Trump Sends ICE to Democratic Cities Amid Rising Immigration Protests

A large number of people protested in major US cities against restrictive immigration policies, tariffs, and other measures implemented by President Donald Trump. In response, ICE was deployed to Democratic-controlled cities to prioritize deportations, a decision that has raised questions about the state of democracy and the fairness of its application. 

He shared on his social media account: “These, and other such cities, are the core of the Democrat power center, where they use Illegal Aliens to expand their voter base, cheat in elections, and grow the welfare state, robbing good-paying jobs and benefits from hardworking American citizens.” Trump further described within his speech “These Radical Left Democrats are sick of mind. There is something wrong with them. That is why they believe in Open Borders, Transgender for Everybody, and Men playing in Women’s Sports — And that is why I want ICE, Border Patrol, and our great and patriotic law enforcement officers to FOCUS on our crime.”

Opponents of Trump’s immigration policies took to the streets as part of the “no kings” demonstrations Saturday, which came as Trump held a massive parade in Washington for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army. Saturday’s protests were mostly peaceful, but police in Los Angeles used tear gas and crowd-control munitions to clear out protesters after the event ended. Officers in Portland, Oregon, also fired tear gas and projectiles to disperse a crowd that protested in front of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building well into the evening, as first reported by AP News.

Trump suggested to reporters as he departed the White House for the G7 on Sunday evening that his decision to deploy National Guard troops to Los Angeles was the reason the protests in that city remained peaceful. “If we didn’t have the National Guard on call and ready, they would rip Los Angeles apart,” he said.

The shift comes as Trump is grappling with the impact his mass deportation effort is having on key industries that rely on workers in the country without legal authorization. Trump posted on his Truth Social site Thursday that he had heard from hotel, agriculture, and leisure industries that his “very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them” and promised that “changes would be made.”