About 500 U.S. Marines have been mobilized in response to the violent riots in Los Angeles, according to CNN.
Marines based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in California will coordinate with deputized National Guard troops.
As reported by CNN:
Roughly 500 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 National Guard troops that were activated by President Donald Trump over the weekend without the consent of California’s governor or the city’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 like making arrests unless Trump invokes the Insurrection Act.
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 so far.
The Marines are expected to relieve some of the Guard members who have been deployed to LA in the last two days, this person said.
Violent riots in Los Angeles escalated over the weekend in response to ICE raids.
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