WASHINGTON (TNND) — Los Angeles is preparing for additional protests following a weekend of increasingly chaotic and violent demonstrations over immigration enforcement.

The city has become the latest flashpoint in a nationwide immigration standoff between the White House and Democratic leadership in California, with the National Guard now deployed on the ground.

Demonstrations continued on Monday after protests escalated into violence over the weekend. The unrest began following Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids at several locations in and around Los Angeles on Friday, including a Home Depot parking lot in Paramount, south of the city.

"They were afraid to do anything out there and we sent out the troops and they've done a fantastic job," President Trump said Monday.

The President also criticized the protesters, calling them "professional agitators" and "insurrectionists," adding that they "should be in jail."

In the days following the initial raids, protests shut down streets and freeways throughout the Los Angeles area. The situation deteriorated further after the National Guard's arrival, with some self-driving cars being set on fire and clashes with law enforcement increasing as tensions boiled over.

"This violence that I've seen is disgusting. It's escalated now since the beginning of this incident," Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said after Sunday's clashes.

California officials are pointing to Trump's deployment of the National Guard as the catalyst for the escalation, while the White House maintains that the situation was already out of control.

"It's an escalation that didn't have to happen. Why were there raids? We had been told that he was going to go after violent criminals. It wasn't a drug den. It was a Home Depot. It was places where people are working. So what was the point of doing this?" Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Monday.

White House Border Czar Tom Homan suggested that government officials were not above the law when asked about potential arrests of Democratic leadership.

"Come after me, arrest me, let's just get it over with, tough guy," Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., told MSNBC, daring Homan to arrest him.

Trump told reporters, "I would do it if I were Tom," when asked about Newsom's dare.

Homan clarified Monday that there were never any plans to arrest the governor.

"We arrested a sexual predator, arrested gang members, arrested somebody who had an armed robbery conviction, we made LA safer that day, but you're not hearing any of this, all you hear is the rhetoric that ICE is nazis and terrorists and Governor Newsom feeds that," Homan told Fox News Monday morning.

Governor Newsom announced Monday that California would sue the Trump administration over the National Guard deployment, accusing the federal government of cutting out state leadership from the decision-making process. Newsom argued that Trump "flamed the fires" of the situation and that the escalation was exactly what the President wanted.

The ongoing standoff highlights the deepening divide between federal immigration enforcement priorities and state-level resistance in California, with Los Angeles serving as the current battleground in this national debate.