Former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has accused the Trump administration of escalating the situation in Los Angeles “to provoke chaos”.
Harris criticized the decision to send in the National Guard to tackle activists opposing arrests being made by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents as part of an effort to round-up and deport undocumented migrants.
She also claimed that the protesters who have taken to the streets of Los Angeles to demonstrate against Trump’s crackdown were “overwhelmingly peaceful”.
Protesters have clashed with police officers for the last three days in opposition to ICE’s latest raids, resulting in violent scenes as the authorities retaliate with tear gas and flash grenades in an attempt to maintain order.
“Los Angeles is my home,” Harris, the state’s former attorney general, said in a statement posted to social media. “And like so many Americans, I am appalled at what we are witnessing on the streets of our city. Deploying the National Guard is a dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos.”
She characterized ICE’s actions as “part of the Trump administration’s cruel, calculated agenda to spread panic and division.”
Harris continued: “This administration’s actions are not about public safety – they are about stoking fear. Fear of a community demanding dignity and due process.”
She went on to express her support for the activists taking part, noting that protest is “a power tool – essential in the fight for justice.”
“I continue to support the millions of Americans who are standing up to protect our most fundamental rights and freedoms,” Harris concluded.
Her comments have faced some criticism online, with a California sheriff claiming she and California governor Gavin Newsom were “gaslighting” Americans.
“President Trump didn’t start these riots,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco wrote while sharing Harris’s statement. “He’s not out there lighting cars on fire, hurling projectiles at law enforcement or blocking freeways.
“This statement is an embarrassment and does nothing to diffuse the violent riots taking place across the city.”
Newsom has been the most vocal public figure opposing the president’s intervention in the unrest so far, accusing Trump of “manufacturing a crisis” and behaving like a dictator. The Democrats also challenged Trump’s “tough guy” border czar Tom Homan to arrest him.
The first of the 2,000 federalized members of the National Guard entered the fray on Sunday and Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said in a late-night press conference that 27 new arrests had been made that day, warning that the clashes were “getting increasingly worse and more violent.”
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