Pentagon to deploy about 700 Marines to Los Angeles

The U.S. military is set to temporarily move about 700 Marines to Los Angeles, further increasing military presence in the city after the Trump administration ordered 2,000 California National Guard troops there over the weekend, U.S. Northern Command announced Monday.

The command has activated the Marine infantry battalion that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth placed on prepare to deploy orders over the weekend amid ongoing protests against raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a Northcom statement.

Approximately 700 Marines with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, based out of Twentynine Palms in California, “will seamlessly integrate” with the National Guard troops already deployed to Los Angeles to protect federal personnel and property, Northcom said.

The command noted that the Marines had been “trained in de-escalation, crowd control, and standing rules for the use of force.”

Hegseth in a post on X later noted the deployment, attributing it to increased threats to federal officers and buildings.

"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," he wrote before taking a shot at California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

"We have an obligation to defend federal law enforcement officers - even if Gavin Newsom will not," he concluded.

It is not clear if the Marines will actually be placed on the ground or if they will remain on standby, though Newsom's press office said it was their understanding that the service members are not being deployed as there is a difference between that and being mobilized.

In a statement posted to X, Newsom's press office also bashed the movement of Marines as “mobilizing the best in class branch of the U.S. military against its own citizens.”

“The level of escalation is completely unwarranted, uncalled for, and unprecedented,” the office added.

The move is likely to further inflame tensions between California officials and the Trump administration, which have locked horns over how to respond to protests in Los Angeles and surrounding suburbs against federal immigration raids.

President Trump has insisted the deployment - only the second time in the past 60 years that a U.S. president has mobilized a state’s National Guard troops without the consent of its governor - is necessary to stop protests against ICE.

“The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators. They’re insurrectionists. They’re bad people. They should be in jail,” Trump told reporters on Monday.

Trump also on Monday said he’d support the arrest of Newsom.

But Newson has accused the Pentagon of “lying to the American people” in justifying deploying service members within the state, asserting that the situation intensified only when the U.S. military deployed troops.  

Newsom has formally demanded the Trump administration pull the National Guard troops off the streets, and California has sued the Trump administration over what its officials say is an “unlawful” deployment.

This story was updated at 6:31 p.m.