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Army General Says Marines May Temporarily Detain Protesters in LA
The Marines will be deployed to Los Angeles soon, Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman said.
The 700 Marines and 4,000 National Guard troops ordered to Los Angeles by President Donald Trump in response to protests over immigration enforcement operations lack the authority to arrest protesters but may temporarily detain them if necessary, an Army general said on Wednesday.
โStrictly for the protection of the federal personnel and the protection of the federal buildings, theyโre allowed to temporarily detain and wait for law enforcement to come and arrest them,โ Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman said of the troops.
โThey do not do any arrest, they are strictly there to detain and wait for law enforcement to come and handle those demonstrators.โ
The Marines are trained to use their weapons for personal protection, but their rifles will not be loaded with live ammunition during the deployment, said Sherman, who is leading the deployment of the troops.
โNot in their rifle, no,โ he said when asked whether rifles would carry live ammunition.
The Marines are undergoing โcivil disturbance training and the standing rules of force trainingโ for two days, Sherman said. The Marines will not be deployed to the streets of Los Angeles on Wednesday, but will be there soon, he added.
In a statement issued Wednesday, U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) confirmed that the Marines will conduct the same missions currently being performed by the National Guardsmen under Title 10 status.
They can and have accompanied Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on missions, but they are โnot a part of the operations,โ Northern Command said.
Northern Command said forces are authorized to temporarily detain an individual in specific circumstances, such as โto stop an assault, to prevent harm to others, or to prevent interference with federal personnel performing their duties.โ
Any temporary detention will end immediately when the individual can be safely transferred to the custody of appropriate civilian law enforcement personnel, Northern Command stated.
According to Northern Command, approximately 2,800 service members have been deployed to the greater Los Angeles area as of Wednesday.
Trump has said the military deployment in Los Angeles prevented violenceโwhich has included protesters throwing projectiles at officersโfrom raging out of control, an assertion California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other local officials have said was untrue.
Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed an emergency motion in court on Tuesday seeking to block the federal governmentโs deployment of troops, arguing that the mission โorders soldiers to engage in unlawful civilian law enforcement activities in communities across the region, beyond just guarding federal buildings.โ
Bonta said on Tuesday that allowing federal troops to protect ICE personnel could also violate an 1878 law that generally forbids the U.S. military, including the National Guard, from taking part in civilian law enforcement.
โProtecting personnel likely means accompanying ICE agents into communities and neighborhoods, and protecting functions could mean protecting the ICE function of enforcing the immigration law,โ Bonta said.
The protests continue to spread from Los Angeles to other cities in the United States, with hundreds of nationwide demonstrations planned for Saturday.
Protests have been held in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Dallas, Washington, New York, Atlanta, and Chicago.
In Austin, Texas, police fired tear gas and pepper balls in a standoff with demonstrators on Monday.
Further demonstrations are set to take place in Austin this weekend, as well as in other parts of the state, including Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. In advance of those protests, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said he would deploy the National Guard to ensure they remain peaceful.
Reuters contributed to this report.