Trump: Troops deployed to LA to ensure 'law and order'

US President Donald Trump on Sunday said troops sent to Los Angeles would ensure "very strong law and order", while appearing to leave the door open to deploying soldiers in other cities.

"You have violent people, and we are not going to let them get away with it," he told reporters regarding those protesting raids by immigration agents in California.

"I think you're going to see some very strong law and order," Trump added.

The US president was speaking to reporters on the tarmac at Morristown Airport before boarding Air Force One bound for Camp David.

Minutes earlier, troops had fired tear gas and pushed back a handful of protesters outside a detention centre in Los Angeles.

The deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops was made over the objections of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who said the move was designed to "manufacture a crisis".

Trump administration officials have vowed to clamp down hard on the demonstrations, which have taken place over two days after US immigration agents launched raids in the Los Angeles area, provoking an angry response from residents.

The White House said Trump has relied on a seldom used law, known as Title 10, that permits National Guard federalisation in times of "a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States".

The US Insurrection Act also allows the president broad powers to deploy the military domestically and use it for law enforcement, although Trump has not so far invoked it.

Responding to a question on whether he would do so, Trump said: "We're looking at troops everywhere. We're not going to let this happen to our country."

Asked what the bar would be for sending in US Marines rather than National Guardsmen, Trump said he would be the one to decide that.

"The bar is what I think it is," he said.

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Source: TRT