LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Pentagon planned to deploy about 700 Marines to Los Angeles on Monday to help National Guard members respond to immigration protests, three U.S. officials said as California prepared to sue President Donald Trump over his use of Guard troops to confront the protesters.
The Marines were to be deployed from their base at Twentynine Palms in the Southern California desert. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military plans. The deployment was first reported by CNN.
The attorney general said the president's actions had “trampled” the state’s sovereignty.
“We don’t take lightly to the president abusing his authority and unlawfully mobilizing California National Guard troops” state Attorney General Rob Bonta told reporters. He planned to seek a court order declaring that Trump’s use of the Guard was unlawful and ask for a restraining order to halt the deployment.
The streets of the sprawling city of 4 million people were quiet Monday morning, but the smell of smoke hung in the air downtown, one day after crowds blocked off a major freeway and set self-driving cars on fire as police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades. The law enforcement presence was heavy, with police cars blocking the street in front of the federal detention facility that was a focus of the protests.
Bonta accused Trump of fanning protesters' anger with his announcement of the deployment, saying he set off Sunday's clashes with law enforcement in downtown Los Angeles. “This was not inevitable,” he said.
While much of the city was spared from any violence, clashes swept through several downtown blocks and a handful of other places. It could take days to clear the debris from burned cars and to clean off or paint over graffiti sprayed on City Hall and other buildings near the detention facility. Sunday was the third and most intense day of demonstrations against Trump’s immigration crackdown in the region, as the arrival of the first 300 Guard troops spurred anger and fear among many residents.
Trump said Monday that the city would have been “completely obliterated” if he had not deployed the Guard.
Later, at a White House event, he added that state leaders “were afraid to do anything.”
U.S. officials said about 1,000 National Guard members were in the city under federal orders by midday Monday. The full 2,000 members authorized by the president were expected to be on the ground by the end of the day. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the details of military operations.
The arrival of the National Guard followed two days of protests that began Friday in downtown Los Angeles before spreading Saturday to Paramount, a heavily Latino city south of the city, and neighboring Compton.
Multiple protests were taking shape Monday afternoon in LA, and it was unclear if any would devolve into violence. More protests were scheduled for cities across the country.
Thousands of people gathered in a park across from City Hall to protest the arrest of labor leader David Huerta. He was arrested Friday, accused of conspiring to impede an officer during a demonstration. Protesters held signs lambasting Trump and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Huerta, whose initial court appearance was expected to be held Monday afternoon, is the president of the Service Employees International Union California, which represents thousands of janitors, security officers and other workers in the state.
Elsewhere, outside a clothing warehouse, relatives of detained workers demanded at a news conference that their loved ones be released.
The family of Jacob Vasquez, 35, who was detained Friday at the warehouse, where he worked, said they had yet to receive any information about him.
“Jacob is a family man and the sole breadwinner of his household,” Vasquez's brother, Gabriel, told the crowd. He asked that his last name not be used, fearing being targeted by authorities.
On Sunday, many protesters dispersed as evening fell and police declared an unlawful assembly, a precursor to officers moving in and arresting those who refuse to leave. Some of those who stayed threw objects at police from behind a makeshift barrier. Others hurled chunks of concrete, rocks, electric scooters and fireworks at California Highway Patrol officers and their vehicles parked on the closed southbound 101 Freeway. Officers ran under an overpass to take cover at one point.
The Guard was deployed specifically to protect federal buildings, including the downtown detention center where protesters concentrated.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said officers were “overwhelmed” by the remaining protesters. He said they included regular agitators who show up at demonstrations to cause trouble.
Several dozen people were arrested throughout the weekend. One was detained Sunday for throwing a Molotov cocktail at police and another for ramming a motorcycle into a line of officers.
Trump responded to McDonnell on Truth Social, telling him to arrest protesters in face masks.
“Looking really bad in L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!” he wrote.
Governor says Guard not needed
Newsom called on Trump to rescind the Guard deployment in a letter Sunday, calling it a “serious breach of state sovereignty.”
The governor, who was was in Los Angeles meeting with local law enforcement and officials, also told protesters that they were playing into Trump's plans and would face arrest for violence or property destruction.
“Trump wants chaos and he’s instigated violence," he said. “Stay peaceful. Stay focused. Don’t give him the excuse he’s looking for.”
The deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state’s National Guard was activated without a request from its governor, a significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the administration’s mass deportation efforts.
Newsom, meanwhile, has repeatedly said that California authorities had the situation under control. He mocked Trump for posting a congratulatory message to the Guard on social media before troops had even arrived in Los Angeles.
Clashes escalate as National Guard troops arrive
National Guard troops stood shoulder to shoulder Sunday morning in LA, carrying long guns and riot shields as protesters shouted “shame” and “go home." After some demonstrators closely approached the Guard members, another set of uniformed officers advanced on the group, shooting smoke-filled canisters into the street.
Minutes later, the Los Angeles Police Department fired rounds of crowd-control munitions to disperse the protesters, who they said were assembled unlawfully. Much of the group then moved to block traffic on the 101 freeway until state patrol officers cleared them.
Nearby, at least four self-driving Waymo cars were set on fire, sending large plumes of black smoke into the sky and exploding intermittently. By evening, police had shut down several blocks of downtown Los Angeles.
Flash-bang grenades echoed out every few seconds into the evening.
Deployment follows days of protest
On Friday, federal agents arrested immigrants in LA's fashion district, in a Home Depot parking lot and at several other locations. The next day, they were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office near another Home Depot in Paramount, which drew out protesters who suspected another raid. Federal authorities later said there was no enforcement activity at that Home Depot.
The weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the LA area climbed above 100, federal authorities said. Many more were arrested while protesting, including a prominent union leader who was accused of impeding law enforcement.
The last time the National Guard was activated without a governor's permission was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
In a directive Saturday, Trump invoked a legal provision allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is ”a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”
In San Francisco, officers arrested and later released about 155 people for refusing orders to disperse, said officer Paulina Henderson with the city's police department.
Officers monitoring one protest declared an unlawful assembly when people in the group became violent, the San Francisco Police Department said. Many protesters left the scene, but some remained while others moved to another area where they vandalized buildings and a police vehicle.
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Sullivan reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press writers Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles, Amy Taxin in Orange County, California, and Jake Offenhartz in New York contributed to this report.
Lolita C. Baldor, Tara Copp, Jason Dearen And Tim Sullivan, The Associated Press
