Hundreds of Marines are being dispatched to Los Angeles to help quell the anti-ICE riots there, leading President Donald Trump to assure Americans that the situation is “now heading in the right direction.”
Over the weekend hundreds rioted, burning cars and throwing rocks as federal officers who were making arrests in connection with criminal cartel cases, not issues involving illegal immigration.
The Washington Examiner reported sources said about 500-700 Marines from nearby Camp Pendleton would be tasked with protecting federal property and personnel.
And, the report noted, various government officials explained to the Wall Street Journal that the Marines were being assigned to assist law enforcement in the city.
“An official speaking with the Wall Street Journal suggested that the Marines would not be directly engaging with protesters. The Marines, like the National Guard members already stationed in the city, cannot arrest protesters unless President Donald Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, with the president saying roughly an hour before the deployment that he did not consider the protests an insurrection, a reversal of a comment he made the night before that those protesting were ‘paid insurrectionists,’” the report said.
Trump said the situation now appears to be “well under control.”
“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,” he said.
The report noted the situation developed on Friday, and since had “spiraled out of control.”
Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier reacted to the idea of having Marines suppress violence in the city with the commented it was “deranged.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said riots and attacks on ICE facilities and federal officers actually were a national security threat.
“The @DeptofDefense is mobilizing the National Guard IMMEDIATELY to support federal law enforcement in Los Angeles,” he said in a post on X at the time. “And, if violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert.”
Fox News reported the addition of the Marines followed Trump’s dispatch of about 2,000 National Guardsmen to the riot-racked city over the weekend.