US President Donald Trump has claimed that protesters in California who are demonstrating against the government’s immigration policy are being paid to participate in demonstrations.
A raid by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to identify illegal immigrants in downtown Los Angeles on June 7 escalated into clashes with protesters. On the same day, California Governor Gavin Newsom threatened that the state could refuse to pay federal taxes in response to a possible large-scale reduction in federal funding by the Trump administration. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on June 8 that 2,000 National Guard troops would be deployed to the city amid the protests.
“These are not protesters — they are rioters and insurrectionists, paid insurrectionists,” Trump wrote on his social media page.
California is traditionally considered a stronghold of the Democratic Party, and Trump has repeatedly criticized it. In May, he threatened to cut state funding because of the participation of a transgender athlete in competitions. Earlier, the US administration had already canceled flood prevention projects worth $126.4 million and criticized the California authorities’ actions to combat forest fires.
On Inauguration Day, January 20, Trump promised in his first speech as the 47th president to immediately stop illegal immigrants from entering US territory and to begin the process of deporting millions of migrants. He also declared a national state of emergency in connection with the situation on the southern border of the United States.