Marines to be deployed to LA to respond to immigration protests
The US Northern Command said on Monday that it will send 700 Marines to Los Angeles to respond to immigration protests. The move comes after US President Donald Trump dispatched the National Guard on Sunday to quell the situation.
People in Los Angeles have taken to the streets since Friday to protest against raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Thousands gathered in downtown areas on Monday, chanting and carrying signs.
On Sunday, some of the protesters turned violent. They set self-driving taxis on fire, threw debris onto police vehicles, and looted multiple stores. ABC Television reported 58 people were arrested over the weekend, and three police officers were injured.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass criticized the ICE crackdown: "Dial back time to Thursday. None of this needed to happen. Why did we need to have raids here? It was very clear that raids happened here, that the community was going to respond in a very negative way."
California leaders are demanding that Trump withdraw the National Guard from Los Angeles. But Trump defended his move as a "great decision." He condemned the protests, saying: "The people that are causing these problems are professional agitators, they're insurrectionists, they're bad people. They should be in jail."
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on social media that Trump deployed the troops to "manufacture chaos and violence." He accused the president of illegally federalizing California's National Guard without the state's consent. His state has sued the Trump administration.
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Japan Times
an hour ago
- Japan Times
Does U.S. law allow Trump to send troops to quell protests?
U.S. President Donald Trump deployed National Guard troops to California after days of protests by hundreds of demonstrators against immigration raids, saying the protests interfered with federal law enforcement and framing them as a possible "form of rebellion' against the authority of the U.S. government. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday mobilized 700 active duty Marines as part of the government's response to the protests. California sued the Trump administration on Monday to end the "unlawful" deployment of troops in Los Angeles County and return the state National Guard to California Gov. Gavin Newsom's command. What laws did Trump cite to justify the deployment? Trump cited Title 10 of the U.S. Code, a federal law that outlines the role of the U.S. Armed Forces, in his Saturday order to call members of the California National Guard into federal service. A provision of Title 10 — Section 12406 — allows the president to deploy National Guard units into federal service if the U.S. is invaded, there is a "rebellion or danger of rebellion' or the president is "unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.' What are National Guard troops allowed to do under the law cited in Trump's order? An 1878 law, the Posse Comitatus Act, generally forbids the U.S. military, including the National Guard, from taking part in civilian law enforcement. Section 12406 does not override that prohibition, but it allows troops to protect federal agents who are carrying out law enforcement activity and to protect federal property. For example, National Guard troops cannot arrest protesters, but they could protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who are carrying out arrests. What does California's lawsuit say? California's lawsuit said the deployment of troops in the state without the governor's consent violates federal law and the U.S. Constitution's 10th Amendment, which protects states' rights. The state argues the deployment does not meet any of the requirements in Title 10 because there was no "rebellion,' no "invasion" and no situation that prevented the enforcement of U.S. laws in the state. Trump also did not consult with Newsom before deploying the National Guard, violating Section 12406's requirement that orders to deploy the National Guard "shall be issued through the governors of the States," according to the lawsuit. What is the lawsuit asking for? The lawsuit seeks a declaration from the court Trump's order is unlawful and an injunction blocking it from being enforced. How might a court view the dispute? There is little precedent for such a dispute. Section 12406 has only ever been invoked once before to deploy the National Guard, when President Richard Nixon called upon it to deliver the mail during the 1970 Postal Service Strike, according to Bonta. Five legal experts from both left- and right-leaning advocacy organizations cast doubt on Trump's use of Title 10 in response to the immigration protests and called it inflammatory and reckless, especially without Newsom's support. The protests in California do not rise to the level of "rebellion' and do not prevent the federal government from executing the laws of the United States, experts said. Legal experts were split on whether a court would back Newsom's interpretation of the governor's role under Section 12406. Courts have traditionally given great weight to the word "shall' in interpreting other laws, which supports Newsom's position that governors must be involved in calling in the National Guard. But other experts said the law was written to reflect the norms of how National Guard troops are typically deployed, rather than giving a governor the option to not comply with a president's decision to deploy troops. What other laws could Trump invoke to direct the National Guard or other U.S. military troops? Trump could take a more far-reaching step by invoking the Insurrection Act of 1792, which would allow troops to directly participate in civilian law enforcement, for which there is little recent precedent. Senior White House officials, including Vice President JD Vance and senior White House aide Stephen Miller, have used the term "insurrection" when discussing the protests, but the administration has stopped short of invoking the act thus far. It has been used by past presidents to deploy troops within the U.S. in response to crises like the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War. The law was last invoked by President George H.W. Bush in 1992, when the governor of California requested military aid to suppress unrest in Los Angeles following the trial of Los Angeles police officers who beat Black motorist Rodney King. But the last time a president deployed the National Guard in a state without a request from that state's governor was 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson sent troops to protect civil rights demonstrators in Montgomery, Alabama. What about the Marines? Trump has more direct authority over the Marines than the National Guard, under Title 10 and in his constitutional role as commander in chief of the armed forces, legal experts said. But unless Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, the Marines are subject to legal restrictions that prevent them from taking part in "any search, seizure, arrest or other similar activity." The Defense Department said on Monday that the Marines were ready to support the National Guard's efforts to protect federal personnel and federal property in Los Angeles, emphasizing the relatively limited scope of their role at the moment.
