Latest news and live updates as over 200 arrested in L.A. and National Guard to be deployed in Texas as rallies continue nationwide

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell sharply countered President Donald Trump’s claims that the city was at a point of needing National Guard support, emphasizing Wednesday that protests were “nowhere near” that level.

The peaceful protest began shortly after 6 p.m. and soon tripled in size as people congregated in front of a road closure, occupied by at least six members of the California National Guard on

Army veteran and former Secretary of State Chuck Hagel talks about the potential risks about having military troops deployed in L.A.

The California Governor has sued the U.S. President over the mobilization of the National Guard, calling it “an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.”

President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles in response to immigration protests is the latest in a long history of U.S. elected officials sending troops in hopes of thwarting unrest connected to civil rights protests.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday defended the administration's mobilization of the National Guard and members of the Marine Corps to Los Angeles amid ongoing immigration protests.

According to experts, Trump is the first President to deploy the National Guard without a request from the state Governor since 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent federal troops to Alabama to protect those partaking in a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, led by Martin Luther King Jr.