US troops deployed in Los Angeles are authorised to detain people until police can arrest them, their commanding officer said on Wednesday, as hundreds of marines prepared to move into the city as it entered a sixth day of protests.
Protests over US president Donald Trump’s immigration raids have spread from California to other US cities, with hundreds of nationwide demonstrations planned for Saturday.
Mr Trump’s decision to dispatch troops to Los Angeles over the objections of California governor Gavin Newsom has sparked a national debate about the use of the military on US soil. Mr Newsom’s administration has sued the US government over the deployment.
The 700 marines and 4,000 national guard troops that Mr Trump has ordered to Los Angeles do not have arrest authority, US army major general Scott Sherman, who is commanding the troops, told reporters.
But Mr Sherman said they do have the power to detain individuals temporarily until law enforcement can arrest them, if needed to fulfil their mission of protecting federal personnel or property.
The marines, who have been training at Seal Beach just south of Los Angeles County, will move to the city “soon”, Mr Sherman said. They will not carry live ammunition in their rifles, he added.
A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Mr Sherman’s comments reflect regular rules of engagement and did not reflect an expansion of authorities.
In addition to protecting government buildings and personnel, the Pentagon has said the troops will safeguard Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers during raids.
Ice posted photographs online on Tuesday of national guard troops standing guard with weapons in hand as Ice officers handcuffed apparent migrants against the side of a car in Los Angeles.
An 1878 law, the Posse Comitatus Act, generally forbids the US military, including the national guard, from taking part in civilian law enforcement.
The troops in California are deployed under a separate federal law that does not override that prohibition, but allows troops to protect federal agents carrying out law enforcement activity. For example, national guard troops cannot arrest protesters, but they could protect Ice officers who are carrying out arrests.
California attorney general Rob Bonta, whose office filed the lawsuit challenging Mr Trump’s deployment orders, said on Tuesday that allowing troops to accompany Ice agents into communities could potentially lead to violations of the Act, given the thin line between providing protection and engaging in enforcement.
Mr Sherman did not give a specific number of raids on which troops had accompanied Ice agents, but told reporters that about 1,000 troops had taken part in operations to protect federal buildings and law enforcement.
The Trump administration responded on Wednesday in a court filing to California’s lawsuit ahead of a Thursday court hearing, arguing that the president has the discretion to determine whether a “rebellion or danger of a rebellion” requires a military response.
Mr Trump says the military deployment in Los Angeles prevented violence, which has included some clashes between protesters and police, from raging out of control, an assertion Mr Newsom and other local officials have said was untrue.
The protests, which erupted on Friday after federal immigration raids in the city, have been largely peaceful and limited to about five streets.
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass imposed a curfew over one square mile of the city’s downtown starting on Tuesday night after some businesses were looted.
The Los Angeles police department said it arrested 225 people on Tuesday, including 203 for failing to disperse and 17 for violating the curfew.
Elsewhere, protesters marched in New York, Atlanta and Chicago on Tuesday night, chanting anti-Ice slogans and at times clashing with law enforcement.
The governor of Texas, Republican Greg Abbott, said he would deploy the national guard on Wednesday ahead of planned protests in San Antonio and other parts of the state, making him the first governor to take that step.
[ Explainer: Is it legal for Trump to use US troops to suppress protests?Opens in new window ]
The protests are set to expand on Saturday, when several activist groups have planned more than 1,800 anti-Trump demonstrations across the country. That day, tanks and other armoured vehicles will rumble down the streets of Washington, DC, in a military parade marking the US army’s 250th anniversary and coinciding with Mr Trump’s 79th birthday.
A coalition calling itself “No Kings” has planned demonstrations and other events in more than 1,800 locations across the US on Saturday.
Mr Trump has warned that any protesters at the parade will be met by “very big force”. Thousands of agents, officers and specialists are being deployed from law enforcement agencies across the country for the parade.
The No Kings coalition includes more than 100 civil rights and other groups and says it is planning peaceful protests against Mr Trump and his administration’s policies.
The standoff in Los Angeles is the most intense flashpoint in the Trump administration’s efforts to deport migrants living in the country illegally.
The Department of Homeland Security, Ice’s parent agency, said on Monday that Ice had arrested 2,000 immigration offenders a day recently, far above the daily average of 311 in fiscal year 2024 under former president Joe Biden.
“President Trump promised to carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history and left-wing riots will not deter him in that effort,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday.
An immigration raid on Tuesday at a meat production plant in Omaha, Nebraska, was the “largest worksite enforcement operation” in the state during the Trump presidency, the Department of Homeland Security said. Republican congressman Don Bacon told local media that 75 to 80 people were detained.
The company, Glenn Valley Foods, said it was surprised by the raid and had followed the rules regarding immigration status. – Reuters
