Pentagon deploys 700 Marines to Los Angeles to respond to immigration protests

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Pentagon deployed about 700 Marines to Los Angeles on Monday to help National Guard members respond to immigration protests, officials said, as California prepared to sue President Donald Trump over his use of the Guard troops and demonstrators took to the city's streets for a fourth day.

The Marines are being deployed from their base at Twentynine Palms in the Southern California desert to protect federal property and personnel, including federal immigration agents, US Northern Command said in a statement.

The Marines and National Guard troops are not expected to do law enforcement duties, which are prohibited under the Posse Comitatus Act. Trump has not invoked the Insurrection Act to allow them to do law enforcement. It is not clear if he intends to.

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement Monday afternoon he was confident in the police department's ability to handle large-scale demonstrations and that the Marines' arrival without coordinating with the police department presented a "significant logistical and operational challenge" for them.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the planned lawsuit over the use of National Guard troops by telling reporters that Trump had "trampled" the state's sovereignty.

"We don't take lightly to the president abusing his authority and unlawfully mobilising California National Guard troops" Bonta said. He planned to seek a court order declaring Trump's use of the Guard unlawful and asking for a restraining order to halt the deployment.

The arrival of the National Guard followed two days of protests that began Friday in downtown Los Angeles after federal immigration authorities arrested more than 40 people that day across the city.

The smell of smoke hung in the air downtown Monday, one day after crowds blocked 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 from neighbouring cities blocking the street in front of the federal detention facility that was a focus of the protests.

The clashes unfolded over just a few square blocks in an immense city of some 4 million people, most of whom went about their normal business on peaceful streets.

On Monday, thousands flooded the streets around City Hall for a union rally ahead of a hearing for arrested labour leader David Huerta, who was freed a few hours later on a $50,000 bond. Huerta's arrest on Friday while protesting immigration raids has become a rallying cry for people angry over the administration's crackdown. He is the president of the Service Employees International Union California, which represents thousands of the state's janitors, security officers and other workers.

Early protests Monday had a calm and even joyful atmosphere at times, with people dancing to live music and buoyed by Huerta's release.

Protesters linked hands outside the downtown federal detention centre where Huerta was being held, and at times sang in front of a line of police officers, who unsuccessfully asked people to move off the road and onto the sidewalk. Religious leaders joined the protesters, working with organizers at times to de-escalate moments of tension.

Chanting against a line of National Guard troops with Homeland Security officers behind them surrounding the federal buildings ramped up in the afternoon as people yelled, "Free them all!" and "National Guard go away."

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.

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."

US officials said about 1,000 National Guard members were in the city under federal orders by midday Monday. The full 2,000 members authorised 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.

Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom 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.

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."

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