Tensions between the Trump administration and California intensified this weekend as President Donald Trump decided to deploy 2,000 National Guard members to the Los Angeles area, a move the state’s Democratic leaders cast as an unnecessary escalation amid protests over the administration’s immigration policies.

Demonstrators gathered in a tense city following two days of skirmishes between protesters and federal officers over immigration operations that prompted the White House’s rare move to deploy troops without first being asked by the state.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has been critical of President Donald Trump's move to take control of and deploy the National Guard.