After tear gas and street fires, a Los Angeles community cleans up as
National Guard troops arrive
[June 09, 2025]
JASON DEAREN
COMPTON, Calif. (AP) — Ernest Melendrez woke up early Sunday to shovel
tear gas pellets and other charred and broken detritus from his
neighborhood’s streets, the remnants of a battle between protesters
demonstrating against immigration raids and federal and local
authorities the night before.
Melendrez wore a mask covering his nose and mouth, but he coughed often
– it wasn’t enough to protect him from remaining tear gas still in the
air.
Across the street, storefronts were covered in anti-U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement graffiti.
“I think people have the right idea, just the wrong approach,” Melendrez
said as cars whisked by him, some honking in appreciation or stopping to
ask questions about the night before. “Everybody has their own way of
coping with stuff, and if nobody is there to help manage their feelings
this is what can tend to happen. You need some community support.”
Melendrez, his wife and daughter cleaned the streets that were obscured
just hours earlier by huge clouds of tear gas fired by federal
authorities. The protests prompted President Donald Trump to order
National Guard troops deployed to downtown Los Angeles over the
objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The governor has called
Trump’s order a “complete overreaction.”
More protests erupted Sunday as troops dressed in tactical gear were
seen stationed outside Metropolitan Detention Center downtown, where
hundreds of demonstrators clashed with federal authorities previously.
Tear gas was fired when some demonstrators moved close to the Guard
troops.
A Home Depot about a block away from where Melendrez was cleaning was
the epicenter of the previous night's struggle. On Sunday it was empty
and calm; a lone worker cleaned graffiti off the store’s sign as
customers drove in.
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Law enforcement stand during a protest in Compton, Calif., Saturday,
June 7, 2025, after federal immigration authorities conducted
operations. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
As federal officers in tactical gear fired tear gas and other
nonlethal weapons in Compton and Paramount on Saturday, some
protesters started a series of small fires that left black char on
the streets. Graffiti was scrawled on a doughnut shop, a taqueria, a
gas station and other locally owned businesses. On Sunday the damage
was still raw and uncleaned in Compton, save for Melendrez's
efforts, with spray-painted slogans such as “What is America without
Immigrants” all around.
Launie Melendrez, who is married to Ernest, said she supported
peaceful protest, and empathized with the families “being destroyed,
that are getting wrangled up. It's sad.”
She looked around at the local businesses that had been damaged, and
shook her head. “The destruction of people's hard work. This is how
these people, their families, take care of themselves. And the
destruction of that is not going to help your case.”
Given the breadth of the damage, neighbors said they were angry they
were being left to clean up the mess.
Melendrez’s daughter, Elaina Angel, grew up in Compton and said she
wasn't surprised. But it still left her feeling frustrated to see
the Home Depot already reopened while her streets and local
businesses were still marred by trash and graffiti.
“They don’t care about Compton,” she said through her mask, stopping
to cough from the irritation. She meant political leaders, law
enforcement authorities and others who were nowhere to be seen
Sunday morning. "But I don’t think they were counting on us to come
out and clean it up.”
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