Trump Deploys Marines, Raising Tensions in Los Angeles Protests
Hundreds of Marines were due to arrive in Los Angeles on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump ordered their deployment in response to protests against immigration arrests and despite objections by state officials.
The 700 crack troops will join National Guard soldiers, amping up the militarization of the tense situation in the sprawling city, which is home to millions of foreign-born and Latino residents.
The largely peaceful demonstrations -- marred by sporadic but violent clashes between police and protesters -- were entering their fifth day. The unrest was sparked by a sudden intensification of Trump's signature campaign to deport illegal migrants, with raids conducted on workplaces.
In downtown LA's Little Tokyo neighborhood at night Monday, scores of protesters faced off with security officials in riot gear, some shooting fireworks at officers who fired back volleys of tear gas.
Earlier, demonstrators marching with banners and handmade signs yelled "ICE out of LA" and "National Guard go away" -- a reference to immigration agents and Guard soldiers.
California officials have stressed the majority of protesters have been peaceful and that they were capable of maintaining law and order themselves.
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom wrote on X that US Marines "shouldn't be deployed on American soil facing their own countrymen to fulfill the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial President. This is un-American."
Trump, meanwhile, has branded the LA protesters "professional agitators and insurrectionists."
"If I didn't 'SEND IN THE TROOPS' to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now," he wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday.
One small business owner in the city, whose property was graffitied during the protests, was supportive of Trump's strong-arm tactics.
"I think it's needed to stop the vandalism," she told AFP, declining to give her name.
Others were horrified.
"They're meant to be protecting us, but instead, they're like, being sent to attack us," Kelly Diemer, 47, told AFP. "This is not a democracy anymore."
Police have detained dozens of protesters in LA in the recent days, while authorities in San Francisco and other US cities have also made arrests.
- 'Incredibly rare' -
Trump's use of the military is an "incredibly rare" move for a US president, Rachel VanLandingham, a professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles and a former lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force, told AFP.
The National Guard -- a fully equipped reserve armed forces -- is usually controlled by state governors and used typically on US soil in response to natural disasters.
The Guard has not been deployed by a president over the objections of a state governor since 1965, at the height of the civil rights movement.
Deployment of regular troops, such as the Marines, on US soil is even more unusual.
US law largely prevents the use of the military as a policing force -- absent an insurrection. Speculation is growing that Trump could invoke the Insurrection Act giving him a free hand to use regular troops for law enforcement around the country.
The Pentagon said late Monday that Trump had authorized an extra 2,000 state guardsmen to LA.
The state of California has sued to block the use of the Guard troops and Newsom said he would also sue against the Marines deployment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
Protests rage across US despite Trump threats
Protests over hardline immigration tactics ignited across the United States Wednesday after days of demonstrations in Los Angeles, as California prepared for a legal showdown over President Donald Trump's deployment of the military. Over 1,000 people massed in America's second biggest city for a sixth day of protests, with the crowd peaceful as they marched through the streets. A second night of curfew was in place as city leaders try to get a handle on the after-dark vandalism and looting that scarred a few city blocks in the 500-square-mile (1,300 square kilometers) metropolis. 'I would say for the most part everything is hunky dory right here at Ground Zero,' protester Lynn Sturgis, 66, a retired schoolteacher, told AFP. 'Our city is not at all on fire, it's not burning down, as our terrible leader is trying to tell you.' The mostly peaceful protests ignited over a sudden escalation in efforts to apprehend migrants in the country illegally. Pockets of violence — including the burning of self-driving taxis and hurling stones at police — were nothing the 8,500 officers of the Los Angeles Police Department had not dealt with before. Trump won the election last year partly on promises to combat what he claims is an 'invasion' by undocumented migrants. He is now seizing the opportunity to make political capital, ordering the California National Guard to deploy despite Governor Gavin Newsom's objections, the first time a US president has taken such action in decades. 'We're going to have a safe country,' he told reporters on his way into a performance of Les Misérables in Washington. 'We're not going to have what would have happened in Los Angeles. Remember, if I wasn't there... Los Angeles would have been burning to the ground.' Around 1,000 of the 4,700 troops Trump deployed were actively guarding facilities and working alongside ICE agents, said Scott Sherman, Deputy Commanding General Army North, who is leading operations. The rest — including 700 active duty Marines — were mustering or undergoing training to deal with civil disturbances, he said. The Pentagon has said the deployment will cost taxpayers 134 million dollars. Governor Newsom, a Democrat widely viewed as eyeing a 2028 presidential run, has charged that Trump is seeking to escalate the confrontation for political gain. He warned Tuesday that the unprecedented militarization would creep beyond his state's borders, claiming 'democracy is under assault right before our eyes.' Lawyers for California were expected in court on Thursday to seek an order blocking troops from accompanying immigration officers as they arrest migrants. Trump administration lawyers called the application a 'crass political stunt.' Nationwide protests growing Despite Trump's threats to deploy the National Guard to other Democratic-run states, protesters appeared undeterred. Demonstrations were reported in St. Louis, Raleigh, Manhattan, Indianapolis, Spokane and Denver. In San Antonio, hundreds marched and chanted near city hall, reports said, where Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has deployed the state's National Guard. A nationwide 'No Kings' movement was expected on Saturday, when Trump will attend a highly unusual military parade in the US capital. The parade, featuring warplanes and tanks, has been organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US Army but also happens to be the day of Trump's 79th birthday. 'Inflamed' situation The Trump administration is painting the protests as a violent threat to the nation, requiring military force to support regular immigration agents and police. But Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the crisis had been manufactured in Washington. 'A week ago, everything was peaceful in the city of Los Angeles,' she told reporters. 'Things began to be difficult on Friday when raids took place... that is the cause of the problems. 'This was provoked by the White House.' Arrests by masked and armed men continued Wednesday. A pastor in the LA suburb of Downey said five armed men driving out-of-state cars grabbed a Spanish-speaking man in the church's parking lot. When she challenged the men and asked for their badge numbers and names, they refused. 'They did point their rifle at me and said, 'You need to get back,'' Lopez told broadcaster KTLA.
