Los Angeles: About 200 U.S. marines have been deployed to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States, to protect a federal building there, the military said on Friday, after a week of protests over the current administration’s immigration raids in the city.
U.S. Army Major General Scott Sherman, commander of the Task Force 51, which includes more than 4,000 California Army National Guard soldiers and about 700 marines, said at a press briefing that those marines had completed civil disturbance training.
But Sherman said the marines will not participate in law enforcement activities.
Some of the marines were seen standing guard outside the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles area.
The 17-story federal building on Wilshire Boulevard is home to many of Los Angeles’ federal offices, including the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Los Angeles field office.
U.S. President Donald Trump has made decisions to dispatch over 4,000 National Guard members and about 700 active-duty marines to the Los Angeles area despite the objection of California Governor Gavin Newsom and other local officials.
About 2,800 service members, including 2,100 National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines, were deployed to the greater Los Angeles area, said U.S. Northern Command in a news release on Wednesday, adding that the Marines had completed required training and would be serving alongside National Guard soldiers within the next 48 hours.
The Marines were reportedly undergoing civil disturbance training at Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach in Orange County, located south of Los Angeles.
The Trump administration won a swift legal victory on Thursday night when a federal appeals court blocked a lower court’s order issued just hours earlier that would have returned 4,000 California National Guard troops to state control, allowing the military deployment in Los Angeles to continue.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an emergency stay just hours after U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled Thursday evening that Trump had illegally federalized California’s National Guard and violated the Constitution.
The appellate court’s new order not only allows the National Guard troops to continue operating under federal command but also indicates that the legal battle between Washington and the Golden State will continue.
The dramatic legal reversal capped a day of courtroom confrontation between the Trump administration and California over the unprecedented federal takeover of state military forces.
Hundreds of people have been arrested in Southern California since the protests over federal immigration enforcement started a week ago, with more protests planned in the coming weekend across the region and the country.
