Protesters denouncing immigration raids clashed with security forces in Los Angeles for the second consecutive day on Saturday.
In tense scenes, federal Border Patrol agents in riot gear and gas masks faced off with demonstrators in the city of Paramount in southeast LA.
Officers used tear gas in a bid to disperse the protesters.
The protests come after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested at least 44 immigrants in raids on multiple locations on Friday.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, some 1,000 rioters “surrounded a federal law enforcement building and assaulted ICE law enforcement officers, slashed tires, defaced buildings, and taxpayer funded property” on Friday.
The arrests come amid a , who campaigned on promises to deport thousands of immigrants living in the country illegally.
LA Mayor Karen Bass has condemned the ICE raids, which she said “sow terror in our communities.”
Los Angeles, the country’s second largest city which has long been run by Democratic officials, is home to millions of Hispanic-Americans and foreign-born nationals.
“We will not stand for this,” she said in a post on X.
In a statement, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons slammed the protests, calling the scenes “appalling” and accusing Bass of taking “the side of chaos and lawlessness over law enforcement.”
“These violent rioters will be held accountable if they harm federal officers, and make no mistake, ICE will continue to enforce our nation’s immigration laws and arrest criminal illegal aliens,” Lyons added.
White House aide Stephen Miller said on X that Friday’s protests were “an insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States.”
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