By AMY TAXIN, LOLITA C. BALDOR and JAIMIE DING, Related Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Marines had been seen standing guard exterior a federal constructing in Los Angeles on Friday as they began operations after protests erupted final week over immigration raids.
Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, commander of Activity Power 51 who’s overseeing the 4,700 troops deployed by President Donald Trump, stated the Marines completed coaching on civil disturbance and are beginning their operations by changing Nationwide Guard troops. Guard troopers can then be assigned to guard extra regulation enforcement brokers on raids, Sherman stated.
About 200 Marines out of the 700 deployed to the protests are within the metropolis, Sherman stated.
At 12:30 p.m., two Marines had been seen standing on the entrance to the 17-story Wilshire Federal Constructing, which homes a number of federal workplaces, together with Veterans Affairs and the FBI.
They wore fight gear and carried rifles as they mingled with the Nationwide Guard, who’ve been checking IDs of these coming into the parking zone. Each Guard members and Marines had been then seen loading packing containers onto a army transport truck.
The event comes a day after the ninth U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals briefly blocked a federal choose’s order that had directed President Donald Trump to return management of Nationwide Guard troops to California, shortly after a federal choose had dominated the Guard deployment was unlawful and each violated the Tenth Modification and exceeded Trump’s statutory authority.
Some 2,000 Nationwide Guard troops have been within the metropolis since final week when immigration raids set off protests. Some have supplied safety to immigration brokers making arrests. One other 2,000 Guard members had been notified of deployment earlier this week.
The 200 Marines can be changing troopers defending the federal constructing, which is able to enable extra Guard members to be assigned to defending federal brokers on their operations, Sherman stated.
Not one of the army troops can be detaining anybody, he added.
A person shouts right into a megaphone exterior Metropolis Corridor throughout protests over federal immigration enforcement raids on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photograph/Ethan Swope)
“I would like to emphasize that the soldiers will not participate in law enforcement activities. Rather, they’ll be focused on protecting federal law enforcement personnel,” Sherman stated.
Roughly 500 Nationwide Guard members have been used to supply safety on immigration raids after present process expanded instruction, authorized coaching and rehearsals with the brokers doing the enforcement earlier than they go on these missions.
It’s unclear if the Marines will ultimately present safety on raids. A complete of 700 Marines have been skilled to work in LA.
The motion of Marines into LA comes as a curfew has been in place in downtown and protests have ended after a couple of hours with arrests this week largely for failure to disperse. On the third night time of the 8 p.m. curfew, officers with the Division of Homeland Safety deployed flash bangs to disperse a crowd that had gathered close to the jail, sending protesters sprinting away.
As with the previous two nights, the hourslong demonstrations remained peaceable and upbeat, drawing a couple of hundred attendees who marched via downtown chanting, dancing and poking enjoyable on the Trump administration’s characterization of the town as a “war zone.”
The protests started Friday after federal immigration raids arrested dozens of employees in Los Angeles. Protesters blocked a significant freeway and set automobiles on fireplace over the weekend, and police responded with tear fuel, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades.
Elsewhere, demonstrations have picked up throughout the U.S., rising in additional than a dozen main cities. Some have led to clashes with police and tons of have been arrested.
The motion of Marines into LA additionally comes forward of demonstrations anticipated over the weekend in cities throughout the US, and the chance that Trump may ship troops to different states for immigration enforcement as governors weigh what to do.
Beneath the Posse Comitatus Act, active-duty forces are prohibited by regulation from conducting regulation enforcement.
Sherman stated the U.S. Marine Corps is liable for guarding U.S. embassies abroad so they’re well-trained on tips on how to defend a federal constructing.
States face questions on deploying troops
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has put 5,000 Nationwide Guard members on standby in cities the place demonstrations are deliberate. In different Republican-controlled states, governors haven’t stated when or how they might deploy troops.
A bunch of Democratic governors earlier signed an announcement this week calling Trump’s deployments “an alarming abuse of power.”
In Los Angeles, troops work in shifts and the general public is more likely to solely see a couple of hundred out, Sherman stated.
The Trump administration has argued the troops are crucial to guard federal officers and quell unrest.
Tons of arrested in LA protests
Up to now, the protests have been centered largely in downtown close to Metropolis Corridor and a federal detention middle the place some immigrants are being held. A lot of the sprawling metropolis has been spared from the protests.
There have been about 500 arrests since Saturday, the overwhelming majority of which had been for failing to go away the world on the request of regulation enforcement, in response to the police division.
There have been a handful of extra critical expenses, together with for assault in opposition to officers and for possession of a Molotov cocktail and a gun. 9 officers have been harm, largely with minor accidents.
Taxin reported from Santa Ana, California. Baldor contributed from Washington.
Initially Revealed: June 13, 2025 at 11:04 AM EDT
