The U.S. secretary of defense has threatened to send active-duty Marines into the streets of Los Angeles to confront protesters opposing the administration’s detention and deportation of immigrants. At least three prominent Republicans don’t seem concerned about potential overreach.
“The [Department of Defense] is mobilizing the National Guard IMMEDIATELY to support federal law enforcement in Los Angeles. And, if violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert,” Hegseth wrote late Saturday on X, formerly Twitter, on his personal account.
This prompted ABC’s Jonathan Karl to ask House Speaker Mike Johnson: “Could we really see active duty Marines on the streets of Los Angeles?”
“One of our core principles is maintaining peace through strength,” Johnson said during an interview on Sunday’s episode of This Week. “We do that on foreign affairs and domestic affairs as well. I don’t think that’s heavy handed. I think that’s an important signal.”
“You don’t think sending Marines into the streets of an American city is heavy-handed?” Karl asked.
“We have to be prepared to do what is necessary, and I think the notice that that might happen might have the deterring effect,” Johnson said.
Active-duty military troops have not been sent in to suppress unrest since the 1992 Los Angeles protests after a jury acquitted four white police officers in the beating of Rodney King, a Black man who was pulled over for a traffic violation. The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits federal troops from engaging in civilian law enforcement unless there is a clear legal or constitutional basis for doing so. It was created to restrict the president’s ability to use the military against civilians. The exception to Posse Comitatus is the Insurrection Act, which Trump has not invoked.
Instead, Trump invoked Title 10 of the U.S. Code on Armed Services, which limits the troops’ actions to protecting federal officials rather than enforcing laws. Title 10 gives Trump authority to deploy the National Guard during “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States” and two other specific circumstances. Chris Mirasola of Lawfare wrote that Trump’s justification for using this authority is “factually contestable and, even on the face of the memorandum, unusually weak.”
Republican Sen. James Lankford on NBC’s Meet the Press argued that by deploying the National Guard, Trump is “trying to deescalate all the tensions that are there.” Newsom has said that Trump activating National Guard troops is “purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions”
“This is an American city, and to be able to have an American city where we have people literally flying Mexican flags and saying, ‘You cannot arrest us,’ cannot be allowed,” Lankford said on Sunday. “If someone violates the law, no matter what state that they’re in, they’re in violation of a federal law. They should face consequences for that.”
Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin also criticized protesters for carrying Mexican flags. “They were literally out there protesting, carrying a foreign flag. That is absolutely insane. They are not just peaceful protesters. These are illegals,” he said Sunday on State of the Union.
“Carrying a flag is not illegal, as you know,” CNN’s Dana Bash responded.
“Foreign flag while you’re attacking law enforcement, it’s pretty bad,” Mullin said.
Carrying a Mexican flag and saying “You cannot arrest us” is not a prosecutable offense. It is free speech protected by the First Amendment. And the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has been clear that anyone found destructing property will be arrested.
“Everyone has the right to peacefully assemble and voice their opinions,” LAPD posted on X. “However, vandalizing property and attempting to seriously injure officers, whether Federal or LAPD, is not peaceful.”
When Meet the Press host Kristen Welker pointed out to Lankford that “Governor Newsom says there is no unmet law enforcement need. The LAPD says the protests were peaceful,” the senator claimed that it is “clear” that the LAPD is “being overwhelmed.” (LAPD has not said they are overwhelmed.)
“This wouldn’t be an issue if California didn’t promote sanctuary city policies to be able to tell people literally, ‘You can violate federal law and live in our state, and no one will arrest you for this,’” Lankford said. “Now suddenly when they are arrested for federal crimes then suddenly they go into this kind of protest saying, ‘No, you can’t arrest us here. We’re immune from federal law.’ That’s not true.”
Here, Lankford is being misleading. Sanctuary city policies do not grant anyone immunity, they only limit how state and local resources are allocated to aid federal immigration enforcement. Under the Tenth Amendment, states have the right to allocate resources as they see fit, and states have used that amendment in court to justify not assisting with federal immigration raids.
It’s disturbing that prominent GOP lawmakers are signing on to the president’s use of authority to activate the National Guard — against a governor’s wishes — and signaling their agreement that deploying active duty Marines against civilians would be fine with them should Trump choose to do so.
“Don’t kid yourself they know they are absolutely getting cooked politically [with] their terrible bill and rising prices, and they want to create a violent spectacle to feed their content machine,” Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz posted on X late Saturday. “It’s time for the mainstream media to describe this authoritarian madness accurately.”
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