Hundreds of US Marines arrived in the Los Angeles area on Tuesday under orders from President Donald Trump. Their deployment coincided with the city’s mayor declaring a curfew for parts of downtown and police arresting 197 people on the fifth consecutive day of street protests.
As the presence of US Marines ratcheted up tensions in America’s second-largest city, California’s governor issued a warning that “democracy is under assault.”
Trump’s extraordinary measures of deploying National Guard and Marines to quell protests, which initially erupted in response to his immigration raids, fueled demonstrations for a fifth day in Los Angeles and sparked protests in several other cities.
While Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom traded vehement criticisms, the city’s mayor indicated that the protests were largely confined to about five downtown streets. However, a curfew was declared for parts of the downtown area due to instances of violence and looting. Police reported arresting another 197 people on Tuesday, more than doubling the total number of arrests made to date.
Democratic leaders have expressed growing concern over what has become a national crisis—the most intense flashpoint yet in the Trump administration’s efforts to deport undocumented migrants and then crack down on opponents who take to the streets in protest.
“This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers and even our National Guard at risk. That’s when the downward spiral began,” Newsom stated in a video address. He continued, “He again chose escalation. He chose more force. He chose theatrics over public safety. … Democracy is under assault.”
Newsom, widely perceived as preparing for a presidential bid in 2028, has characterized the federal troop deployments as an illegal waste of resources. He and the state of California filed a lawsuit against Trump and the Defense Department on Monday, seeking to block the deployment of federal troops. Trump, in turn, has suggested that Newsom should be arrested.
Trump, who was re-elected last year largely on his promise to deport undocumented immigrants, used a speech honoring soldiers on Tuesday to defend his decision. Addressing troops at the Army base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, he declared: “Generations of Army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third-world lawlessness.”
“What you’re witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and on national sovereignty, carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags,” Trump said, adding that his administration would “liberate Los Angeles.” Demonstrators have been seen waving the flags of Mexico and other countries in solidarity with migrants rounded up in a series of intensifying raids.
Homeland Security reported on Monday that its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division had recently arrested 2,000 immigration offenders per day, a significant increase from the 311 daily average in fiscal year 2024 under former President Joe Biden.
Unrest in the Streets
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced a curfew for a one-square-mile (2.5 square kilometers) area of downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday. The curfew is set to run from 8 pm to 6 am local time (0300 to 1300 GMT) for several days. Five minutes before the curfew took effect, hundreds of protesters faced police with their hands raised, chanting “peaceful protest.”
Despite the mixed nature of the protests, state and local officials have largely called Trump’s response an extreme overreaction to what they described as mostly peaceful demonstrations. Mayor Bass emphasized at a press conference the distinction between the majority of peaceful demonstrators and a smaller number of agitators whom she blamed for instigating violence and looting.
A curfew had been under consideration for several days, but Bass stated her decision to impose one after 23 businesses were looted on Monday night. Council member Ysabel Jurado, who represents the affected area, told reporters, “When these peaceful rallies end, and the protesters head home, another element moves in: opportunists, who come in under the cover of a peaceful protest to ravage and destroy.”
As the mayor and the council member spoke, police and protesters were engaged in skirmishes outside. In what has become a daily ritual, police forced demonstrators away from the streets outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where many detained migrants are held. Multiple groups of protesters snaked through downtown Los Angeles, continuously monitored or followed by police armed with less-lethal munitions.
Protests also extended to other cities, including New York, Atlanta, and Chicago, where demonstrators shouted at officers and engaged in minor scuffles. Some protesters climbed onto the Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza, while others chanted for ICE to be abolished. Christina Berger, 39, expressed heartbreak over reports of children fearing separation from their families due to immigration raids, adding, “I just want to give some hope to my friends and neighbors.”
Marines at the Ready
Approximately 700 Marines were in a staging area in the Seal Beach region, about 30 miles (50 km) south of Los Angeles, awaiting deployment to specific locations, a US official confirmed. Another US official stated that there were 2,100 National Guard troops in the Los Angeles area on Tuesday, constituting more than half of the 4,000 total to be activated. Both the Marines and National Guard troops lack the authority to make arrests and are tasked solely with protecting federal property and personnel.
Despite this limited authority, California Attorney General Rob Bonta told Reuters that the state was concerned about allowing federal troops to protect personnel, citing a risk that it could violate an 1878 law that generally forbids the US military, including the National Guard, from participating in civilian law enforcement. “Protecting personnel likely means accompanying ICE agents into communities and neighborhoods, and protecting functions could mean protecting the ICE function of enforcing the immigration law,” Bonta explained.
On Tuesday, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement posted photos on X showing National Guard troops accompanying ICE officers on an immigration raid. Trump administration officials have vowed to intensify immigration raids in response to the street protests.