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
37 months in prison for ex-CIA analyst who leaked docs on Israeli strike
A former CIA analyst who leaked top secret US intelligence documents about Israeli military plans for a retaliatory strike on Iran was sentenced to 37 months in prison on Wednesday, the Justice Department said. Asif Rahman, 34, who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency since 2016 and held a top secret security clearance, was arrested by the FBI in Cambodia in November. In January, Rahman pleaded guilty at a federal courthouse in Virginia to two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information. He faced a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Iran unleashed a wave of close to 200 ballistic missiles on Israel on October 1 in retaliation for the killings of senior figures in the Tehran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups. Israel responded with a wave of strikes on military targets in Iran in late October. According to a court filing, on October 17 Rahman printed out two top secret documents 'regarding a United States foreign ally and its planned kinetic actions against a foreign adversary.' He photographed the documents and used a computer program to edit the images in 'an attempt to conceal their source and delete his activity,' it said. Rahman then transmitted the documents to 'multiple individuals he knew were not entitled to receive them' before shredding them at work. The documents, circulated on the Telegram app by an account called Middle East Spectator, described Israeli preparations for a possible strike on Iran but did not identify any actual targets. According to The Washington Post, the documents, generated by the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, described aviation exercises and movements of munitions at an Israeli airfield. The leak led Israeli officials to delay their retaliatory strike.
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
‘Our city is not on fire': LA residents reject Trump rhetoric
Just blocks from where a handful of die-hard protesters faced police in Los Angeles on Wednesday, residents were enjoying lunch in the sun and shrugging off Donald Trump's claims their city was burning. Six days after unrest began – prompting the US president to send soldiers into the streets, over the furious protests of local officials – life in the City of Angels was going on largely as normal. 'Everything is hunky dory right here at Ground Zero,' Lynn Sturgis, a retired teacher who was protesting outside the federal complex that has been at the heart of the demonstrations in Downtown Los Angeles, told AFP. 'Our city is not at all on fire, it's not burning down, as our terrible leader is trying to tell you.' The demonstrations began Friday as immigration authorities carried out raids on undocumented migrants in the sprawling metropolis. They have continued each day since – mostly peacefully, but tarnished by several spectacular incidents of violence, including torched cars and sporadic clashes with law enforcement. Trump has insisted that if he had not taken the extraordinary step of sending troops into Los Angeles over the weekend, 'it would be burning to the ground right now.' 'Not at all... this is very calm,' protester Ellen Carpenter, a retired federal worker who was demonstrating alongside Sturgis, told AFP. 'I lived in Washington, DC for a long time, so I was part of very large protests there, you know, millions and millions of people. This is a little wimpy by comparison.' 'This whole thing has been manufactured by the current administration,' Sturgis said. Trump's promises to crack down on illegal immigration helped propel him back into the White House. He seized the opportunity presented by the Los Angeles rallies to order the California National Guard to deploy along with hundreds of Marines – a move state governor Gavin Newsom called 'dictatorial.' Los Angeles real estate agent Tracey, who declined to give her last name, said the deployment was a 'mistake.' 'I don't feel safe' with the military presence in the city, she said, even as she admitted that the protests had at times been 'scary.' Retired actor Thomas welcomed the troops, however. 'As soon as it gets dark, thugs come out and cause trouble,' the 69-year-old told AFP downtown. It is the National Guard that has calmed things down, he argued – 'bringing in more force. That's all they understand... You have to step in and put your foot down.' Restaurants in the streets surrounding the protest area were packed at lunchtime Wednesday. Workers cleaned graffiti sprayed by protesters on federal buildings as curious passers-by stopped to watch and snap photos. But there were some signs of apprehension as a handful of businesses were boarding up, worried that protests planned for the weekend could spiral into more violence. Trump will hold a military parade in Washington for his birthday on Saturday that coincides with planned protests in more cities across the country. 'There's lots of expensive glass behind these boards that we're worried about, so we're not going to take any chances,' Chis Gonzalez, who was overseeing the boarding up of one downtown business, told AFP. 'Saturday, you know, seems like it's going to be a big protest. We're just anticipating the worst... Not saying the protests are bad, but it's definitely scary when you have a business to protect.'
