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AUSTIN, Texas: Protests over federal immigration enforcement raids are flaring up around the country, as officials in cities from coast to coast get ready for major demonstrations against President Donald Trump over the weekend.
While many demonstrations against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency have been peaceful, with marchers chanting slogans and carrying signs, others have led to clashes with police who have sometimes used chemical irritants to disperse crowds. Hundreds have been arrested.
Volatile protests prompted city officials to enforce curfews in Los Angeles and Spokane. And Republican governors in Texas and Missouri mobilized National Guard troops to be ready to help law enforcement manages demonstrations in those states.
Activists are planning “No Kings” events across the country on Saturday to coincide with Trump’s planned military parade in Washington, D.C. While those were already scheduled, they will happen amid the rising tensions of the week.
The Trump administration said immigration raids and deportations will continue regardless.
A look at some recent protests and reactions across the country:
Las Vegas
Police said 94 people were arrested on “various criminal and traffic” charges, and four officers were injured in a Wednesday night protest. Some in the estimated crowd of about 800 threw bottles and rocks at law enforcement, police said.
A large crowd gathered on Las Vegas Boulevard near the city’s federal courthouse and blocked several streets before police deemed the gathering an unlawful assembly. Police announced in English and Spanish that protesters must leave the area. Local media reported that tear gas, flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets were used to disperse the crowds.
Chicago
Hundreds of demonstrators packed a park plaza near Lake Michigan on Thursday. Veronica Castro, an organizer with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, urged people to learn how to protect themselves and elected officials to speak out.
Demonstrators chanted “No hate, no fear.”
The group later marched along the city’s iconic Michigan Avenue, flanked by their own security marshals and Chicago police officers on bicycles and in slow-moving patrol cars.
The crowd, including parents with strollers, students and longtime organizers chanted, “Power to the people, no one is illegal.”
Seattle
Hundreds of protesters marched through downtown Seattle Wednesday evening to a federal building where immigration cases are heard. Some of them dragged a dumpster nearby and set it on fire. The building was covered in graffiti, with “Abolish ICE Now” written in large letters across its front window. They moved electric bikes and cones to block its entrance.
Dozens of officers squared off with protesters near the federal building, with some shooting pepper spray. Police worked to move the crowd away and some protesters threw fireworks and rocks at officers, according to the Seattle Police Department.
Spokane, Washington
Mayor Lisa Brown imposed an overnight curfew in downtown Spokane after a protest Wednesday afternoon outside an ICE office that ended with more than 30 arrests and police firing pepper balls at the crowd.
Brown said the curfew would “protect public safety,” and that the majority of protesters were peaceful.
“We respect their right to peacefully protest and to be upset about federal policies,” she said. “I have been that person who has protested federal policies and that is a right we have.”
San Antonio
Several hundred protesters marched through downtown San Antonio and near the historic Alamo mission. Although Texas National Guard troops were seen in the area, the demonstration was mostly peaceful with no significant clashes with law enforcement.
The Alamo building and plaza, among the most popular tourist attractions in the state, was closed to the public early and police guarded the property as the crowd gathered and marched nearby.
Tuscon, Arizona
A protest Wednesday outside an ICE office in Tuscon, Arizona, turned into a clash between masked security officers and demonstrators who blocked a roadway, threw balloons filled with paint and spray painted anti-ICE graffiti on the gates and walls of the facility.
Video clips showed a security officer who was hit with a water bottle. Masked protesters held makeshift shields as they inched toward the security team, and a member of the security team set off what appeared to be a flash-bang device.
At one point, a security officer sprayed a chemical irritant at protesters and a protester responded by firing irritant back at the officers. It was unclear if the officers were private security or federal agents. The Associated Press left messages with the Tucson Police Department and ICE’s operation in Arizona.
‘No Kings’
This week’s protests are leading into the scheduled “No Kings” demonstrations that organizers say are planned in nearly 2,000 locations around the country, from city blocks to small towns, courthouse steps to community parks, according to the movement’s website.
Organizers plan a flagship march and rally in Philadelphia, but no protests are scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C., where the military parade will be held.
In Florida, state Attorney General James Uthmeier warned that any “No Kings” protesters who become violent will be dealt with harshly.
“If you want to light things on fire and put people in danger, you are going to do time. We do not tolerate rioting,” said Uthmeier said Thursday.
Federal prosecutors are watching as well.
In a message sent Thursday, a Justice Department official told US attorneys across the country to prioritize cases against protesters who engage in violence and destruction. The email cites several potential federal charges, including assault, civil disorder and damage of government property.
Governors and the Guard
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe mobilized National Guard troops in their states ahead of the weekend demonstrations.
