More than 700 Marines based out of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in California have been mobilized to respond to the protests in Los Angeles, according to three people familiar with the matter, and will join the thousands of National Guard troops who were activated by President Donald Trump over the weekend without the consent of California’s governor or LA’s mayor.
The deployment of the full Marine battalion marks a significant escalation in Trump’s use of the military as a show of force against protesters, but it is still unclear what their task will be once in LA, the sources said. Like the National Guard troops, they are prohibited from conducting law enforcement activity such as making arrests unless Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, which permits the president to use the military to end an insurrection or rebellion of federal power.
US Northern Command said Sunday that 500 Marines from 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines were put on prepare to deploy orders, but one of the people familiar said Monday that the entire battalion was prepared to deploy and has been mobilized.
One of the people familiar with the Marine mobilization said they will be augmenting the guard presence on the ground in LA. Over 2,000 members of the California National Guard have been activated by the president, but only about 300 have been deployed to the streets of LA so far. Those initial 300 people were on a routine National Guard drill weekend when they were mobilized, which is why they were able to arrive so quickly, the person familiar said; it can take up to 72 hours for other guardsmen to be mobilized. The Marines are expected to bolster some of the guard members who have been deployed to LA in the last two days, this person said.
And while the person familiar stressed that the Marines were being deployed only to augment the forces already there, the image of US Marines mobilizing inside the United States will stand in contrast to National Guardsmen who more routinely respond to domestic issues. While some Marines have been assisting in border security at the southern border, one US official said Marines have not been mobilized within the US like they are in California now since the 1992 riots in Los Angeles.
While the Marines’ tasks have not been specified publicly, they could include assignments like crowd control or establishing perimeter security. Lawyers within the Defense Department are also still finalizing language around the use-of-force guidelines for the troops being mobilized, but the person familiar said it will likely mirror the military’s standing rules of the use of force.
This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.
The-CNN-Wire
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