Marines are expected to be deployed to the streets of Los Angeles on Wednesday, joining the National Guard troops that are already protecting federal property and immigration agents making arrests.
The 700 Marines, who have been going through training at an unspecified location in the Los Angeles area, will work alongside the National Guard, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Northern Command said.
The action will broaden the federal government’s rare use of military forces on domestic soil. By tradition and law, American troops are supposed to be used inside the United States only in the most dire and extreme circumstances.
President Trump mobilized the troops even as protests in Los Angeles were relatively muted on Monday and California officials objected to the deployments. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles said that the use of troops was unnecessary and counterproductive.
The state of California has filed lawsuits asking the court to restrict the federal government’s use of military personnel in Los Angeles. A federal judge in California scheduled a hearing for Thursday afternoon on the state’s request to limit the use of troops solely to guarding federal buildings.
California requested a temporary restraining order by 1 p.m. Pacific time on Tuesday declaring that the Marines and Guard troops could not accompany immigration raids or perform other law enforcement activities, like operating checkpoints. The judge, Charles S. Breyer, declined to impose the order by the deadline.
Armed Guard troops accompanied federal immigration enforcement officers in Los Angeles, holding rifles and standing next to them as they detained people, images posted on Tuesday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement showed.
Since President Trump mobilized the Marines on Monday, they have been receiving training in de-escalation, crowd control and the rules for the use of force, according to the Northern Command spokeswoman. When they are deployed to the streets, they will join the 2,100 Guard members already there.
Along with the National Guard troops, the Marines will provide security to ICE agents as they do their work, the spokeswoman said. She added that the troops would not be involved in helping them make arrests.
