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.

Military-style vehicles and National Guards troops have blocked a portion of 4th Street in front of the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse.

Local officials and Governor Gavin Newsom don’t want the military presence and the police chief has said it creates logistical challenges for safely handling protests.

HOW WE GOT HERE: The protests erupted after Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on Friday carried out raids in three locations across L.A., where dozens of people were taken into custody. Newsom called the raids “chaotic federal sweeps” that aimed to fill an “arbitrary arrest quota.”

Local residents in one Los Angeles-area community cleaned up streets and erased graffiti while expressing dismay at the damage caused during violent clashes between protesters and immigration authorities over the weekend.

The Trump administration said it would send 2,000 National Guard troops into Los Angeles after a second day in which protesters confronted immigration agents during raids of local businesses.

A Department of Homeland Security request for 21,000 National Guard troops to support "expansive interior immigration enforcement operations" includes a call for troops to search for unaccompanied children in some cases.

The Trump administration is accusing the LAPD of waiting two hours to respond and disperse a violent mob of 1,000 people who gathered in the city’s downtown Friday nto protest the feds’ efforts to