Tensions rise over Los Angeles protests

LOS ANGELES/WASHINGTON — The administration of US President Donald Trump on Monday ordered US Marines into Los Angeles and intensified raids on suspected undocumented immigrants, fueling more outrage from street protesters and Democratic leaders who raised concerns over a looming national crisis.

Some 700 Marines based in Southern California were expected to reach Los Angeles on Monday night or Tuesday morning, officials said, as part of a federal strategy to quell street demonstrations opposing the immigration raids, which are part of a signature effort of Trump's second term.

Although their mission to protect federal personnel and property is temporary, filling the gaps until a full contingent of 4,000 National Guard troops can reach Los Angeles, the deployment is an extraordinary use of military force in support of a police operation. It comes over the objection of state and local leaders who did not request help.

Meanwhile, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged to carry out even more operations to round up suspected immigration violators, extending a crackdown that provoked the protests. Trump officials have branded the protests as lawless and blamed state and local Democrats for permitting it and protecting undocumented immigrants with sanctuary cities.

The military and federal enforcement operations have further polarized the US' two major political parties as Trump, a Republican, threatened to arrest California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, for resisting the federal crackdown.

California sued the Trump administration to block the deployment of the National Guard and the Marines on Monday, arguing that it violates federal law and state sovereignty.

The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Jack Reed, said he was "gravely troubled" by Trump's deployment of active-duty Marines.

"The president is forcibly overriding the authority of the governor and mayor and using the military as a political weapon. This unprecedented move threatens to turn a tense situation into a national crisis," Reed said.

The announcement that Marines would be deployed was made on the fourth straight day of protests. Late on Monday, police began to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who gathered outside a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles where immigrants have been held. Police said arrests were being made.

The protests so far have resulted in a few dozen arrests and some property damage.

"What is happening affects every American, everyone who wants to live free, regardless of how long their family has lived here," said Marzita Cerrato, 42, a first-generation immigrant whose parents are from Mexico and Honduras.

Call for respect

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday urged the US authorities to follow the law on deportation proceedings and respect human dignity.

Sheinbaum read a statement on the Los Angeles protests at her daily morning news conference.

Television news reporter Lauren Tomasi was covering the ongoing protests in Los Angeles for Australia's Nine Network News on Sunday when she was shot in the leg with a rubber bullet fired by a police officer in the city's downtown district.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government has spoken with the US administration about the shooting.

Albanese on Tuesday described the footage of the incident, which was published by Nine and showed the officer taking aim at Tomasi and firing, as "horrific".

"We have already raised these issues with the US administration. We don't find it acceptable that it occurred. And we think that the role of the media is particularly important."

Protests also sprang up in at least nine other US cities on Monday, including New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco, according to local news outlets.

In Austin, Texas, police officers fired nonlethal munitions and detained several people as they clashed with a crowd of several hundred protesters.

Homeland Security said its Immigration and Customs Enforcement division has been arresting 2,000 immigration offenders per day in recent days, far above the 311 daily average in fiscal year 2024 under former president Joe Biden.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass opposed the clampdown, telling MSNBC, "This is a city of immigrants." Noem countered: "They are not a city of immigrants. They're a city of criminals."

Agencies - Xinhua