Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith said Tuesday he has not had direct contact with Los Angeles Police Department leadership or California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) regarding the deployment of 700 Marines to the city amid immigration raid protests.
Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Smith said the active-duty battalion is in Los Angeles but has not yet been called into action to protect federal property and federal personnel.
The Pentagon ordered the Marines to the city Monday to join the more than 4,100 National Guard troops meant to halt largely peaceful protests of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raids. Some protesters have thrown projectiles at police and set cars on fire.
“I can’t speak to what [U.S. Northern Command] has coordinated. The Marines there are under the auspices of the U.S. Northern Command,” Smith said in response to questions from Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.).
“Well, I’d be interested to know if anyone has … just picked up the phone so that we can try and have two groups of people who are, in theory, trying to do the same thing, coordinating,” Slotkin replied.
The Associated Press reported that Pentagon leadership was scrambling Monday to establish rules to guide Marines sent to Los Angeles regarding the use of force against U.S. citizens on American soil.
In a statement released Monday, Northern Command said the Marines have been trained in de-escalation, crowd control and standing rules for the use of force.
But the forces, highly trained to be deployed in combat and crisis response in the likes of the Middle East and Africa, will face a very different role in responding to American protesters.
Smith said the Marines have received “in excess of two hours” of training on the use of less than lethal force in cities, or crowd control, and that they would have shields and batons as their equipment.
He noted the Marines “do not have arrest authority” and “are there to protect federal property and federal personnel.”
Under the Posse Comitatus Act, U.S. service members are barred from policing citizens on American soil.
Slotkin said she was worried the Marine deployment could damage the U.S. military’s reputation in the country.
“The idea that an apolitical military, which we all should cherish and value, are now going to be thrown into a situation that they’re scrambling to participate in, where the LAPD says, ‘We don’t need them,’ to create a dramatic story — I’m worried about what that will say about the US military,” Slotkin said.
Earlier in the hearing, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said he was “deeply concerned” that National Guard troops and Marines would be used for law enforcement and crowd control, saying “it threatens our civil rights and civil liberties.”
The Senate Democrat also worried the Marines could use force resulting in injuries and deaths to civilians, prompting Smith to say he was not concerned about such an outcome.
“I am not concerned. I have great faith in my Marines and their junior leaders and their more senior leaders to execute the lawful tasks that they are given,” he said.
The deployment of the Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles has angered city and state leaders who have called the actions an unnecessary and inflammatory move by the Trump administration.
Newsom has claimed the Guard members have not been provided fuel, food or water by the Defense Department, with photographs circulating on social media that show troops sleeping on the floor of government buildings.
On Tuesday, Guard troops were largely seen standing idle near military vehicles on quiet streets.
The deployments are expected to cost about $134 million just to cover temporary duty travel costs such as getting to the city, housing and food, Pentagon acting comptroller Bryn MacDonnell said at a separate House Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing Tuesday.
