Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has threatened to send the Marines to quell ongoing protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles.
Hegseth posted on X on that in addition to “mobilizing the National Guard IMMEDIATELY to support federal law enforcement” in California’s largest city, “active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized” if the violence continues.
“They are on high alert,” he added.
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The Daily Beast has reached out to the Pentagon for further comment on Hegseth’s proposal.
The protests first erupted on Friday afternoon following a series of raids by ICE officials across the city, with police arresting dozens of demonstrators outside the downtown federal building where immigrants were being detained.
The White House has already dispatched an estimated 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the unrest, which continued through Saturday night.
Reuters reported that a number of protesters on Friday threw what appeared to be blocks of broken concrete at police, which were met with flash bangs, tear gas, and pepper spray.
Up to 400 people also gathered in the city of Paramount, Los Angeles County, on Saturday afternoon. Some threw rocks and other objects at law enforcement, with police firing “non-lethal munitions” in an effort to disperse the crowds, CBS reported.
One person was taken to a hospital not long after noon, with two others arrested for injuring peace officers, one of whom is accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail that struck three deputies.
At least one vehicle is also reported to have been torched in the neighbouring city of Compton. By evening, the crowds had again gathered outside the federal building in downtown Los Angeles, where they were again met with flash-bangs and tear gas, per CBS.
“The violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal Law Enforcement are designed to prevent the removal of Criminal Illegal Aliens from our soil; a dangerous invasion facilitated by criminal cartels (aka Foreign Terrorist Organizations) and a huge NATIONAL SECURITY RISK,” Hegseth wrote.
He added that “it’s COMMON SENSE” that “violence & destruction against federal agencies & federal facilities will NOT be tolerated.”
Trump himself has pushed baseless conspiracies about the unrest, claiming the “Radical Left protests” are being carried out by “paid troublemakers” while taking aim at California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for being “unable to to [sic] handle the task” of keeping the peace.
