When can a president deploy the National Guard?

Hundreds of people have been arrested in Los Angeles after days of protests, which erupted following immigration raids ordered by US President Donald Trump.

An overnight curfew is in force after violence in downtown LA. Elsewhere, much of the protest activity has been peaceful. Demos have also been confined to relatively small pockets of LA, while also spreading to other US cities.

Trump has deployed thousands of troops, including 700 US Marines, to LA - triggering a row with state officials who say they have things under control.

The demonstrations began on Friday after it emerged Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were carrying out raids in areas of the city with prominent Latino populations.

Raids have stepped up after Trump returned to the White House and pledged to crack down on illegal immigration.

The BBCs US partner, CBS News, reported that recent operations took place in the Westlake district as well as in Paramount, south of LA - where the population is more than 82% Hispanic.

There were also reports of an ICE raid at a Home Depot shop in Paramount, which officials told the BBC were false.

ICE later told CBS that 44 unauthorised immigrants were arrested in a single operation at a job site on Friday. Another 77 were also arrested in the greater LA area on the same day.

The protests have been limited to certain areas of the city:

Elsewhere in Americas second-largest city, life continues as normal.

Several others places have joined LA.

Trump has deployed a total number of 4,000 National Guard members and has mobilised 700 US marines, triggering a row with state politicians.

The National Guard acts as a hybrid entity that serves both state and federal interests. Typically, a states force is activated at the request of the governor.

Trump circumvented that step by invoking a rarely-used federal law, arguing that the protests constituted "a form of rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States".

This is reportedly the first time the National Guard has been activated without request of the states governor since 1965.

The move has been condemned by California Governor Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass, who said it would inflame matters - and that local police could handle the situation.

Amid an escalating war of words on Tuesday, Trump likened protesters in LA to animals, and urged an audience to boo Newsom. The California governor accused his political opponent of attacking democracy.

A CBS News/YouGov poll conducted in early June, before the protests kicked off, found 54% of Americans saying they approved of Trumps deportation policy, and 50% approved of how he was handling immigration.

That compares with smaller numbers of 42% who gave approval to his economic policy and 39% for his policy on tackling inflation.

The role of the National Guard is to protect federal agents, including ICE and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel, as they carry out their duties.

The US Marines, too, lack the authority to make arrests and are tasked only with protection duties.

So the troops will not be conducting their own immigration raids or performing regular policing - which remains the role of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).

There are exceptions under which federal troops can be used for civilian law enforcement - for example under the Insurrection Act.

Although Trump has threatened to invoke that act in the past, during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, for example, he has not done so here.

The recent raids are part of the presidents aim to enact the "biggest deportation operation" in US history. Los Angeles, where over one-third of the population is born outside of the US, has been a key target for operations.

In early May, ICE announced it had arrested 239 undocumented migrants during a week-long operation in the LA area, as overall arrests and deportations lagged behind Trumps expectations.

The following month, the White House increased its goal for ICE officials to make at least 3,000 arrests per day.

Authorities have expanded their search increasingly to include workplaces such as restaurants and retail shops.

The ambitious deportation campaign has included removing migrants to a mega-prison in El Salvador, including at least one who was in the US legally. Many of Trumps actions have been met by legal challenges.

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