Noem Vows to Keep Immigration Crackdown06/13 06:21

   Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged to carry on with the Trump 
administration's immigration crackdown despite waves of unrest across the U.S.

   LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged to carry 
on with the Trump administration's immigration crackdown despite waves of 
unrest across the U.S.

   Hours after her comment Thursday, a judge directed the president to return 
control to California over National Guard troops he deployed after protests 
erupted over the immigration crackdown, but an appeals court quickly put the 
brakes on that and temporarily blocked the order that was to go into effect on 
Friday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals scheduled a hearing on the matter 
for Tuesday.

   The federal judge's temporary restraining order said the Guard deployment 
was illegal and both violated the Tenth Amendment and exceeded President Donald 
Trump's statutory authority. The order applied only to the National Guard 
troops and not Marines who were also deployed to the LA protests. The judge 
said he would not rule on the Marines because they were not out on the streets 
yet.

   Gov. Gavin Newsom who had asked the judge for an emergency stop to troops 
helping carry out immigration raids, had praised the order before it was 
blocked saying "today was really about a test of democracy, and today we passed 
the test" and had said he would be redeploying Guard soldiers to "what they 
were doing before Donald Trump commandeered them."

   In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump thanked the appeals court 
Friday morning.

   "If I didn't send the Military into Los Angeles, that city would be burning 
to the ground right now," he said.

   White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the president acted within his 
powers and that the federal judge's order "puts our brave federal officials in 
danger. The district court has no authority to usurp the President's authority 
as Commander in Chief."

   The developments unfolded as protests continued in cities nationwide and the 
country braced for major demonstrations against Trump over the weekend.

   'This is only going to continue,' DHS chief says of raids

   Noem said the immigration raids that fueled the protests would move forward 
and agents have thousands of targets.

   "This is only going to continue until we have peace on the streets of Los 
Angeles," she said during a news conference that was interrupted by shouting 
from U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat who was forcibly removed 
from the event.

   Newsom has warned that the military intervention is part of a broader effort 
by Trump to overturn norms at the heart of the nation's democracy. He also said 
sending Guard troops on the raids has further inflamed tensions in LA.

   So far the protests have been centered mostly in downtown near City Hall and 
a federal detention center where some immigrants are being held. Much of the 
sprawling city has been spared from the protests.

   On the third night of an 8 p.m. curfew, Los Angeles police arrested several 
demonstrators who refused orders to leave a street downtown. Earlier in the 
night, officers with the Department of Homeland Security deployed flash bangs 
to disperse a crowd that had gathered near the jail, sending protesters 
sprinting away.

   Those incidents were outliers. As with the past two nights, the hourslong 
demonstrations remained peaceful and upbeat, drawing a few hundred attendees 
who marched through downtown chanting, dancing and poking fun at the Trump 
administration's characterization of the city as a "war zone."

   Elsewhere, demonstrations have picked up across the U.S., emerging in more 
than a dozen major cities. Some have led to clashes with police and hundreds 
have been arrested.

   Noem calls action in LA a blueprint

   The immigration agents conducting the raids in LA are "putting together a 
model and a blueprint" for other communities, Noem said.

   She pledged that federal authorities "are not going away" even though, she 
said, officers have been hit with rocks and bricks and assaulted. She said 
people with criminal records who are in the country illegally and violent 
protesters will "face consequences."

   "Just because you think you're here as a citizen, or because you're a member 
of a certain group or you're not a citizen, it doesn't mean that you're going 
to be protected and not face consequences from the laws that this country 
stands for," she said.

   Noem criticized the Padilla's interruption, calling it "inappropriate." A 
statement from her agency said the two met after the news conference for about 
15 minutes, but it also chided him for "disrespectful political theater."

   Padilla said later that he was demanding answers about the "increasingly 
extreme immigration enforcement actions" and only wanted to ask Noem a 
question. He said he was handcuffed but not arrested.

   "If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, I 
can only imagine what they are doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers 
throughout the Los Angeles community," he said.

   Military involvement escalates in LA

   The administration has said it is willing to send troops to other cities to 
assist with immigration enforcement and controlling disturbances -- in line 
with what Trump promised during last year's campaign.

   Some 2,000 Guard soldiers were in the nation's second-largest city and were 
soon to be joined by 2,000 more, along with about 700 Marines, said Maj. Gen. 
Scott Sherman, who is in charge of the operation.

   About 500 of the Guard troops deployed to the Los Angeles protests have been 
trained to accompany agents on immigration operations, Sherman said Wednesday. 
The Guard has the authority to temporarily detain people who attack officers, 
but any arrests must be made by law enforcement.

   States face questions on deploying troops

   With more demonstrations expected over the weekend, and the possibility that 
Trump could send troops to other states for immigration enforcement, governors 
are weighing what to do.

   Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has put 5,000 National Guard members 
on standby in cities where demonstrations are planned. In other 
Republican-controlled states, governors have not said when or how they may 
deploy troops.

   A group of Democratic governors earlier signed a statement this week calling 
Trump's deployments "an alarming abuse of power."

   Hundreds arrested in LA protests

   There have been about 470 arrests since Saturday, the vast majority of which 
were for failing to leave the area at the request of law enforcement, according 
to the police department.

   There have been a handful of more serious charges, including for assault 
against officers and for possession of a Molotov cocktail and a gun. Nine 
officers have been hurt, mostly with minor injuries.