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The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, who's a Democrat, has sued President Trump over his deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles against his wishes.
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He's accused Mr Trump of seeking to manufacture a crisis.
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Rioting was sparked after the Trump administration sent immigration agents to detain unauthorized migrants in the city.
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President Trump says the move was necessary for law and order and that without it LA would have been completely obliterated.
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Our correspondent John Sudworth is there.
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John.
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Well things are a little calmer, at least so far today.
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You can see the protesters here, I'd say no more than a hundred or so, gathered outside this detention center where some of the immigrants detained in those workplace raids are being held.
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And on this side you can see the LAPD.
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Their numbers have been boosted today by reinforcements brought in from outside Los Angeles County.
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But the most contentious part of this picture is a little bit further over there.
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You can see the members of the National Guard stood by and although things may be quieter here, they of course are at the center of an escalating political storm between the president of this country and the governor of this state.
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There's now a huge police presence in this city with reinforcements brought in as the authorities tried desperately to contain the violence.
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Overnight once again protesters threw fireworks and the police responded with force, making a number of arrests.
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But an already tense situation triggered by the workplace raids and arrests of undocumented immigrants now has a complex political dimension.
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The National Guard, a reservist military force, is often used to respond to natural disasters and is normally called in by state governors.
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Not this time.
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For the first time in 60 years a U.S. president has ordered them in, while members of his administration warn that anyone who gets in the way, even senior politicians, face arrest.
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Come after me, arrest me, let's just get it over with.
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Tough guy.
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It's a threat that's been met with a furious response from California's governor speaking to MSNBC.
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The hell are they doing?
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These guys need to grow up, they need to stop, and we need to push back.
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And I'm sorry to be so clear, but that kind of bloviating is exhausting.
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So Tom, arrest me.
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Then this from President Trump.
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Asked if the governor should be arrested, I would, he replied.
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He's an incompetent governor, look at the job he's doing in California.
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He's destroying one of our great states.
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And if I didn't get involved, if we didn't bring the Guard in, and we would bring more in if we needed it, because we have to make sure there's going to be law and order.
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You had a disaster happening.
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Well the streets of downtown LA are littered with the debris of last night's trouble.
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If you just, anywhere you look, you pick them up, you've got the been fired, and also rocks which we've seen protesters sometimes throwing at the police.
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It's quiet at the moment, but these officers have been drafted in from neighbouring police forces as this city braces for more trouble today.
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One sign of just how dangerous things have become, this reporter from the Australian Channel 9 News was hit by a rubber bullet live on air.
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This city now finds itself at the centre of an escalating political fight between a president and a governor.
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In response to Mr Trump's comments about his arrest, Gavin Newsom said this was a day he hoped he'd never see in America.
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In many ways some of the biggest constitutional issues of our day are now being played out on the streets of Los Angeles.
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Questions over the limits of presidential power, against the extent of state rights.
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The authorities here know that those scenes of violence are playing into the president's narrative.
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That's why they believe he's deployed the National Guard, for those public imaging effects, and it's also why we are hearing leaders in this city time and time again, appealing for the protesters to show restraint and protest peacefully.
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Rita, thank you very much.
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John Sudworth reporting there.
