Marine Corps battalion finishes training, ready for deployment at L.A. protests by Friday, Defense Department says
The Marine Corps battalion deployed to Los Angeles has finished its training for duty at the Los Angeles protests and could be deployed by Friday, according to the Department of Defense.
The 700 Marines, based at Twentynine Palms, a city about 140 miles east of L.A., will join the roughly 2,100 California National Guard soldiers protecting federal buildings and personnel during the anti-ICE protests that started on June 6, the U.S. Northern Command said in a statement Wednesday night.
The National Guard troops "can and have accompanied ICE on missions, but they are not a part of the operations. Title 10 forces do not do law enforcement functions. They protect; they don't participate," the U.S. Northern Command wrote.
The National Guard soldiers have, and Marines will temporarily detain someone until that person is transferred to civilian law enforcement personnel, the Command said.
Title 10 of the United States Code allows the president to federalize the National Guard. But the Posse Comitatus Act, a 19th-century law, bars the military from participating in civil law enforcement.
That can be overridden by the Insurrection Act, a rarely used law also from the 19th century that "authorizes the president to deploy military forces inside the United States to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations," according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
When asked if he would invoke the Insurrection Act on Tuesday Mr. Trump said: "If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We'll see."
In an interview with CBS News, L.A. Police Chief Jim McDonnell said the city did not need the National Guard's help.
"We don't need the National Guard, and they are not here to help us right now," McDonnell said Wednesday on "CBS Mornings." They are here to facilitate what the federal agencies are doing on the immigration front."
The Trump administration mobilized an additional 2,000 National Guard troops Monday for duty at the protests but they have not been deployed yet.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Monday that the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, is "being deployed to Los Angeles to restore order." A top Pentagon official testified to Congress that the estimated cost of deploying the National Guard and the Marines is roughly $134 million.
While at the Kennedy Center for a performance of Les Misérables on Wednesday night, Mr. Trump contended that, "If we weren't there and didn't bring in the National Guard and the Marines, you have a city that is burning to the ground," the president said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and other local officials strongly oppose the move to federalize the California National Guard and deploy Marines to L.A. County.
A judge denied a request on Tuesday from California's Attorney General for a temporary restraining order on the use of federalized troops for law enforcement in L.A., giving the administration more time to respond at a hearing scheduled for Thursday
Following the filing and after Mayor Karen Bass implemented a curfew for downtown L.A., Newsom delivered a statewide address denouncing the Trump administration, calling the deployment of troops a "brazen abuse of power" that escalated the protests.
"By night, several dozen lawbreakers became violent and destructive, they vandalized property, they tried to assault police officers," Newsom said. "This situation was winding down and was concentrated in just a few square blocks downtown. But that, that's not what Donald Trump wanted."
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr. Trump said Wednesday morning that, "The INCOMPETENT Governor of California was unable to provide protection in a timely manner when our Ice Officers, GREAT Patriots they are, were attacked by an out of control mob of agitators, troublemakers, and/or insurrectionists. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Wednesday that more than a dozen people have been charged with crimes related to immigration enforcement protests.
"If people want to hurl insults, we will protect that. If people want to engage in crimes, we will prosecute that," Hochman said. "So hurling bricks, hurling cinder blocks, hurling fireworks, will not be tolerated in this county now or ever."
He estimated about 4,000 people have been legitimately involved in protests since June 6, and possibly up to 400 have engaged in illegal activity.
"That means that 99.99% of people who live in Los Angeles city, or live in Los Angeles County have not committed any illegal acts in connection with this protest whatsoever," Hochman said.
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