White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s orders to federal agents to arrest more people without criminal convictions likely sparked the immigration arrests that ignited protests in Los Angeles. The arrests at Home Depot triggered the protests and the escalating response, including Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard. The controversy solidifies the view that the Trump administration’s goal is to achieve a high level of deportations rather than remove people with criminal convictions. The policy increases the legal peril for businesses and immigrant workers.
Stephen Miller Berates ICE Officials In Immigration Meeting
On May 20, 2025, Stephen Miller, the architect of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, called ICE’s top 50 field heads into Washington, D.C.
“Miller came in there and eviscerated everyone. ‘You guys aren’t doing a good job. You’re horrible leaders.’ He just ripped into everybody. He had nothing positive to say about anybody, shot morale down,” said the first official, according to reporting by Anna Giaritelli for the Washington Examiner.
“Stephen Miller wants everybody arrested. ‘Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?’” the official recited. (Emphasis added.)
In response to pushback from one ICE official, “Miller said, ‘What do you mean you’re going after criminals?’ Miller got into a little bit of a pissing contest. ‘That’s what Tom Homan says every time he’s on TV: ‘We’re going after criminals,’” the ICE official told Miller, according to the first official, reported the Washington Examiner.
In January 2025, a week after Donald Trump took office, administration officials directed ICE officials “to aggressively ramp up the number of people they arrest, from a few hundred per day to at least 1,200 to 1,500,” reported the Washington Post. That came after the president expressed disappointment with “the results of his mass deportation campaign.”
The Trump administration internally has set a goal of deporting 1 million people during Trump’s first year and has changed ICE leadership personnel three times, according to the Washington Post.
At the end of May 2025, “Stephen Miller, a senior White House official, told Fox News that the White House was looking for ICE to arrest 3,000 people a day, a major increase in enforcement. The agency had arrested more than 66,000 people in the first 100 days of the Trump administration, an average of about 660 arrests a day,” reported the New York Times. Arresting 3,000 people daily would surpass 1 million arrests in a calendar year.
In addition to the meeting where he directed ICE officials to arrest immigrants at Home Depot and other locations, Miller has exhorted law enforcement personnel to increase overall immigration arrests. The Trump administration has replaced ICE leaders multiple times.
Immigration Raid On Home Depot, Protests And The National Guard
The raid on Home Depot took place on Friday, June 6. “Angel knew from the moment he raised his hand with a whistle and shouted ‘Labor!’ at a white van pulling into the Home Depot parking lot full of workers last Friday that something felt wrong,” reported the Washington Post. “The Honduran immigrant caught a glimpse of the driver and a passenger wearing what looked like bulletproof vests.” He saw the vehicle park near the store’s parking lot entrance.
“His creeping suspicion exploded into full-blown fear just as the doors of the van opened and masked agents began pouring out,” according to the Washington Post. “’La migra!’ Angel and another day laborer yelled. More than 100 men and women standing in the parking lot began to run. Six migrants who said they were present recounted how federal immigration authorities began handcuffing anyone they could grab in one of several raids in the city that would spark a wave of unrest and leave immigrant workers of all stripes jolted.”
After the ICE raids and the arrests outside Home Depot and at other businesses, protesters gathered. “Around noon, tensions grew as the agents attempted to clear the way for border patrol and other unmarked vehicles to leave the business park,” according to the Los Angeles Times. “They fired tear gas and flash-bang grenades at demonstrators standing on Alondra Boulevard. When a caravan of federal vehicles departed from the gates, protesters followed them, throwing rocks and other objects.”
As the protests continued, interspersed with rioting and property destruction, local police responded and Donald Trump signed a proclamation that mobilized 2,000 National Guard personnel to “temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions.”
The president’s proclamation did not invoke the Insurrection Act, but a statute (10 U.S.C. 12406) that allows him to “call into Federal service members and units of the National Guard of any State in such numbers as he considers necessary to repel the invasion, suppress the rebellion, or execute those laws.”
According to the law, “Orders for these purposes shall be issued through the governors of the States or, in the case of the District of Columbia, through the commanding general of the National Guard of the District of Columbia.” (Emphasis added.)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized Trump’s action and filed a lawsuit.
University of Houston Assistant Professor of Law Chris Mirasola notes the president’s proclamation cites the “execute those laws” portion of the statute. He explains in Lawfare that the “protective power does not extend as far as the general authorization to undertake law enforcement functions which the Insurrection Act provides.” However, a 1971 Office of Legal Counsel memo advises the president he retains the option of invoking additional powers under the Insurrection Act.
The proclamation states that the Secretary of Defense may direct military personnel to ensure the protection and safety of federal personnel and property. “This single sentence could not be more important,” writes Mirasola. “The executive, again as reflected in the 1971 Office of Legal Counsel memo, has long asserted that the protective power is not an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act because the activities authorized under the protective power are not themselves law enforcement activities. In the days to come, the public must be laser focused on seeing the extent to which Secretary Hegseth adheres to these historically recognized limitations.” The Posse Comitatus Act restricts using federal troops for domestic purposes.
The Trump Administration’s Immigration Goal Remains Deporting Millions Of People Without Criminal Convictions
In past administrations, due to limited resources, Immigration and Customs Enforcement focused on arresting people with criminal convictions. In FY 2024, ICE reported, “Over 81,312 (71.7%) of the 113,431 arrests were of noncitizens with criminal convictions or pending charges.”
In the media, Trump officials have asserted that their immigration actions focus on criminals because the public supports deporting people with criminal convictions far more than arresting long-time residents and workers. “A slight majority feel the administration’s deportation efforts are prioritizing people they believe are dangerous criminals,” according to CBS News. “Those who say this are very supportive of the program, and feel the program is making people in the U.S. safer. But if people don’t think it is dangerous criminals who are the focus of the deportation effort, support drops dramatically.” (Emphasis added.)
The arrests of people at nail salons, restaurants, construction sites and Home Depot illustrate that targeting dangerous criminals is not the Trump administration’s immigration policy. The likely triggering action for the arrests and protests in Los Angeles remains Stephen Miller directing ICE officials to arrest as many people without criminal convictions as possible.