About 700 Marines mobilized to support National Guard in Los Angeles

About 700 Marines have been mobilized to support National Guard members assigned to protect federal personnel and property in Los Angeles after a weekend of protests and violence.

Details about the Marines' role in Los Angeles, where protests over immigration enforcement operations turned violent over the weekend, and when they might be at federal properties in the city were not immediately available. The service members from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines based in Twentynine Palms, California, were placed on alert status over the weekend, according to U.S. Northern Command.

The military base is in the desert about 140 miles east of Los Angeles. Video showed what appeared to be military vehicles traveling west Monday afternoon on the 62 Freeway.

NBC News, citing defense officials, reported the Marines will be mobilized to Camp Pendleton near San Diego, which is about 90 miles south of Los Angeles. In a post later Monday on X, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the Marines were deployed from Camp Pendleton to Los Angeles.

Due to increased threats to federal law enforcement officers and federal buildings, approximately 700 active-duty U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton are being deployed to Los Angeles to restore order.

We have an obligation to defend federal law enforcement officers - even if Gavin…

— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) June 9, 2025

Mobilization, which can include different phases, involves the readying and assembling of forces for duty and could eventually lead to deployment. The mobilization is temporary until more California National Guard members arrive.

According to the sources who spoke with NBC News, the Marines will operate under three rules of force: self defense, defense of federal property and defense of federal personnel.

Marines with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, who were placed in an alert status over the weekend to support #USNORTHCOM mission, prepare to depart for the greater Los Angeles area June 9. pic.twitter.com/xUDw0byvqd

— U.S. Northern Command (@USNorthernCmd) June 9, 2025

Those are the same rules of force for the National Guard troops in Los Angeles.

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell responded Monday afternoon to the possibility of the deployment of Marines in Los Angeles.

"The arrival of federal military forces in Los Angeles -- absent clear coordination -- presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city," McDonnell said in a statement. "The Los Angeles Police Department, alongside our mutual aid partners, has decades of experience managing large-scale public demonstrations, and we remain confident in our ability to do so professionally and effectively. That said, our top priority is the safety of both the public and the officers on the ground. We are urging open and continuous lines of communication between all agencies to prevent confusion, avoid escalation, and ensure a coordinated, lawful, and orderly response during this critical time."

Gov. Gavin Newsom's press office called the mobilization "completely unwarranted."

"The level of escalation is completely unwarranted, uncalled for, and unprecedented -- mobilizing the best in class branch of the U.S. military against its own citizens," Gov. Gavin Newsom's press office said on X.

A senior White House official told NBC News that President Trump made the official call Monday to mobilize the Marines. The official reiterated that National Guard members and the Marines, if they are deployed, would support ICE and local police and not make arrests.

Law enforcement duties 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 whether he intends to.

In a rare move on Saturday, Trump ordered the deployment of 2,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles without a request from state or local officials. About 300 troops arrived early Sunday morning in downtown Los Angeles.

The decision immediately became a flashpoint between Trump and state and local officials, who have demanded that the White House return command of the Guard to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

California is seeking a court order declaring that Trump’s use of the National Guard was unlawful. Bonta is asking for a restraining order to halt the deployment, which began Sunday with the arrival of about 300 troops in downtown Los Angeles. More troops could be deployed this week.

On Monday, State Attorney General Rob Bonta said federalizing the California National Guard without a request from state and local leaders was an "abuse of the President's authority." He said state sovereignty was "trampled" by the move, which the White House announced Saturday after protests over recent immigration enforcement operations in Southern California turned violent.

Newsom, who typically only deploys the California National Guard upon request from local law enforcement, accused President Trump of trying to create a spectacle rather than acting on a "legitimate need." The governor said Sunday he had formally requested the Trump administration rescind their unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles county and return them to his command.

It appears to be the first time in decades that a state's National Guard was activated without a request from its governor. Trump's order authorized the deployment of 2,000 National Guard members for 60 days.

Trump has cited a legal provision that allows him to mobilize federal service members when there is "a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States."

Dozens of arrests were reported over the weekend, when cars were set on fire and some protesters blocked traffic by walking onto the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles. The demonstrations began late last week following recent immigration enforcement raids in Los Angeles.

In a post Monday on his social media site, President Trump said Los Angeles would have been "completely obliterated" otherwise. He said Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass should thank him.

Local law enforcement agencies responded to the weekend violence, mostly in downtown Los Angeles, that led to dozens of arrests. National Guard members were stationed at federal properties in Los Angeles, including the federal detention center in the downtown area.

The Insurrection Act and related laws were used during the Civil Rights era to protect activists and students desegregating schools. President Dwight Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock, Arkansas, to protect Black students integrating Central High School after that state’s governor activated the National Guard to keep the students out.

George H.W. Bush used the Insurrection Act to respond to riots in Los Angeles in 1992 after the acquittal of white police officers who were videotaped beating Black motorist Rodney King.

National Guard troops have been deployed for a variety of emergencies, including the COVID pandemic, hurricanes and other natural disasters. But generally, those deployments are carried out with the agreements of the governors of the responding states.