Hundreds of Marines enter LA ahead of mass protest… but their mission is not what you’d expect

Marines were seen standing guard outside a federal building in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon as they started to take over the post from National Guard members after protests erupted last week over immigration raids and President Donald Trump deployed the troops to the city.

Major General Scott Sherman, the commander of Task Force 51 who is overseeing the 4,700 combined troops, said the Marines finished training on civil disturbance and are starting their operations by replacing Guard troops guarding the Wilshire Federal Building, which houses several federal offices. 

Guard soldiers can then be assigned to protect more law enforcement agents on raids, Sherman said.

About 200 Marines out of the 700 deployed to the protests are in the city, Sherman said. It’s unclear if the Marines will eventually provide security on raids.

At 12:30pm, two Marines were seen standing at the entrance to the 17-story Wilshire Federal Building, wearing combat gear and carrying rifles as they mingled with Guard members, who have been checking IDs of people entering the parking lot. 

It is the same building that Democratic U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla on Thursday was forcefully removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s news conference and handcuffed by officers as he tried to speak up about the immigration raids.

As the Trump administration targets migrants around the country for detainment and deportation, the raids have led to the arrests of asylum-seekers, people who overstayed their visas and migrants awaiting their day in immigration court.

The Marines are taking their posts a day after the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked a federal judge’s order that had directed Trump to return control of Guard troops to California, shortly after a federal judge had ruled the Guard deployment was illegal, violated the Tenth Amendment and exceeded Trump’s statutory authority.

Marines were seen standing guard outside a federal building in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon as they started to take over the post from National Guard members

The Marines finished training on civil disturbance and are starting their operations by replacing Guard troops guarding the Wilshire Federal Building, pictured, which houses several federal offices

Some 2,000 Guard troops have been in the city since last week. Some have provided protection to immigration agents making arrests. 

Another 2,000 Guard members were notified of deployment earlier this week.

None of the military troops will be detaining anyone, Sherman said.

‘I would like to emphasize that the soldiers will not participate in law enforcement activities,’ Sherman said. ‘Rather, they’ll be focused on protecting federal law enforcement personnel.’

Roughly 500 Guard members have been used to provide security on immigration raids after undergoing expanded instruction, legal training and rehearsals with the agents doing the enforcement before they go on those missions.

An 8pm curfew has been in place in a 1-square-mile section of downtown. The city of Los Angeles encompasses roughly 500 square miles. 

Protests have ended after a few hours with arrests this week largely for failure to disperse. 

On the third night of the curfew, officers with the Department of Homeland Security deployed flash bangs to disperse a crowd that had gathered near a jail, sending protesters sprinting away.

Two US Marines walk with a National Guard service member near the entrance of the Wilshire Federal Building on Friday in Los Angeles, California

ICE protestors continue to demonstrate over immigration raids as the police take over security control in Los Angeles, California

A federal appeals court ruled on June 12 that the Trump administration can maintain control of the California National Guard, overturning a lower court ruling that Trump’s deployment of troops to protest-ridden Los Angeles without Governor Gavin Newsom’s consent was unlawful

As with the past two nights, the hours long demonstrations remained peaceful and upbeat, drawing a few hundred attendees who marched through downtown chanting, dancing and poking fun at the Trump administration’s characterization of the city as a ‘war zone.’

The protests began last Friday after federal immigration raids arrested dozens of workers in Los Angeles. 

Protesters blocked a major freeway and set cars on fire over the weekend, and police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades.

Elsewhere, demonstrations have picked up across the US, emerging in more than a dozen major cities. Some have led to clashes with police, and hundreds have been arrested.

Demonstrations are expected over the weekend in cities across the United States, and governors are weighing what to do should Trump send troops to other states for immigration enforcement.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has called the troop deployment a ‘serious breach of state sovereignty’ and a power grab by Trump, and he has gone to court to stop it.

The president has cited a legal provision that allows him to mobilize federal service members when there is ‘a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.’ 

Marines and California National Guard members are seen outside the Wilshire Federal Building after Marines were deployed to Los Angeles, as protests against federal immigration sweeps continue 

Marines detain a person outside the Wilshire Federal Building after Marines were deployed to LA

A person walks past Marines outside the Wilshire Federal Building,

Under federal law, active-duty forces are prohibited by law from conducting law enforcement.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has put 5,000 Guard members on standby in cities where demonstrations are planned. In other Republican-controlled states, governors have not said when or how they may deploy troops.

A group of Democratic governors earlier signed a statement this week calling Trump’s ‘an alarming abuse of power.’

The Trump administration has said the troops are necessary to protect federal officers and quell unrest.

In Los Angeles, troops work in shifts, and the public is likely to only see a few hundred out at a time, Sherman said.

So far, the protests have been centered mostly downtown near City Hall and a federal detention center where some immigrants are being held

Much of the sprawling city has been spared from the protests. There have been about 500 arrests since Saturday, the vast majority of which were for failing to leave the area at the request of law enforcement, according to the police 

In LA troops work in shifts, and the public is likely to only see a few hundred out at a time

So far, the protests have been centered mostly downtown near City Hall and a federal detention center where some immigrants are being held. Much of the sprawling city has been spared from the protests.

There have been about 500 arrests since Saturday, the vast majority of which were for failing to leave the area at the request of law enforcement, according to the police department.

There have been a handful of more serious charges, including for assault against officers and for possession of a Molotov cocktail and a gun.

Nine officers have been hurt, mostly with minor injuries.