By MICHELLE L. PRICE, ERIC THAYER and MORGAN LEE

PARAMOUNT, Calif. (AP) — President Donald Trump is deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom after a second day of clashes between hundreds of protesters and federal immigration authorities in riot gear.

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Sporadic confrontations broke out again Saturday in the heavily Latino satellite city of Paramount, south of Los Angeles. Agents unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls, and protesters hurled rocks and cement at Border Patrol patrol vehicles. Smoke wafted from small piles of burning refuse in the streets.

Tensions were high after a series sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day in LA’s fashion district and other locations, as the weeklong tally of immigrant arrests climbed past 100 and a prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement.

The White House announced in a statement that Trump would deploy the Guard to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, objected to the move and said in a post on the social platform X that the move was “purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.”

In a signal of the administration’s aggressive approach, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened in a post on X to deploy the U.S. military.

“If violence continues, active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert,” Hegseth said.

Trump’s order came after morning and afternoon clashes had died down in Paramount and neighboring Compton, where a car was set fire.

At the entrance to a business park, across from the back of a Home Depot, immigration officers faced off with demonstrators who set off fireworks and pulled shopping carts into the street, broke up cinder blocks and pelted a procession of Border Patrol vans as they departed and careened down a boulevard.

Paramount Mayor Peggy Lemons told multiple news outlets that no immigration raids took place in her city and demonstrators appeared to respond to possible preparations federal agents outside Homeland Security Department facilities.

“They’re just frightened,” Lemons said. “And when you handle things the way that this appears to be handled, it’s not a surprise that chaos would follow.”

In other clashes demonstrators kicked at a Border Patrol sedan, and Los Angeles County officers also deployed flash-bangs.

Law enforcement personnel and protesters mostly stayed at a distance, kicking tear gas cannisters back and forth amid streams of white gas. Among several hundred protesters, a handful were bloodied by projectiles.

More than a dozen people were arrested and accused of impeding immigration agents, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, which the names and mug shots of some of those arrested on social media.

Trump federalized part of California’s National Guard under what is known as Title 10 authority, which places him, not the governor, atop the chain of command, according to Newsom’s office.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the work the immigration authorities were doing when met with protests is “essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States. In the wake of this violence, California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens.”

The president’s move came shortly after he issued a threat on his social media network saying that if Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass did not “do their jobs,” then “the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”

Trump signed the order shortly before he went to attend a UFC fight in New Jersey, where he sat ringside with boxer Mike Tyson.

Newsom said in his statement that local authorities “are able to access law enforcement assistance at a moment’s notice,” and “there is currently no unmet need.”

“This is the wrong mission and will erode public trust,” he added.

In Paramount, some demonstrators jeered at officers while recording the events on smartphones.

“ICE out of Paramount. We see you for what you are,” a woman said through a megaphone. “You are not welcome here.”

One handheld sign read, “No Human Being is Illegal.”

Protests continued into the evening in the city, where more than 80% of residents identify themselves as Latino. Several hundred demonstrators gathered near a doughnut shop, and authorities held up barbed wire to keep the crowd back. Flash-bangs went off, some protesters stared fires and the smell of chemical irritants was in the air.

The California Highway Patrol said Newsom directed it to deploy additional officers to “maintain public safety.”

In 2020, Trump asked governors of several states to deploy their National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to quell protests after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police. Many agreed and sent troops.

Trump also threatened at the time to invoke the Insurrection Act for those protests — an intervention rarely seen in modern American history. But then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper pushed back, saying the law should be invoked “only in the most urgent and dire of situations.”

Trump did not invoke the act during his first term, and he did not do so Saturday, according to Leavitt and Newsom.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers executed search warrants at multiple locations Friday, including outside a clothing warehouse in the fashion district. The action came after a judge found probable cause that the employer was using fictitious documents for some of its workers, according to representatives for Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

DHS said in a statement that recent ICE operations in Los Angeles resulted in the arrest of 118 immigrants, including five people linked to criminal organizations and people with prior criminal histories.

Among those arrested at protests Friday was David Huerta, regional president of the Service Employees International Union. The Justice Department confirmed that he was being held Saturday at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles ahead of a scheduled Monday court appearance.

It was not clear whether Huerta had legal representation.