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Yomiuri Shimbun
2 hours ago
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700 Marines Deployed to L.A. as Immigration Protests Continue
Joshua Lott/The Washington Post Protesters are seen outside the Metropolitan Detention Center on Monday in Los Angeles. The Pentagon on Monday ordered a battalion of 700 Marines to Los Angeles as protests of the Trump administration's immigration policies spilled into a fourth day, escalating a confrontation between the White House and the country's most populous state. The Marines, summoned from an infantry unit typically trained for overseas warfare, will assist more than 300 National Guard members that President Donald Trump deployed to the city over the weekend, the first wave of roughly 2,100 activated so far for the mission, according to the Defense Department. The deployments follow demonstrations against immigration raids that at times turned violent. The Marines, stationed east of Los Angeles in Twentynine Palms, had started moving out Monday afternoon, a defense official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations. This marks the first time in six decades an American president has ordered such a military intervention without the approval of a state's governor. State and local officials in California – a frequent target of Trump's ire – denounced the move as incendiary. 'This is unprecedented that the president is using the military against his own people in this way,' said Los Angeles City Council member Hugo Soto-Martínez, whose district adjacent to downtown encompasses a range of immigrant communities. Most protests have been peaceful, state and local officials have said, even as they spread to cities across the country. 'U.S. Marines have served honorably across multiple wars in defense of democracy. They are heroes,' California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said on social media. 'They shouldn't be deployed on American soil facing their own countrymen to fulfill the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial President. This is un-American.' The Marines will deploy from a military base in Twentynine Palms, a three-hour drive east of Los Angeles in the Mojave Desert. They will focus on 'protecting federal personnel and federal property,' the Pentagon said in a statement, and they will partner with National Guard members who have been trained in crowd control and de-escalation. The mobilization is a significant move by the Pentagon. Typically, National Guard members, rather than active-duty troops such as the Marines, are mobilized for civil unrest missions at the behest of governors or the president. The Marines and Guard members under federal orders will serve in a support role and cannot participate in direct immigration or law enforcement operations. That would change if Trump invoked the Insurrection Act, which gives the president broader powers to conduct policing operations with troops under federal control. Troops being sent to Los Angeles are 'trained in de-escalation, crowd control, and standing rules for the use of force,' Northern Command, which oversees operations in North America, said in a statement. The activated units so far are drawn from combat units, not military police personnel, who specialize in civil disturbance response. The move was met with skepticism among some of the protesters in downtown Los Angeles on Monday. Amaris Leon, a 35-year-old lawyer from Sacramento, said he interpreted the deployment of Marines as an effort to set 'the military on civilians for exercising their First Amendment rights.' Trump is trying to rile people up, said Teri Merrick, a retired professor, 'so he can have an excuse to come in and stomp everybody down.' The protests began after a week of immigration raids in Southern California, which resulted in more than 100 arrests at workplaces that neighbors described as normally calm, including a doughnut shop and Home Depot stores. Demonstrators took to the streets in response, lighting the fuse that sparked days of widely broadcasted dust-ups. Portions of the 101 Freeway closed over the weekend when protesters clogged its southbound lanes, snarling already notorious traffic. Protesters hurled rocks at police cruisers, tear gas filled the air and phones captured videos of rioters torching self-driving vehicles, leading one robotaxi company to suspend part of its Los Angeles services. More than 50 protesters have been arrested, according to local law enforcement. The National Guard members had already improved the situation in Los Angeles, Trump said Monday. 'Thank goodness we sent out some wonderful National Guard – they really helped,' he said. 'A lot of problems that we're having out there, they were afraid to do anything. And we sent out the troops, and they've done a fantastic job.' But local officials said the deployment was unnecessary. The chaos from the protests was contained to 'a few streets downtown' that looked 'horrible,' Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said on CNN. But there has not been, she added, 'citywide civil unrest.' California sued the Trump administration Monday over the deployment of California National Guard members to Los Angeles without Newsom's consent. The fallout from the protests appears to have deepened the political feud between Trump and Newsom, a potential 2028 Democratic hopeful. The Trump administration has been weighing the cancellation of California's federal funding, an unprecedented move that would decimate the state's budget. And Trump endorsed arresting Newsom on Monday after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House. 'I would do it if I were Tom,' Trump told reporters as he returned to the White House, referring to border czar Tom Homan. 'I think it's great. Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing.' Newsom responded minutes later in a social media post on X, calling it 'an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.' 'The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor. This is a day I hoped I would never see in America. I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation – this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism,' he wrote. After a chaotic weekend, downtown Los Angeles residents woke to a jarring combination of calm streets and graffiti-marred buildings. Just outside the city's core, in the coffee-shop-studded neighborhood of Silver Lake, people casually walked dogs and sipped cortados as the workweek started. Yet the national spotlight remained glued to Hollywood's backyard, which was caught in the crosshairs of dueling political narratives: While right-leaning media looped videos of burning cars and street skirmishes, Democrats insisted that most protesters remained peaceful. Protests spread across the country after the Friday arrest of David Huerta, the 58-year-old head of the Service Employees International Union's California branch. Huerta was arrested after sitting in the path of federal agents targeting Los Angeles warehouse workers, and he now faces a felony conspiracy charge. The Service Employees International Union, which represents thousands of janitors, cooks, security guards and other service workers, organized rallies in more than a dozen states, with members and their supporters condemning immigration-enforcement tactics they cast as inhumane. Huerta was released from custody Monday on a $50,000 bond. Bill Essayli, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, wrote in a post on X that Huerta had 'deliberately obstructed' federal agents who were executing a warrant. 'No one has the right to assault, obstruct, or interfere with federal authorities carrying out their duties,' Essayli wrote. Some Los Angeles residents are bracing for more protests. Christian Frizzell, owner of the downtown Redwood Bar, was trying to decide whether to close early Monday. They usually stay open until 2 a.m. But he noticed a nearby credit union had boarded up its windows in anticipation of more protests. Back in 2020, his bar was damaged during Black Lives Matter protests. Still, he wasn't sure if Marines were the best choice to protect his property. 'It seems like a large escalation,' he said of the coming deployment. 'I wish they would try to cool it down.'
