National guard troops station in Westwood after Trump administration deployment

National Guard troops stand outside the Wilshire Federal Building in Westwood. 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. (Zimo Li/Photo editor)

By Maggie Konecky
June 8, 2025 4:08 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. 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.
There were no interactions between troops and protesters as of 3 p.m. and traffic was proceeding uninterrupted.