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for his immediate release, warning of a “disturbing pattern of arresting and detaining American citizens for exercising their right to free speech.”

Mayor Bass said the crackdown was meant to “sow terror” in her city.

ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons chided her for LA’s response to the protests.

“Mayor Bass took the side of chaos and lawlessness over law enforcement,” Lyons said in a statement. “Make no mistake, ICE will continue to enforce our nation’s immigration laws and arrest criminal illegal aliens.”

Lee reported from Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Price from Bridgewater, New Jersey. Associated Press writers Zeke Miller and Eric Tucker in Washington and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed.

If you’ve ever spent time planning a milestone birthday party, and then found out you don’t have the resources to truly celebrate, you might understand what’s happening at Minnesota’s lone national park in 2025.

Voyageurs National Park, the 218,000-acre expanse of water and wilderness on the Canadian border just east of International Falls, turns 50 this year. And the gala celebration planned by the park’s myriad fans has been tempered just a bit by the announcement earlier this year of sweeping budget cuts all across the National Park Service.

According to some reports, the budget reductions announced in February by Elon Musk and his controversial Department of Government Efficiency have left as many as 10 park staff positions vacant at Voyageurs. The park opened in 1975 amid fanfare and some controversy, as some long-time property owners in the area were pressured to sell their lake cabins to the NPS.

But none of that potential bad news, or a spring cloudburst, could dampen the recent celebration of the park’s 50th birthday held at a Minneapolis brewery by the Voyageurs Conservancy – which was founded a decade before the park opened, and works to connect more people to Voyageurs.

Hundreds braved a sudden late May rain and turned out for the celebration, which featured information about Voyageurs, food, live music and a silent auction to raise money for the conservancy’s efforts.

“Everyone loves a birthday, and we’re birthdaying the hell out of the birthday. We’re doing it all year long. It’s not just one day, it’s a full year of activities,” said Christina Hausman Rhode, the conservancy’s executive director. “We’ve had a couple of bumps in the road with federal changes. We’ve lost staff and there’s some uncertainty there, but through it all this is an important moment to celebrate the park, to be thinking about the future and to be thinking about the vision for the national park in our state.”

The park welcomes upwards of 200,000 visitors per year, with a notable uptick during the pandemic, when more people were seeking outdoor recreation. Those numbers put Voyageurs somewhere in the middle, attendance-wise, among the country’s 63 national parks, far below the 12 million visitors the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina saw in 2024, and well ahead of Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska, which saw just over 11,000 visitors last year. Isle Royale National Park, which is in Michigan but located just off the tip of Minnesota’s Arrowhead and is accessible only by boat or plane, recorded 28,800 visitors in 2024.

Hausman Rhode said that in a state like Minnesota that celebrates the outdoors from the wilderness of the Boundary Waters to the hiking trails of the Driftless area in the southeastern corner of the state, a surprising number of people aren’t aware that the state has a national park, and many have never been there. Collectively, the conservancy is working to change that.

“We are another part of that mosaic of wonderful public lands in our state,” she said. “I think Voyageurs kind of completes that mosaic, as it’s everything Minnesotans love. It’s the big lakes, it’s the boats, it’s the loons, it’s the wolves. And we put it in a national park, and it’s our gift to the rest of the National Park Service.”

In addition to opportunities to view wildlife up close and camp in secluded sites specially designed so you don’t see neighboring campers, Voyageurs sells itself as a Dark Sky Park, popular for stargazers for the lack of light pollution and the opportunity to see a vast cosmic array and even northern lights on clear nights. While fishing, camping and boating have always been staples for Voyageurs visitors, Hausman Rhode said houseboating and sea kayaking are among the activities seeing a recent spike in popularity at the park.

The DOGE cuts have touched off a backlash from coast to coast, with a group called More Perfect Union erecting billboards in Minnesota and Wisconsin noting that the Trump administration’s funding reductions could mean reduced staff and increased danger for park visitors in 2025.

“We are down some staff positions and the next proposed federal budget is looking really grim for the National Park Service,” Hausman Rhode said. “We don’t know totally how that will filter down to the National Park Service, but we know cuts are being proposed.”

