In June and July 2025, President Donald Trump ordered more than 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines into Los Angeles to bolster a crackdown linked to intensified ICE raids. A broad coalition of unions, immigrant-rights groups, faith leaders, businesses, suburban residents, and Democratic officials mounted sustained protests and legal challenges, and by the end of July nearly all of the roughly 5,000 troops had withdrawn. California Governor Gavin Newsom later said the deployment was a piece of political theater that had backfired.
Los Angeles, a deep-blue city that has declared itself a sanctuary and has a majority Black and brown population with a large immigrant community, became a central target of the Trump administration amid ongoing ICE raids and deportation operations.
According to reporting in The Nation, LA’s resistance infrastructure was already in place when the military arrived, with near-daily actions at workplaces, churches, schools, courthouses, detention centers, and hotels housing ICE agents.
On June 6, 2025, large rallies were organized at a downtown immigration detention center. That same day, SEIU California president David Huerta was injured and arrested while documenting an ICE raid in downtown Los Angeles. From his hospital bed, Huerta said in a statement, “What happened to me is not about me; this is about something much bigger…. Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals. We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice.”
Huerta’s beating and arrest galvanized the movement. On June 9, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, one of the largest union federations in the country, led a demonstration that drew thousands to the city center to demand Huerta’s release and an end to the occupation of the city by federal troops.
Unions including Unite Here Local 11 and United Teachers Los Angeles, along with worker centers and immigrant-rights organizations such as the Pilipino Workers Center, the Los Angeles Black Worker Center, and the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance, mobilized members to oppose the raids. As The Nation describes, coalition members fanned out to Home Depots, restaurants, car washes, swap meets, churches, and immigrant neighborhoods—key gathering places for day laborers and low-wage workers—to monitor ICE activity, document raids, protest, and distribute “know your rights” materials and information on how workers could access mutual-aid support.
Faith leaders also took on a visible role. Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice and Holman United Methodist Church jointly offered “know your rights” seminars and training in nonviolent resistance, while the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles used its extensive presence in Latino and immigrant communities to support families and amplify opposition to the raids and the military deployment.
At the same time, legal resistance escalated. In June 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom sued the Trump administration over its use of the National Guard in California. Civil rights and immigrant-defense organizations including the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, the ACLU of Southern California, the National Lawyers Guild, and MALDEF also pursued legal action against the deployment and related enforcement tactics.
In a pivotal decision, US District Judge Charles Breyer ruled that the National Guard deployment in California violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. In a 52-page opinion, he found that the administration had willfully violated federal law and barred the Pentagon from using Guard units or any troops deployed in California for arrests, searches, seizures, crowd or riot control, traffic control, evidence collection, interrogation, or similar law-enforcement activities.
Political backing for the resistance was broad. According to The Nation, Newsom, California’s two US senators, most of the state’s Democratic congressional delegation, the Democratic supermajority in the state Legislature, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, the City Council, the school board and superintendent, and the county Board of Supervisors all publicly opposed the deployment and the raids. Their stance helped ensure sustained media coverage and strong editorial pressure for the troops to be withdrawn.
Business groups emerged as unexpected allies. Construction companies, hotels, restaurants, garment factories, and immigrant-dependent small businesses reported lost revenue as workers and customers stayed home for fear of ICE raids and militarized streets. In response, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles Business Council spoke out against the federal actions and urged an end to the troop presence and immigration sweeps.
Artists and cultural figures helped keep public attention on the issue. Musicians such as Ivan Cornejo and Junior H helped raise funds for immigrant-rights organizations and legal-defense efforts, while stars including Olivia Rodrigo, Becky G, Finneas, Chiquis, Tyler, the Creator, and will.i.am used performances, public statements, and protest art—including the Black Eyed Peas track “East LA”—to condemn the raids and militarization.
Support also spread beyond the city’s core. The Nation recounts that residents of mostly white, middle-class suburbs such as Topanga Canyon organized leafleting at farmers’ markets, urging neighbors to oppose the ICE raids and support farmworkers and immigrant communities.
Throughout June and July 2025, this multi-front campaign kept its central demands clear: remove the troops from Los Angeles and end the intensified ICE raids. Organizers emphasized unity across unions, immigrant-rights advocates, Democrats, business leaders, faith groups, and suburban supporters, working to avoid infighting and maintain a consistent, public-facing message.
By late July, according to The Nation and other outlets it cites, nearly all of the roughly 5,000 troops—more than 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines—had withdrawn from the city. “President Trump is realizing that his political theater backfired,” Governor Newsom declared at the time. “This militarization was always unnecessary and deeply unpopular.”
For organizers in Los Angeles, the episode has come to be known informally as the LA Resistencia. Supporters argue that its experience offers lessons for other cities confronting federal overreach: build on long-term organizing infrastructure, set clear and shared goals, and unite the broadest possible coalition to defend vulnerable communities and constrain presidential power.
