(TNND) — President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are facing off over days of violent protests in Los Angeles.

Newsom and his state sued the Trump administration Monday over the president's move to deploy National Guard troops to the riot area without the state’s blessing.

Trump, meanwhile, said he’ll do what’s necessary to maintain law and order.

Ernesto Sagás, an expert in politics and U.S. immigration policies who teaches at Colorado State University, said the L.A. protests sprang from pent-up anger and frustration over Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

But he said agitators are mixed in with protesters.

And Sagás said the politically ambitious Newsom has a “very difficult balancing act” to appear tough on violent rioters while standing up against what Trump’s critics view as “authoritarian” actions that unfairly target noncriminal immigrants with raids and deportations that lack proper due process.

“They're making it a civil rights issue, rather than an immigration issue,” Sagás said on Democrats’ counter to Trump’s immigration crackdown.

“Immigration is the third rail of politics that the Democrats were not willing to touch,” Sagás said. “They have partly learned from the results of the 2024 election that it’s not ... the kind of fight that they can win or battle that they can win against Trump. But apparently, they see an angle right now.”

The administration says it’s targeting illegal immigrants who have committed other crimes while in the country.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents swept up 118 people in their immigration operations last week in L.A.

That included gang members and people with histories of drug trafficking, assault, cruelty to children, domestic violence, robbery, and human smuggling, according to Homeland Security.

The department highlighted one of those picked up in L.A. last week, a man convicted of second-degree murder in a shooting that left an 18-year-old and a 15-year-old dead in 1994.

Sagás said most Americans support going after criminals in the country illegally.

Recent polling from the Pew Research Center found near-unanimous agreement that violent criminals living in the country illegally should be deported.

But Sagás said the public doesn’t think only criminals are being arrested.

And it gets “down to the neighbor level” when someone sees their favorite restaurant shuttered after an ICE raid.

That becomes personal for people, and that’s when people question the fairness of the crackdown, Sagás said.

NEWSOM vs. TRUMP

Newsom has ambitions for the White House in 2028, and Sagás said the California governor believes he can become the head of a leaderless Democratic Party.

And that includes moving toward the middle on controversial issues, such as homelessness and immigration.

Sagás said Newsom also sees himself as the champion of states’ rights, pushing back on Trump’s National Guard deployment.

“There's a protocol. There's a process. He didn't care about that,” Newsom told NBC News of Trump’s troop deployment.

Newsom said Trump never coordinated with the state. And Newsom called on Trump to pull back the troops, which would typically be under Newsom’s command.

“Well, I mean, look, Donald Trump has created the conditions you see on your TV tonight,” Newsom said Sunday night during the NBC interview from an emergency operations center. “He's exacerbated the conditions. He's, you know, lit the proverbial match. He's putting fuel on this fire ever since he announced he was taking over the National Guard, an illegal act, an immoral act, an unconstitutional act.”

Newsom said he supports the protesters but not the violence.

The governor called the violence “unacceptable.”

“These kids on the car, folks that are taking advantage of this, these aren't peaceful protesters, a lot of these folks,” Newsom said. “A lot of great people out there doing the right thing. But you get these insurgent groups coming in, sort of these anarchists that are in there to create real problems. And they're just playing right into Donald Trump's hands. And they need to be called out. They need to be arrested. It is wrong to destroy other people's property. And it is wrong to create the conditions that only exacerbate this.”

Newsom said Trump’s actions aren’t just about immigration enforcement. They’re about “power,” “ego” and “authoritarian tendencies.”

Trump said he stepped in to protect the public, government property and the safety of law enforcement officers.

“A once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals. Now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations — But these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve,” Trump said on Truth Social.

The president told reporters this weekend that he’ll ensure there’s a “very strong law and order” presence in L.A.

“We're going to have troops everywhere. We're not going to let this happen to our country. We're not going to let our country be torn apart, like it was under Biden,” Trump said.

Monday, Trump reiterated his claim that Newsom isn’t up for the job of protecting Californians.

“I like Gavin Newsom. He's a nice guy. But he's grossly incompetent,” Trump told reporters.

Trump voiced support for arresting Newsom if the governor interferes with federal authorities. Border czar Tom Homan previously wouldn’t rule out arresting the governor if he interfered.

And Trump said the “professional agitators” in the protests should be arrested.

“The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators. They're insurrectionists. They’re bad people. They should be in jail,” Trump said.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said this weekend on "Face the Nation” that Trump is putting public safety and law enforcement safety first.

The National Guard troops were activated “to keep peace and allow people to be able to protest, but also to keep law and order,” Noem said. “That is incredibly important to the president. He recognizes he was elected to make sure that every single person in this country was treated exactly the same, and that we would enforce the laws. And that is what ICE is doing every day as they're out on our streets and working to go after bad criminals and people that have perpetuated violence on these communities.”

Vehicles were burned in the protests.

Molotov cocktails, bricks and rocks were thrown.

Homeland Security said over 1,000 rioters surrounded a federal law enforcement building Friday night and assaulted ICE officers, slashed tires and defaced buildings.

And Homeland Security said it took the Los Angeles Police Department two hours to respond.

Noem said they’re taking the safety of federal agents into their own hands.

ICE officers are facing a 413% increase in assaults against them, Homeland Security said in a news release about the violence that erupted during the L.A. protests.