The park has visitors centers at Rainy Lake, Kabetogema Lake and Ash River, all of which can be reached from the Twin Cities in under five hours of driving. The park does not require an entry fee, although there are separate charges for camping, houseboat permits, boat tours and on-site equipment rentals. More information about the Voyageurs Conservancy and their efforts can be found at voyageurs.org.

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The Twins’ well-earned reputation for having a rock-solid bullpen took a hit on a Saturday afternoon when the late-inning pitching was as erratic as the weather at Target Field.

Minnesota took a lead into the eighth, only to see Toronto score off relievers Griffin Jax and Johan Duran as the Blue Jays rallied for a 5-4 win, handing the Twins their third consecutive loss.

On a day where the skies went from sunny and calm to windy with clouds, and back again, with regularity, the Twins were similarly unsettled, falling behind early, rallying to lead, then seeing their scoreboard advantage slip away.

Matt Wallner and Kody Clemens homered for Minnesota. The Twins got six innings of work from starter Chris Paddack, who took a no decision.

“There’s some frustration when you lose a game that you have in hand, or at least you have a lead with some really good relievers that are coming in the game. That’s not the taste you’re looking for,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said, after his team saw a lead slip away for the second consecutive game.

“But we knew that these games were going to be competitive and the team on the other side has been playing really good.” Baldelli said. “They’ve been pitching good, and they’ve been playing really good baseball. We knew we were going to have to come in and pitch very, very well. We knew we were going to have to have really solid at-bats throughout.”

Paddack needed 28 pitches to escape the first inning, including 10 foul balls by Toronto, and did not make it unscathed. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled and came around to score on a Nathan Lukes single to center, after Paddack had walked George Springer.

He got two quick outs in the second only to see Toronto double its lead when catcher Tyler Heineman, batting ninth for the Blue Jays, blasted a pitch 403 feet to right field for his second home run of the season.

“That’s a pretty tough lineup, one through nine. Not a lot of swing and miss, especially the bottom of the order, and not a lot of chase either,” Paddack said. “As pitchers, we have to beat them in zone. I recognize I threw some really good changeups early in the game and got some takes.”

Toronto starter Kevin Gausman faced the minimum number of Twins during his first trip through the order, allowing only a walk to leadoff man Trevor Larnach, who was erased two batters later when Carlos Correa bounced into a double play.

Gausman’s trouble started with one out in the fourth, when Ryan Jeffers and Correa hit back-to-back singles, and Wallner walked to load the bases.

Gausman hit Ty France to drive in a run — the league-leading 12th time that France has been plunked this season. Then Royce Lewis worked a walk to tie the game at 2-2.

The threat ended when Kody Clemens hit into a rare 5-2-3 double play, with Heineman forcing Wallner out at home, then throwing to first in time to get Clemens.

The Twins took the lead in the sixth when Wallner plopped a 1-2 pitch into the right field stands for his third homer in six games since being called up from St. Paul on May 31.

With the bases loaded and two out in the seventh, Minnesota missed a chance to blow the game open when Correa’s knock to right held up long enough for Blue Jays outfielder Addison Barger to glove it.

Correa finished 1 for 4 in his first game back in the lineup after missing the previous three with upper back soreness.

Then, just as a light rain began to fall, Jax surrendered a double to Barger and a homer to left by Springer to put Toronto back in front. Barger’s hit was a slicing ball down the left field line with the Twins’ infield shifted.

“It’s annoying. I thought it was an executed cutter, he flips it down the line. Whatever,” said Jax, who took the loss, falling to 1-4. “But I still can’t focus on that, especially when Springer’s up. And I don’t think I did. I think I did a pretty good job of being more focused on executing the pitch to Springer. It’s just the pitch got away from me.”

The Blue Jays tacked on an insurance run off Duran in their final at-bat, before Clemens led off the bottom of the ninth with a homer to left. It was the career-high sixth home run of the season for Clemens, who came over from Philadelphia in a spring trade.

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“It was good to put up some runs there. I thought Gausman threw well, keeping us off balance,” said Clemens. “Just a little frustrated with myself with the bases loaded double play there. Wish I could come up for my team in that moment.”

Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman then struck out Willi Castro, got Harrison Bader to fly out to right, and coaxed a long fly ball to left center from Larnach. It was the 15th save of the season for Hoffman as Toronto won its fourth consecutive game and has won 10 of the past 12. Reliever Chad Green got the win for Toronto, improving to 2-1.

