LOS ANGELES (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked a federal court Tuesday to block the Trump administration from using the National Guard and Marines to assist with immigration raids in Los Angeles, saying it would only heighten tensions.
Newsom filed the emergency request after President Donald Trump ordered the deployment to LA of roughly 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines following protests of the president’s stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws. The demonstrations in the city of 4 million people have largely been centered downtown.
Marines were not seen on the streets yet while National guard troops so far have had limited engagement with protesters.
The federal government said Newsom was seeking an unprecedented and dangerous order that would interfere with its ability to carry out enforcement operations. A judge set a hearing for Thursday.
The governor's request said it was in response to a change in orders for the Guard members, who were originally deployed to protect federal buildings. The court documents said sending troops on immigration raids would only escalate tensions and promote civil unrest.
The Marines and another 2,000 National Guard troops were sent to LA on Monday, adding to a military presence that local officials and Newsom do not want and that the police chief says makes it harder to handle the protests safely.
Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith said Tuesday that the Marines deployed to the area had not yet been called to respond to the protests and were there only to protect federal officials and property.
The Marines were trained for crowd control but have no arrest authority, Smith told a budget hearing on Capitol Hill.
Paul Eck, deputy general counsel in the California Military Department, said the agency was informed that the Pentagon plans to direct the California National Guard to start providing support for immigration operations. That support would include holding secure perimeters around areas where raids are taking place and securing streets for immigration agents, he said in the governor's emergency request.
According to U.S. officials, the Guard members who were deployed were authorized to provide protection and secure streets and perimeters around areas where enforcement actions are taking place. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations, said the Guard members are not participating in any of the enforcement actions, but are providing security and have already been doing some of those missions in the Los Angeles area.
Photos posted Tuesday on X by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement appear to show National Guard troops on scene while officials detain two men.
Trump says he's open to using Insurrection Act
Trump left open the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, which authorizes the president to deploy military forces inside the U.S. to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations. It's one of the most extreme emergency powers available to a U.S. president.
“If there’s an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We’ll see,” he said from the Oval Office.
Later the president called protesters “animals” and “a foreign enemy” in a speech at Fort Bragg ostensibly to recognize the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.
Trump has described Los Angeles in dire terms that Mayor Karen Bass and Newsom say are nowhere close to the truth.
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.
The demonstrations have been far less raucous since. Thousands of people have peacefully rallied outside City Hall and hundreds more protested outside a federal complex that includes a detention center where some immigrants are being held following workplace raids.
Los Angeles police said they made over 100 arrests Monday evening, mostly for failing to disperse downtown. One person was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, and two police offers were injured, the department said.
Several businesses were broken into, though authorities didn't say if the looting was tied to the protests. Nejdeh Avedian, general manager at St. Vincent Jewelry Center in the Los Angeles Jewelry District said the protesters had already left, and “these guys were just opportunists," though St. Vincent's had armed guards and was left alone.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Tuesday that protesters have hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at law enforcement, set vehicles on fire, defaced buildings and public property and set fire to American flags.
On Tuesday, a few dozen protesters gathered peacefully in front of the federal complex, which was quickly declared an unlawful assembly. Police issued a dispersal order and corralled the protesters, telling members of the media to stay out to avoid getting hurt. Officers with zip ties then started making arrests.
Obscene slogans directed at Trump and federal law enforcement remained scrawled across several buildings. At the Walt Disney Concert Hall, workers were busy washing away graffiti Tuesday.
In nearby Santa Ana, armored Guard vehicles blocked a road leading to federal immigration and government offices.
Sending in the military is the latest step in the administration’s immigration crackdown as Trump pursues the mass deportations he promised last year during the presidential campaign.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested Tuesday that the use of troops inside the U.S. will continue to expand.
“I think we’re entering another phase, especially under President Trump with his focus on the homeland, where the National Guard and Reserves become a critical component of how we secure that homeland,” he said on Capitol Hill.
Los Angeles officials say police don't need help
The mayor and the governor say Trump is putting public safety at risk by adding military personnel even though police say they don’t need the help.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said he was confident in the police department’s ability to handle the demonstrations and that the Marines’ arrival without coordinating with police would present a “significant logistical and operational challenge.”
Demonstrations have spread to other cities nationwide, including San Francisco, as well as Dallas and Austin, Texas.
LA response takes stage on Capitol Hill
The Pentagon said deploying the National Guard and Marines costs $134 million. The defense secretary said the troops are needed to protect federal agents.
Meanwhile, Democratic members of California’s congressional delegation on Tuesday accused the president of creating a “manufactured crisis."
On Monday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit over the use of National Guard troops, seeking to halt the deployment.
Trump said the city would have been “completely obliterated” if he had not deployed the Guard.
The deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state’s National Guard was activated without a request from its governor, a significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the administration’s mass deportation efforts.
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Baldor and Copp reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles, Amy Taxin in Orange County, California, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, and Greg Bull in Seal Beach, California, contributed to this report.
Jake Offenhartz, Christopher Weber, Lolita C. Baldor And Tara Copp, The Associated Press
