Trump faces harsh criticism as 700 US Marines to be deployed to LA

Protests against the Trump administration’s immigration raids continued on Monday in Los Angeles. While the demonstrations were mostly peaceful, incidental clashes with the local police occurred.

Despite tensions appearing to ease, Donald Trump made good on his threat to send more troops to curb LA protests. Around 700 Marines and 4,000 are said to have been mobilised, doubling the number of federal forces in the area.

US Marines are said to be deployed "temporarily," while reports indicate that Donald Trump does not plan to invoke the Insurrection Act, which was last used during the 1992 LA riots. When asked about the possibility of invoking the act in response to the current situation on the West Coast, Trump said: "Depends on whether or not there is an insurrection." However, an anonymous source close to the President stated that the situation was "fluid" and the President's plans might change.

Trump's decision to deploy US military personnel on US soil has been widely criticised. Governor of California Gavin Newsom's press office called the latest Trump decision "completely unwarranted, uncalled-for, and unprecedented," adding that "Trump is escalating this situation even further – deploying active duty Marines, the ‘best of the best,’ against their own countrymen in an American city. Completely unnecessary and only inflames the situation more." The Governor himself described Trump's actions as an "unmistakable step toward authoritarianism."

Rob Bonta, the California attorney general, declared that the state will file a lawsuit against Trump's administration for "unlawfully" deploying the state's National Guard troops.

The anti-ICE protests began to spread across the US. On Monday, demonstrations in Dallas, New York, and San Francisco went underway, while up to 30 protests in total are planned for the coming days across the country.

Source: The Guardian, NYT, ABC News