Thousands of Marines and National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles have received crowd control training to take on an expanded mission protecting ICE agents in the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigrants.
The move was angrily opposed by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has called Donald Trump’s deployment of troops in Los Angeles a “brazen abuse of power.”
His bid to get a restraining order to block the mission was rejected on Tuesday night.
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Protesters across the United States were furious over the added military dimension to the immigration raids.
As federal agents conduct raids and arrests across the city, nearly 5000 troops deployed by the Trump administration to LA have had their roles beefed up to assist federal agents on immigration raids.
Outlining the expanded plan to the media on Wednesday, Major General Scott Sherman said the troops are currently operating out of the city of LA but could end up working elsewhere if tensions escalate in other parts of the city or state.
“It’s just depending on where the federal agencies will need them to be used,” he said.
They would essentially be tasked with protecting buildings and personnel, and would carry guns.
But those guns wouldn’t be loaded, he said, and ammunition would only be used for self-defense.
“We go through extensive training to do this. They are trained to use their weapons… but this is crowd control, this is stuff that we do not do usually,” Sherman said.
“This is working with federal law enforcement. They’re in the lead, we’re supporting them. It’s really about protecting federal facilities and federal personnel.
“They do not do any arrests, they are strictly there to detain, to wait for law enforcement to come and handle those demonstrators.”
The expanded role for Marines and National Guard troops comes as the streets of LA felt comparatively calm on Wednesday morning after an overnight curfew imposed by Mayor Karen Bass.
It was a sharp contrast to the scenes over the weekend, which resulted in President Donald Trump sending in 2000 guards on Saturday night after peaceful protests escalated into violence.
He then deployed a further 2000 troops, along with 200 Marines.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the president’s actions were justified in order to protect law enforcement officers and property from “violent mobs” taking part in “left wing riots.”
She added that there had so far been 330 arrests, of which 113 people had prior convictions.
“These criminals injured police, threw rocks at police cars and officers, burned vehicles, shut down freeways and lobbed molotov cocktails, all because the Trump administration was removing violent criminal illegal aliens from the city,” she told reporters on Wednesday.
