Here's What Federal Troops Can (and Can't) Do While Deployed in LA

WIRED

16 hours ago

Jun 13, 2025 9:48 AM Pentagon rules sharply limit US Marines and National Guard activity in Los Angeles, prohibiting arrests, surveillance, and other customary police work. Marine recruits march during a training exercise at Camp Pendleton, California. Photograph: Michael Macor/AP Photo
For the first time in decades, active-duty US Marines are rolling into Los Angeles—not for disaster relief or training drills, but to guard federal buildings during a protest crackdown that legal experts say threatens long-standing limits on military power at home.
The deployment, announced by President Donald Trump on Monday, involves more than 700 Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment of the 1st Marine Division, based at Camp Pendleton and Twentynine Palms. Mobilized under Title 10 orders, the Marines have been commanded to protect federal property and personnel from mounting protests over aggressive immigration raids and neighborhood sweeps. It is a rare and forceful use of federal military power on US soil.
The mobilization follows Trump's June 7 order that federalized as many as 4,000 California national guardsmen, overriding the objections of state officials and igniting a national debate over the constitutional limits of his authority and igniting a high-stakes legal fight.
A US district judge on Thursday ordered Trump to return control of the guardsmen to the state of California, saying the takeover was unlawful, only likely to inflame tensions in the city, and had deprived the state of resources necessary 'to fight fires, combat the fentanyl trade, and perform other critical functions.' The injunction was quickly stayed, however, by a federal appeals court, pending a hearing next week.
Protests began Friday in Westlake, an immigrant-heavy neighborhood near downtown LA, where residents rallied in response to sweeping ICE raids that targeted day laborers outside local businesses. Demonstrators marched, held signs, and chanted for several hours before tensions escalated after police declared an unlawful assembly and advanced on the crowd. LAPD officers and federal agents deployed a range of crowd control weapons, including batons, tear gas, pepper spray, and flash-bang grenades. Reports from journalists and observers describe nonviolent protesters—and members of the press—being struck by rubber bullets and stun devices during the crackdown.
Widespread protests are expected in LA and at some 2,000 other locations around the US this weekend.
While the president holds broad emergency powers, legal scholars say that without invoking the Insurrection Act—a statute that permits domestic troop deployments only in cases of a rebellion or civil rights violations—federal law sharply limits what active-duty forces can do. Marines may not act as a posse comitatus , or function as law enforcement. They're barred from arrests, surveillance, and crowd control, and may only support police in narrowly defined ways, according to Defense Department rules.
Pentagon directives governing 'civil disturbance operations' reinforce these limits. Federal troops are prohibited from arresting civilians, searching property, and collecting evidence. They may not conduct surveillance of US persons. That includes not just individuals but vehicles, locations, and 'transactions.' They may not serve as undercover agents, informants, or interrogators. Unless a crime is committed by a service member or on military property, Title 10 forces are likewise banned from engaging in any kind of forensics for the benefit of civilian police—unless they are willing to put in writing that such evidence was obtained by consent.
That said, there are numerous scenarios in which the military can provide assistance to police, including by giving them 'information' obtained 'in the normal course' of their duties, unless applicable privacy laws prohibit it. Military members can also provide police with a wide variety of assistance so long as it's in a 'private capacity' and they're off duty. Additionally, they can provide 'expert advice,' so long as it doesn't count as serving a function core to civilian police work.
The Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment; however, a staff member in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy confirmed for WIRED by phone the current set of policies under which deployed federal troops must operate.
There is one major caveat to the military's restrictions. During an 'extraordinary emergency,' military commanders may take limited, immediate action to prevent massive destruction or to restore critical public services, but only so long as presidential approval is 'impossible' to obtain in advance. And while military personnel are naturally expected to maintain order and discipline at all times, under no circumstances are they required to stand down when their lives, or the lives of others, are in immediate danger.
Still, enforcement of these rules in the field is far from guaranteed. Legal experts warn that adherence often varies in chaotic environments. Trump administration officials have also demonstrated a willingness to skirt the law. Last week, homeland security secretary Kristi Noem asked the Pentagon to authorize military assistance in conducting arrests and to deploy drone surveillance, according to a letter obtained by The San Francisco Chronicle—a move experts say directly contradicts standing legal prohibitions.
At a press conference on Thursday, Noem stated the federal government was on a mission to 'liberate' Los Angeles from 'socialists' and the 'leadership' of California governor Gavin Newsom and LA mayor Karen Bass. US Senator Alex Padilla, who represents the citizens of California, was forcibly removed from the press conference after attempting to question Noem. Outside the press conference room, federal agents forced the senator to the ground, where he was temporarily placed in handcuffs.
Unlike the National Guard, which is well trained for domestic crowd control, active-duty Marines generally receive relatively little instruction in handling civil unrest. Those who do typically belong to military police or specialized security units. Nonetheless, the Marine Corps has published footage online showing various task forces training with riot-control tactics and 'nonlethal' weapons. Constitutional concerns do not arise, however, when Marines face off against foreign mobs—such as in civilian zones during the Afghanistan war or on the rare occasion protesters breach the perimeter of a US embassy. And wartime rules of engagement are far more lenient than the rules of force by which Marines must adhere domestically.
In a statement on Wednesday, US Northern Command, which oversees military support to nonmilitary authorities in the contiguous 48 states, confirmed the Marines had undergone training in all 'mission essential tasks,' including 'de-escalation' and 'crowd control.' They will reportedly be accompanied by legal and law enforcement experts.
Constitutional experts warn that deploying military forces against civilian demonstrators blurs the line between law enforcement and military power, potentially setting a dangerous precedent for unchecked presidential authority. The risk deepens, they say, if federal troops overstep their legal bounds.
If lines are crossed, it could open a door that may not close easily—clearing the way for future crackdowns that erode Americans' hard-won civil liberties.