating tensions on the streets. But the confusion, mixed with Trump’s heavy-handed approach, is causing some Democrats to echo calls for non-violence.

“If you are protesting please do it peacefully,” the California Democratic congressman Mike Thompson posted on X. “We do not need to give this President and his administration any excuses to further escalate the situation.”