Abbott said more than 5,000 guard troops and more than 2,000 state police would be ready to assist local law enforcement if needed.
Several “No Kings” rallies are planned in Texas, including in San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and Austin. There were brief clashes between protesters and police who used chemical irritants during demonstrations in Austin and Dallas earlier in the week. Police in Austin made about a dozen arrests.
Mayors in San Antonio and Austin have said they didn’t ask for help from the National Guard.
Kehoe’s announcement called his decision a “precautionary measure” and did not provide specific troop levels or duties. His order authorized guard leadership to call up as many members as necessary.
Abbott and Kehoe stand in sharp contrast to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has publicly sparred with Trump over the president’s decision to send National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles, where volatile demonstrations have mostly been contained to a five-block section of downtown.
All 22 other Democratic governors signed a statement backing Newsom, calling the Guard deployment and threats to send in Marines “an alarming abuse of power.”
 

WASHINGTON: The role of Elon Musk’s SpaceX in an ambitious new US missile defense system is in question following the dramatic feud last week between the billionaire entrepreneur and President Donald Trump, according to three people familiar with the project.
The White House until recently had considered a plan for SpaceX, Musk’s rocket and satellite venture, to partner with software maker Palantir and drone builder Anduril to construct crucial elements of the project, dubbed “Golden Dome.” The administration had instructed the Pentagon to prioritize a network of satellites for the purpose, these people said.
But a new framework for the system, which would seek to track and prevent possible missile attacks against the United States, is now being considered that could reduce the role of SpaceX. One possibility, the three people said, could initially forego SpaceX’s satellite capabilities and focus on the expansion of existing ground systems for missile defense instead.
In a statement, a White House spokesman said “the Trump Administration is committed to a rigorous review process for all bids and contracts.” A senior Defense Department official said the Pentagon “has no announcements regarding future contracts associated with the Golden Dome effort.”
SpaceX, Anduril and Palantir didn’t respond to requests for comment.
A reduced role for SpaceX would represent the first known setback to Musk’s huge volume of business with the US government since his break with Trump last week. The shift in plans, especially for a project that Trump has touted as paramount for US defense strategy, also underscores the highly personalized nature of the president’s leadership, aerospace and defense experts said.
“That people guiding the program or building it are approved based on their political affiliation signals a real concern that the project itself is very politicized and not being conducted on the technical merits,” said Laura Grego, a missile defense expert and research director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In its statement to Reuters, the White House said any decision would be made “prioritizing the best deal for America and leveraging the most advanced and innovative technology.”
Trump in May said the defense shield should be operational by the end of his presidency, January 2029. But industry experts have said that timeframe, and a projected cost of some $175 billion, could be too optimistic.
The change in the proposed “architecture” of the system, the three people said, could have the political advantage of allowing the current administration to deliver at least a portion of it. It isn’t clear how soon a final decision on the project could come or whether the ultimate role of any company, including SpaceX, has been determined.
Trump’s efforts to roll out the project fast have led to uncertainty about the project’s details and a scramble by contractors to be involved, industry experts and some of those involved in its development told Reuters. “To this day, no one knows what the requirements are,” said one of the people familiar with the process. “There isn’t a coordinated effort with a true vision. All of these companies are just grabbing at this pot of money.”
SpaceX, Anduril and Palantir were all founded by entrepreneurs who have been major political supporters of Trump. The three companies had previously met with top administration officials and decisionmakers from the Defense Department to discuss Golden Dome, according to people familiar with those discussions.
Before his high-profile falling out with the president, Musk served as a key Trump adviser and donated more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect him. But the recent dispute, which included Musk calling for Trump’s impeachment and accusing the president of improper involvement with disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, triggered the change in direction, the three people told Reuters.
“Because of the blowup, the Pentagon has been given the space to look at other alternatives,” one of the people said.
In recent days, Musk has sought to temper the dispute, saying he regretted some of his comments and taking down some of his social media criticism of Trump, including the call for impeachment. Earlier this week, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump appreciated Musk’s apology and that she was unaware of any administration efforts to review Musk contracts because of the dispute.
Reuters couldn’t determine whether Musk’s conciliatory overtures might improve SpaceX’s chances of winning Golden Dome contracts or securing further new business with the US government.
SpaceX had pitched for a part of the Golden Dome initiative called the “custody layer,” a constellation of between 400 and 1,000 satellites that would detect missiles, track their trajectory, and determine if they are heading toward the US, Reuters reported in April. In a January 27 executive order, Trump mandated the selection of a proposed “architecture” for Golden Dome and an implementation plan by the end of March.
The order called a missile attack “the most catastrophic threat facing the United States.”