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LOS ANGELES – As the protests against Los Angeles’ immigration raids spread, state law enforcement leaders are sounding the alarm on the dangers facing officers on the front lines of the riots.
“I’ve been around a very long time, and I have seen similar to what we’re facing now,” Jake Johnson, president of the California Association of Highway Patrolmen (CAHP), told Fox News Digital. “But I’ve never seen the amount of onslaught.”
Thousands of protesters descended on Los Angeles in the last two weeks after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers began conducting raids throughout the sanctuary city. The violence included rioters hurling projectiles at law enforcement officers and lighting numerous self-driving electric vehicles on fire.
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In response to the protests, over 640 highway patrol officers have been sent to Los Angeles. Additionally, nearly 400 additional CHP Special Response Team officers have been deployed to aid law enforcement.
“There’s hundreds of state troopers [and] highway patrolmen that are deployed in both the Bay Area and particularly in Los Angeles,” Johnson said. “[They] are working very long hours, anywhere from 16 to 20 hours a day, trying to keep the peace down there. It’s been a very dangerous situation.”
Los Angeles police have made more than 500 arrests related to protest activity, with the most serious charges ranging from assault against police officers to possession of a Molotov cocktail and gun, according to the police department. Nine police officers have been injured in the protests, with the majority being minor injuries.
The LAPD and CHP did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Several CHP cars were damaged along the 101 Freeway as officers tried to clear protesters from the road, marking yet another assault on law enforcement operations in the midst of the riots.
“I witnessed one of our officers get hit in the head with a rock,” Johnson said. “Had he not had his helmet and mask on, [there is] no doubt in my mind he would have been killed. It smacked him right in the face and he was actually pulled to safety by an [officer] I know very well.”
While on the ground, CHP officers are faced with the task of identifying in real-time who is following the law and who is looking to break it, a situation that Johnson called “very difficult.”
“The persons that are down there participating in their First Amendment rights are quickly overtaken by these bad actors that are definitely in the crowd,” Johnson told Fox News Digital. “There’s a significant amount of them in the crowd, and it really takes over the peaceful protests that there are hundreds of people participating in. It really turns these into bad situations where now we have to decide who’s a peaceful protester and who is a bad actor.”
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Johnson believes the answer to ensuring the safety of both law enforcement and demonstrators who may be acting peacefully is by civilians reporting sightings of violent protesters to police.
“It’s time to start turning these people in,” Johnson said. “It’s time to start recording them, getting information for the crimes that you see committed and turning them in to the police.”
The call for cooperation between peaceful protesters and law enforcement comes as an appeals court blocked a federal judge’s decision forcing President Donald Trump to return control over National Guard troops to California last Thursday.
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Trump has deployed more than 4,000 Guard soldiers to Los Angeles, along with roughly 700 Marines, Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman said.
The appeals court declined to rule on the status of the Marines, since they had not taken to the streets yet.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump thanked the appeals court for its ruling, writing: “If I didn’t send the Military into Los Angeles, that city would be burning to the ground right now.”
Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom continue to clash in a legal battle over control of the National Guard and the troops’ role in the riots.
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The Guard has been sent to protect federal property and accompany officials on immigration raids. While the troops do have the ability to temporarily detain people who attack officers, any arrests must be made by law enforcement.
“As far as the interaction with [the National Guard], I haven’t seen any interaction with them,” Johnson said. “For the three or four nights I was out there, I didn’t see any National Guard. I saw what [was] on the news. They’re guarding federal facilities, but they haven’t been integrated with any of us.”
Johnson leads a union that represents approximately 7,000 patrolmen deployed throughout the state. However, he points to staffing shortages caused by attractive retirement packages, leaving a gaping hole in the department’s headcount.
“We’re almost down one thousand bodies for highway patrolmen in California,” Johnson said, adding, “We have a really hard time filling in the positions.”
As the anti-ICE protests stretch into their second week, law enforcement throughout Los Angeles is bracing for the unknown.
“When you’re out there and it’s a very dangerous situation, you don’t think about the politics or your personal politics,” Johnson said. “Cops are very good at that. I’ve been around these guys for decades and they’re my brothers and sisters. And I know they’re very, very good people. And although they might have their personal views, it doesn’t spill over into these situations.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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