Washington — About 700 active-duty Marines have arrived in Los Angeles to join National Guard troops who were sent to the city to respond to protests over federal immigration enforcement, a defense official said Tuesday morning.
The Marines join approximately 2,100 members of the California National Guard who are now on location in the greater L.A. area, operating in Los Angeles, Paramount and Compton.
The U.S. Northern Command said in a statement Monday evening that the Marines from 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division had been activated to prepare for the deployment. The Marines are based in Twentynine Palms, a city east of Los Angeles.
Northern Command said the Marines would “seamlessly integrate” with hundreds of members of the National Guard to protect “federal personnel and federal property.” They have been trained in “de-escalation, crowd control and standing rules for the use of force,” the military added. Under federal law, the military cannot be used for domestic law enforcement purposes without the president invoking what’s known as the Insurrection Act, a step President Trump has not taken.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Monday that around 700 Marines “are being deployed to Los Angeles to restore order.” Hegseth said the Marines were being deployed from Camp Pendleton, south of Los Angeles.
The defense chief was appearing before lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, telling a House committee that “we believe ICE agents should be allowed to be safe in doing their operations and we have deployed National Guard and the Marines to protect them in the execution of their duties because we ought be able to enforce immigration law in this country.” Another top Pentagon official, Bryn MacDonnell, testified that the estimated cost of deploying the National Guard and the Marines to the Los Angeles area is $134 million.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom suggested late Monday he could take legal action over the planned use of Marines, calling it illegal.
In a post on X, he wrote, “U.S. Marines serve a valuable purpose for this country — defending democracy. They are not political pawns. The Secretary of Defense is illegally deploying them onto American streets so Trump can have a talking point at his parade this weekend. It’s a blatant abuse of power. We will sue to stop this. The Courts and Congress must act. Checks and balances are crumbling. This is a red line — and they’re crossing it. WAKE UP!”
When asked earlier Monday about the possibility of sending in Marines, Mr. Trump said, “We’ll see what happens.”
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDowell said in a statement that the agency has decades of experience managing large-scale public demonstration and can handle the protests.
“The arrival of federal military forces in Los Angeles — absent clear coordination — presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city,” he said in response to the possible deployment of Marines, adding that there needs to be open communication between all agencies to prevent confusion and avoid escalation.
Mr. Trump deployed National Guard troops to downtown Los Angeles over the weekend to respond to tense protests over Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests. The Trump administration argues the deployment is necessary to protect federal property and ICE agents from violence. Mr. Trump has accused local leaders of not doing enough to deal with violent clashes at the protests.
Newsom opposed the deployment, and the state of California is suing the Trump administration over what it argues is an illegal federalization of the National Guard. Some local officials have argued the deployment could aggravate an already caustic situation in downtown Los Angeles, and say state and local police agencies can handle the protests themselves.
“We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved,” Newsom posted on X Monday.
The military said Monday it was mobilizing another 2,000 members of the California National Guard to respond to the protests.