After a week of protests against the federal immigrant attack, around 200 Marines will be moved to Los Angeles to protect federal property and personnel, the military commander said Friday.
Task Force 51 commander, Major General Scott Sherman, who oversees the deployed 4,700 units, said the Marines have completed their civil disability training, and the first batch will move to a federal building west of downtown Los Angeles and begin operations at midday on site.
The development both violated the 10th Amendment, surpassing Trump’s statutory authority after President Donald Trump ordered the National Guard forces to return control of the National Guard forces to California the day after the US Circuit Court temporarily blocked the orders of federal judges, shortly after President Donald Trump ruled that the deployment of security guards was illegal.
Around 2,000 National Guard personnel have been in the city since the immigrant raids began protests last week. Some people provide protection to immigration agents who arrest them. Earlier this week, another 2,000 security guards were notified of the deployment.
200 Marines replace soldiers protecting federal buildings. This allows more national security guards to allocate protection for federal agents in their operations, Sherman said.
He added that no one in the army would detain.
“I would like to emphasize that soldiers will not participate in law enforcement activities. Rather, they will focus on protecting federal law enforcement officials,” Sherman said.
Approximately 500 national security guards have been used to provide security regarding immigrant raids after receiving expanded guidance, legal training and rehearsals.
It is unclear whether the Marines will ultimately provide security regarding the attack. A total of 700 Marines are trained to work in LA.
The move to the Marines to Los Angeles ended as curfews were introduced in downtown, and the protests were largely not dispersed as this week’s arrest ended hours later. On the third day of the 8pm curfew, Department of Homeland Security officials deployed flash bangs to disperse crowds gathered near the prison and sprinted through protesters.
As with the past two nights, the hours of demonstration remained peaceful and bright, drawing hundreds of attendees who recited, danced and plunged the city’s distinctiveness as the Trump administration’s “war zone.”
The protest began Friday after federal immigrant attacks arrested dozens of workers in Los Angeles. Protesters blocked major highways over the weekend, burned cars, and police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bang hand rena bullets.
Elsewhere, demonstrations have been featured throughout the US and have emerged in more than a dozen major cities. Some have led to clashes with police, while hundreds have been arrested.
The move of Marines to Los Angeles comes before the expected weekend demonstrations in cities across the United States, and Trump could potentially be able to send troops to other states for immigration enforcement as governor.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has seized Trump’s power by calling the deployment of the military a “serious violation of national sovereignty,” and he went to court to stop it. The president cited a legal provision that allows service members of the federal government to mobilize if there is “a risk of rebellion or rebellion against the authority of the US government.”
Under the Posse Comitatus Act, law prohibits law enforcement from carrying out law enforcement.
Sherman said the US Marines are well trained in how to protect federal buildings because they are responsible for protecting US embassies overseas.
The state faces questions about military deployment
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has put 5,000 national security guards on standby in the city where demonstrations are planned. In other Republican-controlled states, governors have not said when or how to deploy their troops.
This week, a group of Democratic governors signed a statement this week calling Trump’s development “a surprising power abuse.”
In Los Angeles, the military works in shifts and the public only sees a few hundred people, Sherman said.
The Trump administration argued that military forces were needed to protect federal officers and to quell unrest.
Hundreds arrested in LA protests
So far, protests have mainly been concentrated in downtown near city hall and in federal detention centers where some immigrants are in custody. Many of the vast cities have been spared from protest.
Police say there have been around 500 arrests since Saturday, most of which have not left the area at law enforcement request.
There have been several more serious charges, including assault on officers and possession of a Molotov cocktail and gun. Nine officers have been injured, mostly with minor injuries.
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