Minnesota will try to salvage a game when the series concludes with a 1:10 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.

Ernie Clement #22 of the Toronto Blue Jays and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #27 celebrate their teams win against the Minnesota Twins after the game at Target Field on June 7, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Matt Krohn/Getty Images)

With roots in Southern California, where the weather is notoriously perfect for baseball, Twins first baseman Ty France – in his first season in Minnesota after spending 2024 with Cincinnati – admitted there is a little more spring in the step when you come to work on a June morning with sunshine, low humidity and the thermometer headed for the 70s.

“Whenever you get a little bit of sunshine, it’s nice to get out there,” France said prior to Saturday’s game versus Toronto, admitting that recent road trips have offered better weather than what they experienced at home early in the season.

“The first month was a little bit of a grind, but we ran into some warm weather too, in Tampa, Sacramento, Seattle was nice,” France said. “But it’s nice coming home to this, for sure.”

First proposed in the late 1990s, the original plans for a ballpark to replace the Metrodome included a retractable roof similar to those in Seattle and Houston. When legislators and much of the voting public in Minnesota soundly rejected the cost of a retractable roof facility, the design of what eventually became Target Field was scaled back, and outdoor baseball – for better or worse depending on the whims of Minnesota weather – returned in 2010.

Some believe that April and May games at Target Field, when the weather can be colder than anywhere else in the majors, give the Twins a home field advantage. On a smaller scale, similar to what the Minnesota Vikings enjoyed for their first two decades, playing outdoors at Met Stadium, where the weather could be frigid late in the football season.

France said they play in any temperature, but admitted that short sleeves and sunglasses are ideal.

“It’s a more comfortable environment for us,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s necessarily an advantage, but once we get the opportunity to thaw out after the first month, it’s nice. I haven’t played here in the summertime, but I’ve heard the ball starts carrying a little better, and I’m looking forward to that.”

Lewis past slump

After snapping out of a brutal 0-for-32 slump at the plate during the Twins’ three-city road trip, Royce Lewis continues to do good things with his bat, going 3 for 3 with a walk in Friday’s loss to Toronto.

“I think he has looked good at the plate. I think he has looked more comfortable. I think his swing has been synced up really good,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Both his timing on his swing, and actually the swing itself, has looked a lot like the Royce you would see last year at times and the year before.”

Lewis, who scored a run in the Twins’ 6-4 loss, said he’s concentrating on what he can control at the plate, and leaving the rest to the hands of fate.

I can only control so much. Once the ball leaves the bat, it’s on God and it’s on those fielders where they’re playing. So I’ve just got to keep doing my thing and controlling what I can control, and looking for my pitch, which is key I think for any hitter,” he said following Friday’s game.

“If you’re looking for your pitch, and you’re focusing on every pitch of every at-bat which is tough to do sometimes, I know you wouldn’t think it, like ‘oh, you should be focused.’ Well, sometimes you just lose sight of your plan. You get homer happy or you swing too hard. Those are the little things that I’m trying to take care of right now. Just breathing and having fun.”

Whatever is working for Lewis, Baldelli wants to see it continue.

“It’s been a week, so we want to keep this going throughout the whole season,” the manager said.

Happy birthday “Buck-Ninety”

Tim Laudner, the former Twins catcher and current member of the broadcast crew, celebrated his 67th birthday on Saturday, noting that he and late Minnesota music icon Prince entered this world on the same day: June 7, 1958.

Born in Iowa, Laudner played high school baseball at Park Center, in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis and at the University of Missouri before making his major league debut with the Twins in 1981.

As a catcher on Minnesota’s 1987 World Series title team, Laudner was beloved for his local roots, and playfully teased for his light-hitting ways.

He batted .191 for the 1987 season with 16 home runs, prompting some fans to hang a banner from the facing of the Metrodome’s upper deck during the playoffs with Laudner’s number, declaring them members of the “Buck-Ninety Fan Club” in reference to his batting average.

In the clubhouse before Saturday’s game, Laudner joked about being the second most prominent Minnesotan – after Prince, who died in 2016 – but said that a fan once noted that for their careers, Laudner had more hits than the musician.

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