Armed National Guard troops are accompanying immigration agents as they carry out mass deportation raids on the streets of Los Angeles.
The troops, who were mobilized by President Trump, are providing “operational security” to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after they faced attacks and threats from anti-ICE rioters, sources told The Post, which first broke the story.
It’s “in case s–t hits the fan,” said a federal law enforcement source.
A second source added: “It’s needed for extra safety and security doing operations.”
Photos released by ICE on Tuesday showed National Guard troops standing by, rifles at the ready, as ICE agents made an arrest.
ICE agents are happy that the National Guard soldiers will have their backs, but some are concerned that their presence could make the federal immigration agents an even bigger target, the first source said.
“They’re showing up with Humvees and uniforms,” the source said.
In response to the National Guard’s new role, California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed an emergency request in federal court to block the troops from assisting with ICE raids.
ICE agents often try to fly below the radar before they swoop in on a target, traveling in unmarked SUVs and operating in street clothes.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The soldiers are not making any arrests on behalf of ICE.
The Trump administration deployed 2,000 National Guard soldiers to LA over the weekend as rioters set cars ablaze and hurled rocks at law enforcement officers.
Later, the Department of Defense mobilized 700 active-duty Marines from Twentynine Palms, California, to help maintain order in LA.
The deployment of troops could last 60 days and comes with an estimated price tag of $134 million, the Pentagon revealed Tuesday.
Roughly 150 Border Patrol agents have also been pulled from the southern border in both California and Arizona to help control the riots, according to sources.
Border Patrol agents were pummeled with rockets and cinder blocks by protesters on Saturday night following a series of ICE raids, including in Compton and at a Home Depot in the majority-Hispanic city of Paramount.
At least one border agent was injured by a missile flying through his windshield.
Trump earlier praised the National Guard while criticizing LA Mayor Karen Bass and Newsom for being “unable to handle the tasks” of quelling the violence.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth earlier warned the National Guard was being deployed “IMMEDIATELY to support federal law enforcement in Los Angeles” in a post on X.
ICE agents have been undeterred by the anti-ICE riots, collaring illegal migrant criminals as part of the mass deportation effort.
On Sunday, ICE arrested several illegal migrant criminals, including child abusers and pedophiles, according to DHS.
Newsom filed a lawsuit Monday against the Trump administration for sending in the National Guard, claiming that it has only fanned the flames of the protests.
Newsom also dared border czar Tom Homan to arrest him.
And Trump said he “would do it” — if he were Homan, at least.
