This post was updated June 9 at 3:51 p.m.
Around 30 National Guard troops stood guard outside the Wilshire Federal Building in Westwood as of 3 p.m. Sunday.
President Donald Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles on Sunday in response to local protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. The federal government deployed 700 United States Marines to LA on Monday to support the National Guard, according to Reuters.
About 100 troops are stationed in Westwood, according to a Sunday KTLA interview with Mayor Karen Bass.
ICE raided areas in the Westlake District, downtown LA and south LA on Friday, according to CBS News.
“This is just completely unnecessary,” Bass said in the interview. “It’s the administration just posturing, to have 100 troops in Westwood, where absolutely nothing had happened at all.”
At least 30 National Guard troops are stationed at various federal building entrances and parking lots on Wilshire Boulevard, Veteran Avenue and South Sepulveda Boulevard, less than a mile from campus. The officers carried firearms and wore helmets and other protective gear.
A military vehicle was parked at the federal building driveway on Veteran Avenue as of 2 p.m. Around 10 other military vehicles were in the federal building parking lot on South Sepulveda Boulevard as of 2:45 p.m.
A group of around 30 protesters gathered at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Veteran Avenue between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. They chanted “No justice, no peace,” and held signs that said “End the LA occupation.”
Two protesters also held a banner reading, “UCLA faculty and staff, we stand with our students.” Most protesters had dispersed by 3 p.m.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom condemned the Trump administration’s choice to deploy the National Guard in a Saturday night post to the social media platform X.
“The federal government is taking over the California National Guard and deploying 2,000 soldiers in Los Angeles — not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle,” he said in the post.
Twenty-two Democratic governors also denounced the move in a Sunday statement, calling the choice to deploy the California National Guard – without Newsom’s approval – an “alarming abuse of power.”
“It’s important we respect the executive authority of our country’s governors to manage their National Guards – and we stand with Governor Newsom who has made it clear that violence is unacceptable and that local authorities should be able to do their jobs without the chaos of this federal interference and intimidation,” the statement said.
Newsom formally requested that the National Guard be withdrawn in a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Sunday afternoon. The letter said that National Guard troops lack the “appropriate training or orders” to ensure public safety in LA and that local law enforcement are able to maintain order on their own.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Newsom also sued the Trump Administration on Monday, alleging that deploying the California National Guard exceeded the jurisdiction of the federal government and violates the Tenth Amendment, which states that powers not specifically given to the federal government by the constitution are reserved for the states themselves. Newsom said in a press release announcing the lawsuit that he believes Trump is intentionally escalating conflict for political reasons.
“This is beyond incompetence — this is him intentionally causing chaos, terrorizing communities, and endangering the principles of our great democracy,” he said in the press release. “It is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism. We will not let this stand.”
There were no interactions between troops and protesters as of 3 p.m. and traffic was proceeding uninterrupted.
