US deploys Marines to LA as protests spread to more cities
Bloomberg :
The Trump administration escalated its response to anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles with the mobilization of 700 Marines who will join thousands of National Guard troops, moves that are ratcheting up tensions with Democratic leaders.
The Marines will work with Task Force 51, which comprises 2,100 National Guard troops serving the region, while hundreds of soldiers from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are in the greater Los Angeles area, according to a military statement.
The release didn’t specify when the Marines will reach the city, while LA’s police chief warned that his department has had no formal notification and said the arrival of military forces without co-ordination would present clear challenges for law enforcement.
The extraordinary deployment of military forces comes after Los Angeles saw a fourth night of clashes between police and demonstrators rallying against a rising number of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who local officials say have stoked fear in the immigrant-rich community.
President Donald Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom have fought repeatedly over the response to the unrest, with the state suing the administration for mobilizing the National Guard troops in the city.
Trump, meanwhile, has suggested that Newsom, a Democrat widely seen as a potential presidential contender in 2028, could be arrested if he interferes with the federal immigration raids or response to the unrest.
On Tuesday, Trump claimed that if he hadn’t sent in troops, Los Angeles would have “burned to the ground,” comparing it to the wildfires that devastated parts of the city this year.
On Monday, largely peaceful daytime protests morphed into scattered clashes with police shooting less-lethal ammunition and some protesters throwing bottles.
Tensions though remain high in the city as the immigration raids that set off the protests aren’t letting up. Representative Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat whose district covers downtown Los Angeles, said ICE enforcement actions are expected to continue seven days a week for at least 30 days. Mayor Karen Bass has said there were at least five raids on Monday.
Protests have been limited to a few small parts of a city that spreads over several hundred square miles and is connected by a web of freeways. There was no sign of unrest in areas such as Century City, Hollywood Hills and Santa Monica that are miles away from downtown, with businesses and residents largely unaffected.
However, incidents have started to spread beyond LA, with demonstrations against ICE popping up in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington. In Santa Ana, southeast of Los Angeles in Orange County, protesters faced off with law enforcement after immigration raids took place there.
Police also clashed with protesters in Dallas and Austin late Monday, with tear gas deployed to disperse a crowd near the Texas state Capitol building.
The Trump administration has argued the conditions in LA are spiraling and that federal forces are needed to support immigration agents and restore order.
A Defense Department official said Monday that the Marines, based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California, were on the move after getting notice over the weekend.
US law generally bars the use of the active-duty US military – the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines – from carrying out domestic law enforcement. The deployment of the Marines adds to Trump’s order over the weekend that directed the US Northern Command to assume control of the National Guard and dispatch them to LA.
California and Newsom sued the Trump administration Monday, calling the mobilization of the state’s National Guard and the Marines unnecessary and unlawful and accusing the president of “another unprecedented power grab.”
In a 22-page complaint filed late Monday in San Francisco federal court, the governor urged a judge to void the president’s orders and transfer the National Guard from Defense Department control “back to the rightful command” of the state.
“Deploying over 4,000 federalized military forces to quell a protest or prevent future protests despite the lack of evidence that local law enforcement was incapable of asserting control and ensuring public safety during such protests” is unconstitutional, according to the suit.
Newsom and Bass have accused Trump of making the situation worse. In an X post Monday, the governor called the decision to bring in Marines “un-American,” and said the administration’s deployment of National Guard troops was both “reckless” and “pointless.”
Trump, in a series of posts on Truth Social, said sending in the National Guard was a “great decision,” derided the idea that the protests were largely peaceful, and said that “If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated.
“”Just one look at the pictures and videos of the Violence and Destruction tells you all you have to know,” Trump said. “We will always do what is needed to keep our Citizens SAFE, so we can, together, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The president also backed comments from his border adviser Tom Homan, who threatened to arrest state and local officials who obstruct federal immigration enforcement, including Newsom and Bass.
“I would do it if I were Tom. I think it’s great,” Trump said at the White House. “I like Gavin Newsom, he’s a nice guy but he’s grossly incompetent, everybody knows that.”
Homan later said in a CNN interview Monday that the governor hasn’t done anything at this time to warrant arrest.