Seven hundred U.S. Marines have been ordered to assist in Los Angeles, United States amid escalating protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a U.S. official confirmed Monday.
The Marines, from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines stationed at Twentynine Palms, California, are expected to arrive in the city within 24 hours.
The deployment follows earlier statements by the U.S. Northern Command on Sunday, which placed the unit on “prepared to deploy status” in case their presence was required by the Defense Department.
The confirmation came shortly after President Donald Trump was asked by ABC News whether he intended to send Marines to Los Angeles.
“We’ll see what happens,” the president replied.
“I mean, I think we have it very well under control,” Trump said. “I think it would have been a very bad situation. It was heading in the wrong direction. It’s now heading in the right direction.”
Unrest in Los Angeles intensified over the weekend as protesters clashed with law enforcement officers and set fire to vehicles in the downtown area.
The demonstrations, sparked by opposition to ICE enforcement activities, have prompted a federal military response.
President Trump had earlier deployed 2,000 National Guardsmen to the city to “address the lawlessness,” according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
However, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing it of unlawfully federalising the California National Guard and violating the state’s sovereignty.
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In a post on Truth Social, Trump warned demonstrators against acts of disrespect toward deployed forces.
“IF THEY SPIT, WE WILL HIT,” he wrote. “Such disrespect will not be tolerated!”
He added: “The Insurrectionists have a tendency to spit in the face of the National Guardsmen/women, and others. These Patriots are told to accept this, it’s just the way life runs. But not in the Trump Administration.”
Governor Newsom, responding to the president’s remarks, criticised the conditions faced by the guardsmen.
“You sent your troops here without fuel, food, water or a place to sleep,” he said.
“The guardsmen are forced to sleep on the floor, piled on top of one another,” Newsom wrote on social media. “If anyone is treating our troops disrespectfully, it is you @realDonaldTrump.”
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