Marines deployed to Los Angeles will start their mission of guarding federal buildings on Friday. National Guard soldiers who were already in the area will transition to protecting local law enforcement, the commander of the mission announced.
“I would like to emphasize that the soldiers will not participate in law enforcement activities. Rather, they’ll be focused on protecting federal law enforcement personnel,” Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, commander of Task Force 51, the name of the military’s mission in LA, told reporters Friday.
President Donald Trump federalized 2,000 California National Guard soldiers from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team on June 7 to protect federal buildings and law enforcement as protests against U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement operations erupted in downtown LA last weekend. Two days later, Trump ordered the mobilization of 2,000 more Guardsmen troops, led by the 49th Military Police Brigade, and 700 Marines from 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment.
The Marines arrived at the Wilshire Federal Building in LA on Thursday night where they received “left seat, right seat leader familiarization training” with the 79th Infantry Brigade soldiers. The Marines will take over building protection operations at noon Pacific time. U.S. Northern Command said that Marines were at the Wilshire Federal Building at Sepulveda and Wilshire boulevards, approximately 13 miles West of the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles.
There are currently 2,000 troops in LA as part of the Task Force 51 mission, Sherman said, but did not specify at the press briefing where the remaining troops are.
Sending Marines into a major city like Los Angeles to assist with law enforcement is uncommon. The mission is unusual for Marines, particularly a unit like 2/7, which is known for its combat role, and has raised concerns about their participation in law enforcement and use of force. Marines were last deployed to LA in 1992 to help quell riots that erupted after police were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King.
“The United States Marine Corps, as you know, they’re the ones who guard our embassies worldwide, and they are certainly trained on how to defend a federal building,” Sherman said. “That’s the mission that we’ve really focused on them to do, and that’s what they will be doing here. They’ve already started with the Wilshire building today, and we will progress from there.”
Sherman said soldiers or Marines have not been involved in temporary detentions but have “watched” as federal law enforcement make arrests.
While all of the troops are mobilized with their assigned weapons and have crowd control gear, which includes helmets, face shields, shields, batons and gas masks, Sherman said they “strictly” use it for crowd control and to “hold people away as the federal agents are doing their job.”
Sherman said that Marine Corps lawyers did a “complete comprehensive” review of the standing rules of force for all of the soldiers and Marines in LA. Service members typically receive this training “before they ever go on the mission,” which includes de-escalation techniques and the proper use of crowd control, he added.
The military is paying money to contract building latrines, showers, hand washing stations, food service, full laundry service, bulk ice and bulk fuel for the troops in LA, Sherman said, adding that they have “adequate shelter, food and water.”
The National Guard Bureau told Task & Purpose that if the mission is over 30 days, the orders that the soldiers will be serving under will include basic allowances for housing and food.
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