Marines deployed to LA as Trump says California governor should be arrested

Washington: The US military is sending 700 Marines to Los Angeles to help “restore order”, and President Donald Trump authorised the deployment of another 2000 members of the National Guard, as immigration-related protests spread to other American cities, including San Francisco and Dallas.

The extraordinary decision to deploy active duty personnel to the streets of the US’s second-largest city was immediately condemned as “un-American” by California’s Democratic Governor, Gavin Newsom, whose arrest Trump had earlier advocated.

The 700 Marines are being deployed from their base in the Southern California desert.Credit: @USNorthernCmd/X

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Tuesday (AEST) that “due to increased threats to federal law enforcement officers and federal buildings, approximately 700 active-duty US Marines from Camp Pendleton are being deployed to Los Angeles to restore order”.

“We have an obligation to defend federal law enforcement officers – even if Gavin Newsom will not,” he said.

But the Trump administration has not yet moved to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow troops to directly participate in law enforcement against civilians.

Newsom said the Marines were heroes who had served their country defending democracy. “They shouldn’t be deployed on American soil facing their own countrymen to fulfil the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial president.”

As tensions rose before sunset in Los Angeles on Monday, California time, local police slowly moved throngs of protesters away from a federal detention centre, firing “less lethal” munitions such as gas canisters, while the National Guard formed a human barricade along the building’s perimeter.

Meanwhile, protesters also clashed with police on the streets of Dallas, Texas late on Monday night. Footage from local TV networks showed long lines of riot police encircling demonstrators at an intersection just after 10pm local time.

Trump authorised a doubling of the National Guard deployment to LA, though the additional troops were not expected to arrive in the city immediately.

Late on Monday (Tuesday AEST), California sued the Trump administration to block the deployment of both the National Guard and the Marines, arguing it violated federal law and state sovereignty.

Los Angeles police in riot gear form a skirmish line and push protesters down a street away from a federal building in downtown Los Angeles on Monday.Credit: AP

“This isn’t about public safety. It’s about stroking a dangerous President’s ego. This is Reckless. Pointless. And Disrespectful to our troops,” Newsom posted on X in response to the additional National Guard troops.

Earlier, LA Police Chief Jim McDonnell said the department had not been given any “formal notification” the Marines would be coming to the city.

He said the police department was confident in its ability to handle large-scale demonstrations and that the Marines’ arrival without co-ordinating with the Los Angeles Police Department would present “a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city”.

The LAPD said some protesters had started throwing objects at officers, adding in an X post: “Less lethal munitions may cause pain and discomfort.”

A Los Angeles police officer uses a baton to push back a protester offering them a flower in downtown Los Angeles on Monday.Credit: AP

The LA Times reported that at least 74 people had been arrested over the weekend on suspicion of vandalism, looting and violence, citing the LAPD. It said 21 people were arrested in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, alleging attempted murder with a Molotov cocktail, assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, looting, failure to disperse and other crimes.

Amid the fallout from the ongoing incident, Trump endorsed arresting Newsom. The California governor had dared Trump’s “border tsar” Tom Homan to arrest him after Homan said anyone who obstructed immigration police from doing their job was liable to be detained, including Newsom and the mayor of LA.

“Come after me, arrest me, let’s just get it over with, tough guy. I don’t give a damn,” Newsom had said.

Arriving at the White House from the president’s retreat at Camp David on Monday morning, Trump supported the idea of arresting the Democratic governor. “I would do it if I were Tom [Homan], I think it’s great,” he said. “Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing.”

Trump went on to say he liked Newsom, but that he was grossly incompetent, citing California’s beleaguered high-speed rail project.

He claimed the Los Angeles protesters were “professional agitators, they’re insurrectionists, they’re bad people. They should be in jail”.

Trump took no further questions, including about Nine News journalist Lauren Tomasi, who was shot with a rubber bullet by police while covering the protests.

The White House referred questions about the incident to the LAPD, which said it would issue a statement. Nine, which also owns this masthead, later reported that the LAPD would conduct an investigation.

Nine News US correspondent Lauren Tomasi was shot by police with a rubber bullet while covering the protest.Credit: Nine News

At a later event, when asked what crime Newsom had committed to warrant his arrest, Trump said the governor had the “wrong philosophy”.

“I think his primary crime is running for governor because he’s done such a bad job,” Trump said. “What he’s done to that state is like what Biden did to this country.”

Newsom said Trump’s threat crossed a line. “This is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism,” he said.

Trump continued to defend his controversial decision to usurp Newsom’s authority by deploying the California National Guard. On social media, he claimed Los Angeles would otherwise have been “completely obliterated” and that LA mayor Karen Bass and Newsom – whom he again called “Newscum” – should be thanking him.

Marines preparing to depart for LA on Monday.Credit: @USNorthernCmd/X

By contrast, Newsom and Democratic allies argued the decision inflamed tensions and turned what was a relatively small, controllable protest into clashes in which dozens were arrested.

Speaking on condition of anonymity to detail military operations, US officials said about 1000 National Guard members were in the city under federal orders by midday Monday, LA time. The full 2000 members initially authorised by Trump were expected to be on the ground by the end of the day.

The 700 Marines, meanwhile, were being deployed from their base at Twentynine Palms in the Southern California desert.

US Marines have been deployed domestically for major disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the September 11, 2001, attacks. They are known for being “first in, last out” in US military interventions abroad, but it is extremely rare for American soldiers to be used for domestic policing matters.

National Guard members stand outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles on Monday.Credit: Bloomberg

The last time the military was used for direct police action under the Insurrection Act was in 1992, when the California governor at the time asked then-president George H.W. Bush for aid in response to the Los Angeles riots over the acquittal of police officers who beat black motorist Rodney King.

Trump could deploy Marines under certain conditions of law or under his authority as commander-in-chief. Without invoking the Insurrection Act, the Marines, like the National Guard, would still be subject to a legal prohibition that prevents them from directly enforcing civilian laws and would likely be limited to protecting federal personnel and property.

Even if only as a support role, using Marines in the context of a police matter is certain to raise further objections from Democrats, who have accused Trump of unnecessarily escalating tensions in LA.

Other protests took shape on Monday afternoon (Tuesday AEST) across LA County, as confirmed reports of federal immigration agents in the cities of Whittier and Huntington Park, south of LA, spurred anger from activists.

Protesters confront Los Angeles police department personnel in riot gear on Monday.Credit: AP

Protests also spread north to San Francisco, where about 60 people were arrested on Sunday night, local time, including some children. The San Antonio Police Department said buildings and a police car were vandalised, while two officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Additional rallies were also planned in more than a dozen cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and New York City.

In Los Angeles and other cities on Tuesday (AEST), union members marched to demand the release of David Huerta, the president of the Service Employees International Union in California.

Huerta was arrested on Friday as part of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation that prompted the protests. He was hurt in the arrest and taken briefly to a local hospital.

Union members protest in Washington, DC, calling for the release of union leader David Huerta, who was arrested in Los Angeles on Friday.Credit: Michael Koziol

He was later released from custody on a $US50,000 ($77,000) bond.

“This fight is ours, it’s our community’s, but it belongs to everyone,” Huerta said in Spanish outside the federal courthouse after his bond hearing. “We all have to fight for them.”

In Washington on Monday, about 300 people marched past the Department of Justice and FBI headquarters, carrying banners that said: “Tyranny or revolution”, “Is the Constitution dead yet?” and “They blame immigrants so you won’t blame billionaires”.

With Reuters, AP

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