U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that active-duty U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton are on high alert and may be deployed to Los Angeles if the 2,000 National Guard troops, mobilized to quell protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, prove insufficient. The statement, posted on X, followed violent clashes between protesters and federal agents in areas like Paramount and downtown Los Angeles, where demonstrators threw rocks and Molotov cocktails, and federal forces used tear gas and flash-bangs. Hegseth described the protests as “violent mob assaults” aimed at preventing the deportation of “criminal illegal aliens,” framing them as a national security threat facilitated by criminal cartels.
President Donald Trump, invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, authorized the National Guard deployment under federal command, bypassing California Governor Gavin Newsom’s authority. This marks the first such federalization since 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to protect civil rights demonstrators in Alabama. Newsom called Hegseth’s threat to deploy Marines “deranged behavior,” arguing it was a provocative spectacle, not a response to a law enforcement shortage. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass echoed concerns, stating local police and sheriff’s departments could handle the situation without federal escalation.
The protests erupted after ICE raids targeted workplaces, detaining over 150 individuals, including some without criminal records, according to the ACLU of Southern California. Demonstrators, some waving Mexican flags, blocked streets and clashed with agents, prompting Trump to ban masks at protests, a move critics argue ignores the use of tear gas by federal forces.
Hegseth’s threat has sparked alarm, with legal experts like Elizabeth Goitein from the Brennan Center for Justice warning that deploying active-duty Marines could violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts military involvement in domestic law enforcement. Social media reactions on X are mixed, with some, like @CubanOnlyTrump, supporting the move to “take California back,” while others, like @MeidasTouch, called it a “declaration of war” against Americans.
As Los Angeles prepares for a 60-day National Guard presence, Trump’s meeting with Hegseth, Border Czar Tom Homan, and Attorney General Pam Bondi signals further federal action
