President Donald Trump on Monday ordered the deployment of 700 active-duty U.S. Marines and an additional 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, escalating the federal response to ongoing protests over immigration arrests.
The military mobilization came on the fourth consecutive day of demonstrations sparked by a wave of immigration enforcement actions in the city, which has a significant foreign-born and Latino population. In a statement, Trump vowed that protesters would be “hit harder” than ever.
The move drew swift condemnation from California Governor Gavin Newsom, who denounced the deployment on social media. “U.S. Marines shouldn’t be deployed on American soil facing their own countrymen to fulfill the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial President,” he posted on X. “This is un-American.”
