Teargas, pepper spray and rubber bullets have been used against the thousands of demonstrators who have taken to the streets in central Los Angeles on Sunday.
People gathered outside a federal defense building were pushed back after confronting some of the soldiers from the California National Guard who had just arrived. Police fired, among other things, tear gas to get people to back down.
The demonstrators chanted "go home" and "shame" to the soldiers, who were dressed in camouflage uniforms and equipped with riot shields.
Parts of the crowd then moved on to block traffic on a highway during the afternoon, local time.
Total 2,000 soldiers
Around 300 people from the National Guard have so far arrived in Los Angeles. In total, the Trump administration has ordered the deployment of 2,000.
Massive protests have been directed against the immigration authority ICE and the raids that have been carried out against residents, especially in predominantly Latino areas, since Friday.
They are violent people and we will not let them get away with it, Trump says to journalists and promises "very powerful law and order".
When asked if he can imagine invoking the so-called Insurrection Act - which would make it possible for the military to act as a kind of police force - Trump replies that he can imagine "soldiers everywhere".
"Illegal deployment"
Gavin Newsom, California's Democratic governor, states that he has made a formal request for the government to withdraw its "illegal deployment of soldiers in Los Angeles" and "return them to my command".
"We had no problems until Trump got involved. This is a serious violation of state sovereignty - it fuels tensions while resources are being drawn from where they are actually needed", Newsom writes on X.
This is the first time since the 1960s that a sitting president bypasses a state governor and orders in the National Guard.
Since early Sunday, camouflage-clad National Guardsmen can now be seen in central Los Angeles. Images show armored vehicles and soldiers with automatic weapons, batons and riot gear on the streets.
