Violent protests were triggered in Los Angeles by an attempt to arrest illegal migrants. Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to the city, backed by US marines, to support immigration agents was condemned as a provocation by Democrats; Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, described the uninvited deployment as an abuse of presidential power. Karen Bass, the city’s mayor, eventually imposed a curfew in the protests’ hot spots. The Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, had no hesitation in putting the National Guard on standby there, as demonstrations spread to the state.