What to know about the protests over Trump's immigration crackdown in LA and other cities

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Downtown Los Angeles bustled Wednesday with dog-walkers and commuters touting coffee cups, returning to business as usual after the first night of curfew meant to tamp down tensions following days of protests over President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

There were no signs of the 700 Marines the president deployed to the city. A high-ranking military official said they were undergoing civil disobedience training at a Navy facility in Orange County and that there's no set date for them join the roughly 4,000 National Guard members protecting federal buildings and immigration agents making arrests in the Los Angeles area. .

Police said they detained more than 200 people from Tuesday through Wednesday morning — the vast majority for failing to disperse — and that they used “numerous” less lethal munitions to control the crowds. Two officers were injured, though officials said there were fewer clashes between police and demonstrators than on previous nights.

Protests over the immigration crackdown have been held in major cities throughout the U.S. in recent days. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and hundreds of other Democratic mayors issued a call Wednesday for an end to the raids and federal troop presence in Los Angeles.

Although critics accuse Trump of manufacturing the crisis for political gain and sowing chaos, the president said on social media that Los Angeles would have been "completely obliterated" if he hadn't sent Guard members there over the weekend.

Here are some things to know about the protests, troop deployments and showdowns between local, state and federal officials:

LA police quickly enforce downtown curfew

Police wasted no time in enforcing the 8 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew for downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, making arrests in the roughly 1-square-mile (2.5-square-kilometer) section of the sprawling city of about 4 million people. They deployed officers on horseback and used crowd-control projectiles to break up a group of hundreds demonstrating against the immigration crackdown.

Members of the National Guard stood watch behind plastic shields, but didn't appear to take part in the arrests.

Hours later, many of the protesters had dispersed, although smaller, sporadic confrontations continued. Officials said the curfew was necessary to stop vandalism and theft by opportunists who looted businesses after peaceful protesters left on previous nights.

On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said two people had been charged with throwing Molotov cocktails at police. No officers were hit, according to Essayli, who said their "community must be kept safe for peaceful protests.”

Raids spark protests elsewhere

Although the crackdown and protests have been most prominent in Los Angeles, demonstrators have been rallying against the immigration crackdown in other major cities, including Dallas and Austin, Texas, Chicago, Denver and New York, where thousands rallied and multiple arrests were made.

New York City police said they took 86 people into custody during protests around lower Manhattan’s Foley Square overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the vast majority of demonstrators were peaceful.

The rallies targeting the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids have snarled traffic outside of federal buildings in some of the cities.

“No Kings” rallies critical of Trump are planned nationwide Saturday to coincide with the president’s scheduled military parade in Washington.

Republican support for the crackdown

Many Republican state and local officials have been speaking out in support of the immigration crackdown.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has often clashed with Newsom, said states “don’t have the right to just simply opt out of federal immigration law.”

In Texas, where police in Austin used chemical irritants to disperse several hundred demonstrators Monday, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s office said Texas National Guard troops were “on standby” in areas where demonstrations are planned.

Guard members were also deployed to San Antonio, where a protest was scheduled Wednesday night near the Alamo, in the heart of the city’s downtown.

However, Democratic Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the city did not ask for the federal help. And Police Chief William McManus said he had gotten no information on how those troops will be used.

“We are prepared for a peaceful demonstration, but we are also prepared if something goes south and it turns violent,” McManus said.

Unlike in Los Angeles, where Trump took the rare step of deploying troops despite the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Abbott announced the deployment of his state's National Guard troops and made no mention that the order came from anyone but him.

What's behind the demonstrations?

The protests have been driven by anger over Trump's stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws that critics say are tearing apart migrant families. They started Friday in downtown Los Angeles before spreading on Saturday to neighboring Compton and the city of Paramount.

Immigrant advocates say the workers who were detained, including some in the garment district, do not have criminal histories and are being denied their due process rights.

Newsom has asked a court to put an emergency stop to the military helping federal immigration agents, with some guardsmen now standing in protection around agents as they carry out arrests. The judge set a hearing for Thursday, giving the administration several days to continue those activities.

The change moves troops closer to engaging in law enforcement actions like deportations as Trump has promised as part of his administration's immigration crackdown. The Guard has the authority to temporarily detain people who attack officers, but any arrests would be made by law enforcement.

ICE said in a statement that the troops were providing security at federal facilities and protecting federal officers.

In a public address Tuesday, Newsom called Trump’s actions the start of an “assault” on democracy.

“California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next,” he said.

Meanwhile, press freedom advocates suggest that journalists covering the protests might be being targeted. Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday that there have been at least 35 attacks on journalists — 30 from law enforcement — since the demonstrations began. Journalists have been pelted with rubber bullets or pepper spray, including one during a live shot, and a CNN crew was briefly detained Monday night.

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Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, David Collins in New York, Jason Dearen, Jaimie Ding and Jake Offenhartz in Los Angeles, Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed.