LOS ANGELES — Marines were seen standing guard outside a federal building in Los Angeles on Friday as they started operations after protests erupted last week over immigration raids.
Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, commander of Task Force 51 who is overseeing the 4,700 troops deployed by President Donald Trump, said the Marines finished training on civil disturbance and are starting their operations by replacing National Guard troops. 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.
At 12:30 p.m., two Marines were seen standing at the entrance to the 17-story Wilshire Federal Building, which houses several federal offices, including Veterans Affairs and the FBI.
They wore combat gear and carried rifles as they mingled with the National Guard, who have been checking IDs of those entering the parking lot. Both Guard members and Marines were then seen loading boxes onto a military transport truck.
The development comes a day after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked a federal judge’s order that had directed President Donald Trump to return control of National Guard troops to California, shortly after a federal judge had ruled the Guard deployment was illegal and both violated the Tenth Amendment and exceeded Trump’s statutory authority.
Some 2,000 National Guard troops have been in the city since last week when immigration raids set off protests. Some have provided protection to immigration agents making arrests. Another 2,000 Guard members were notified of deployment earlier this week.
The 200 Marines will be replacing soldiers protecting the federal building, which will allow more Guard members to be assigned to protecting federal agents on their operations, Sherman said.
None of the military troops will be detaining anyone, he added.
“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 said.
Roughly 500 National 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.
It’s unclear if the Marines will eventually provide security on raids. A total of 700 Marines have been trained to work in LA.
The movement of Marines into LA comes as a curfew has been in place in downtown and protests have ended after a few hours with arrests this week largely for failure to disperse. On the third night of the 8 p.m. curfew, officers with the Department of Homeland Security deployed flash bangs to disperse a crowd that had gathered near the jail, sending protesters sprinting away.
As with the past two nights, the hourslong 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 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 U.S., emerging in more than a dozen major cities. Some have led to clashes with police and hundreds have been arrested.
The movement of Marines into LA also comes ahead of demonstrations expected over the weekend in cities across the United States, and the possibility that Trump could send troops to other states for immigration enforcement as governors weigh what to do.
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.”
Under the Posse Comitatus Act, active-duty forces are prohibited by law from conducting law enforcement.
Sherman said the U.S. Marine Corps is responsible for guarding U.S. embassies overseas so they are well-trained on how to defend a federal building.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has put 5,000 National 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 deployments “an alarming abuse of power.”
In Los Angeles, troops work in shifts and the public is likely to only see a few hundred out, Sherman said.
The Trump administration has argued the troops are necessary to protect federal officers and quell unrest.
So far, the protests have been centered mostly in 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.
Taxin reported from Santa Ana, California. Baldor contributed from Washington.