President Donald Trump has painted a gloomy image of Los Angeles since the protests against the immigration and customs’ immigration raids exploded over the weekend.
He has repeatedly said that the city was going to burn without the intervention of the military and that they were paid “insurrectionists” and “criminal invaders” who seized the city, which had become “anarchy.”
Local leaders, however, present a more complex image of the scene on the ground.
The Troops of the California National Guard monitor, as protests against immigration sweeps continue, in Los Angeles, on June 9, 2025.
Daniel Cole/Reuters
Although they acknowledged that there was a marked violence and anarchy, they said that local authorities could control the situation in the limited areas in which skirmishes broke out.
In some cases, in fact, ABC News watched the protesters self-control while talking against Trump’s policies.
It is possible that social networks feed on the narrative that has grown around the protests.
Some users of social networks have been pressing false images of the protests, using images of George Floyd’s protests, movies and video games and even videos generated by AI, to boost similar statements that the city is in ruins.
Here is a look at several statements made by the president and the context about those statements.
Say: On Tuesday, Trump said Los Angeles was “under siege.”
Context: Violent incidents had limited themselves to a relatively small area of the center of Los Angeles, approximately an area of 10 blocks.
The protesters were allowed to march, but it was not allowed to set foot on the highways; However, on Sunday and Tuesday, some protesters did exactly that and temporarily blocked traffic.
The LAPD said that more than 500 people have been arrested for charges related to incidents related to the protest from Thursday night. In comparison, the LAPD said that around 3,000 were arrested after the first three days of George Floyd’s protests, which took place throughout the city in June 2020.
Say: The White House, during an informative session on Wednesday, highlighted smoke images and videos seen during protests and fights with the police.
Trump suggested on Tuesday that “many cars go up in smoke and llamas. You had many bad scenes”, and that if the National Guard and the Marines did not deploy “you would have that city on fire at this time.”
Context: Most of the fires took place on Sunday during the most heated part of the protests. Buildings did not catch fire, according to the police.
The protesters crush the windshield of a vehicle next to a vehicle in Waymo flames on fire while the protesters collide with the police in the streets surrounding the federal building during a protest after federal immigration operations in Los Angeles, on June 8, 2025.
Ringo Chiu/AFP through Getty Images
Many of the fires were in large trash cans, sending smoke in the air. At least five Waymo vehicles, which are autonomous driving cars, were seen covered with graffiti and wrapped in flame on Sunday.
The protesters threw rocks into a vehicle of the California road patrol in 101, destroying the windows. Other protesters threw rocks into police cars from above an elevated step.
A man was being sought for allegedly throwing rocks to the vehicles of application of the law in the city of Paramount on Saturday.
Los Angeles officials said 23 businesses were looted during the night on Monday, which caused damage estimated at millions.
The teams have begun to clean the graffiti outside the federal buildings.
Police officers observe while a worker cleanses a wall in Fletcher Bowron Square, near the Federal Building Edward Roybal, after a night of protests in response to federal immigration operations in Los Angeles, on June 9, 2025.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP through Getty Images
One of the most serious arrests was two men who were accused of federal criminal complaints of possessing Molotov cocktails, the Department of Justice said.
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles district prosecutor, Nathan Hochman, announced a series of serious positions, including a person who allegedly distributed fireworks to the protesters and lit them and threw them to the officers.
The district prosecutor also accused a man of allegedly leading his motorcycle to the officers, hurting one. Even so, Hochman said: “We estimate that there are probably thousands of people who have dedicated themselves to legitimate protests.”
Until Tuesday, nine LAPD officers were injured. It is not clear if any army member has been injured.
Say: Trump has repeatedly blamed Governor Gavin Newsom and other Democratic leaders for letting the protests get out of control and credit was given to quell the asphalte with the National Guard, which was activated without Newsom’s consent.
President Donald Trump at the Oval Office in Washington, on June 10, 2025, and California Gavin Gavin Newsom speaks during one direction, June 10, 2025.
Getty images/ap
Context: Newsom told journalists on Tuesday that Trump was offline calling the guard and that the situation was driving.
“California is no stranger to this type of disturbances, we handle it regularly and with our own application of the law,” he said.
The governor has repeatedly denounced violence and said that those who cause damage or hurt anyone will be prosecuted.
The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, has also expressed her opposition to violence and destruction committed during protests.
The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, speaks in a vigil in the light of the candles on June 10, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
“If you are going to entertain violence, if you are going to try to take care of a highway, then you will suffer the consequences of doing so,” he said on Sunday.
Bass issued a touch touch on Tuesday night after the arrests the previous day. Bass said that the curfew of the area of a square mile could continue during “several nights.”
Although Trump displayed thousands of members and Marines of the National Guard in the city, they have not been widely active in quelling the protests. The guard, on the other hand, has been protecting federal buildings and protecting ice agents in the raids.
The Los Angeles Metro Police officers are on the road in front of the City Council after a curfew was in force after days of protests in response to federal immigration operations in Los Angeles on June 10, 2025.
Apu Gomes/AFP through Getty Images
Until Thursday night, the Marines had not yet been sent to the streets of Los Angeles.
ABC News observed the National Guard troops that is outside a federal building, and the Los Angeles Police Department and other local agencies that clean the streets and interact with protesters.
In some cases, the protesters were monitored. ABC News noted that some protesters kept others under control during the demonstration and pushed people to avoid being arrested.
Jaclyn Lee and Camilla Alcini of ABC News contributed to this report.
