"You're not welcome here!" one man with a Los Angeles Angels ball cap shouted to the soldiers as another protester uncapped spray paint and wrote an obscenity directed at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
DHS told the BBC that the guarded area is home to one of their offices and authorities were using it "as a staging area and rioters found it".
The agency told the BBC they have arrested 118 illegal immigrants in the Los Angeles area this week, including five they say are gang members.
The agency said some of these migrants had previous criminal histories that included drug trafficking, assault and robbery.
As he prepared to board Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday, Trump told reporters there were "violent people" in Los Angeles "and they're not gonna get away with it".
Dora Sanchez was still in disbelief from the shocking images that transformed her city the night before.
She gathered on Sunday with others in the community at the Chapel of Change church, less than a block from the centre of protests the day before.
She and others at the church talked about how this Hispanic community was revitalised over the years and became a close-knit community where neighbours know and watch out for one another.
The protests felt like a "breaking point" for the immigrant community, she noted.
Los Angeles is one of the biggest minority-majority cities in the US.
Hispanics not only make up a larger share of the population than any other ethnic background, but immigrants, specifically those from just south in Mexico, are a core part of the history and culture here.
The city boasts its status as a sanctuary city, which means it does not co-operate with federal immigration enforcement.
Some here said they felt a bubbling tension that seemed to erupt when the Republican president's administration targeted LA's undocumented immigrants.
"It was time to stand up," said Maria Gutierrez, who protested in Paramount. "These are my people."
She said she was born in Mexico, but has lived here since she was a girl.
She – like many here – say they have family members who are in the US illegally.
"This is LA," she said. "It touches us all.
"Everyone has family or knows someone who doesn't have papers."
