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- Marines arrived in Los Angeles on President Donald Trump's orders amid ongoing immigration protests.
- California officials object, claiming the deployment is politically motivated and excessive.
- Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass urged Trump to halt immigration raids while emphasizing peaceful protests.
LOS ANGELES — Hundreds of Marines arrived in the Los Angeles area on Tuesday under orders from President Donald Trump, who has also activated 4,000 National Guard troops to quell protests in the city despite objections from California Gov. Gavin Newsom that the deployments are politically motivated.
The city has seen five days of public protests since the Trump administration launched a series of immigration raids on Friday. State officials said Trump's response was an extreme overreaction to mostly peaceful demonstrations.
About 700 Marines were in a staging area in the Seal Beach area about 30 miles south of Los Angeles, awaiting deployment to specific locations, a U.S. official said.
The Marines do not have arrest authority and will protect federal property and personnel, according to military officials. There were approximately 2,100 Guard troops in greater Los Angeles on Tuesday, with more on the way, the official said.
California sued Trump and the Defense Department on Monday, seeking to block the deployment of federal troops, then on Tuesday sought an immediately ruling on the narrow issue of their participation in police enforcement. The judge set a hearing on that question for Thursday.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta told Reuters the state was concerned about allowing federal troops to protect personnel, saying there was a risk that could violate an 1878 law that generally forbids the military, including the National Guard, from taking part in civilian law enforcement.
"The federal property part I understand, defending and protecting federal buildings," Bonta said. "But protecting personnel likely means accompanying ICE agents into communities and neighborhoods, and protecting functions could mean protecting the ICE function of enforcing the immigration law."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday posted photos on X of National Guard troops accompanying ICE officers on an immigration raid.
Marines are trained for conflicts around the world, from the Middle East to Africa, and are also used for rapid deployments in case of emergencies, such as threats to U.S. embassies. Some units also learn riot and crowd control techniques.
Gov. Cox reacts:
Gov. Spencer Cox said he supports deployment of National Guard over LA protests
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said he's "sympathetic" with President Donald Trump's decision to call in National Guard troops to quell unrest in Los Angeles, calling property damage done during weekend protests "unconscionable."Mayor says stop the raids
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass emphasized at a press conference that the unrest has been limited to a few downtown blocks, and she was considering a curfew for downtown Los Angeles to stem violence in the area, including looting of stores.
She drew a distinction between the majority of demonstrators protesting peacefully in support of immigrants and a smaller number of agitators she blamed for violence and looting.
She said she planned to call Trump on Tuesday.
"I want to tell him to stop the raids," she said. "I want to tell him that this is a city of immigrants."
Trump has justified his decision to deploy troops by describing the protests as a violent occupation, a characterization that Newsom and Bass have said is grossly exaggerated.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, the president said LA would be "burning right now" if not for the deployments and that Guard troops would remain until there is no danger.
Trump left open the possibility of invoking the centuries-old Insurrection Act, which would allow the military to take part directly in civilian law enforcement.
The protests since Friday have been largely peaceful, but there have been scattered clashes, with some demonstrators throwing rocks at officers, blocking a highway and setting cars ablaze. Police have responded with "less lethal" munitions such as pepper balls, as well as flash-bang grenades and tear gas.
The Los Angeles Police Department said it arrested more than 100 people on Monday, raising the regional total since Saturday to more than 180.
On Tuesday, police holding shields and wearing helmets formed a line close to protesters hoisting banners with slogans such as "When injustice becomes the law, resistance becomes duty."
Protests have concentrated outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where many detained migrants are held. The Trump administration has vowed to intensify immigration raids in response.
Protests have taken place in other cities including Chicago, where on Tuesday about 100 protesters marched through downtown, blocking traffic and carrying signs calling for ICE to be abolished.
Christina Berger, 39, said it was heartbreaking to hear about children who are afraid of being separated from their families due to immigration raids, adding, "I just want to give some hope to my friends and neighbors."
Support for LA in Utah:
Downtown protest held in response to escalating events in LA
A group held a protest downtown in response to the escalating events in Los Angeles in front of the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building on State Street on Sunday.Cleaning up
Business owners in LA's Little Tokyo neighborhood, where some of the most intense clashes between police and protesters occurred late on Monday, were washing graffiti off storefront windows and sweeping up litter on Tuesday.
Every building on Little Tokyo's main streets was hit with graffiti, except for a public defender's office that stood untouched.
Frank Chavez, 53, manager of an office building in the neighborhood, was sweeping glass shards from an entrance door that had been shattered after midnight by a young masked man wielding a skateboard, according to security video that Chavez showed a Reuters reporter.
"I agree with what the protesters are defending, they're standing up for the Latino community," Chavez said. "But there are a few carrying out vandalism and violence, and that must be stopped."
Chavez and other business owners said they did not support the immigration raids and felt Trump's response was only fanning the flames.
Contributing: Jorge Garcia, Jane Ross, Arafat Barbakh, Andrea Shalal, Tom Polansek, Sandy Hooper, Costas Pitas, Susan Heavey, Doina Chiacu, Ismail Shakil, and Jasper Ward
