As downtown Los Angeles sleeps for a second night under curfew, protests over President Trump's deportation crackdown have flared up in other parts of the U.S.
America has increasingly been a country divided but the stand off between the President and California Governor, Gavin Newsom has fuelled talk of secession - the idea that the heavily Blue state, the world's fifth largest economy, could leave the union and become an independent country in its own right.
An expert in foreign affairs, Professor Robert Patman from Otago University talks to Emile Donovan about the likelihood of such a move and the mood of a nation on edge.
A protestor makes a rude gesture towards LAPD officers as she has to clear the area as curfew is in effect after days of protests in response to federal immigration operations in Los Angeles. Photo: AFP / ROBYN BECK
