More than 350 Marines are expected to enter and take up positions within the city of Los Angeles today, as the Trump administration continues to deploy military forces to the city in response to the protests and clashes of the previous days against anti-immigrant raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) against immigrants.  

According to international media reports, the first 350 marines arrived and deployed yesterday, and the rest are expected to arrive today.

Together, they will assist the approximately 4000 National Guard soldiers whose primary mission is to suppress the demonstrations, which according to state authorities and the Municipality, are largely peaceful.

Local officials say the protests are peaceful

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told KABC that more than 100 people were arrested on Monday, but that the majority of protesters were nonviolent.

Trump justified his decision to deploy active-duty military personnel to Los Angeles by describing the protests as a violent occupation, a characterization that both Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass have said is exaggerated.

Newsom accused Trump of sending in troops to deliberately inflame the situation and said the president's actions made it difficult for local law enforcement to respond to the protests.

In a social media post on Tuesday morning, Trump said Los Angeles would be burning to the ground right now if he hadn't sent troops to the city.

The cost and duration of Marine deployment

US Defense Secretary Pete Hessgetth also intervened in the discussion, arguing that the deployments of Marines and National Guard troops to Los Angeles are necessary to protect ICE officers.

As he stated: We believe that ICE agents should be able to be safe while performing their duties, and we have deployed the National Guard and Marines to protect them for that reason.

As he added: We need to be able to enforce immigration law in this country.

Democrats on the House Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees Pentagon spending, also asked Hesketh for answers about the cost of the mission. According to what has been announced, the Marines' deployment to Los Angeles will cost $134 million and last 60 days.

Reactions

Trump's deployment of Marines has escalated his standoff with Newsom, who filed a lawsuit Monday alleging that Trump's activation of National Guard troops without the governor's consent was illegal. The deployment of the National Guard was the first time in decades that a president had done so without a request from a sitting governor.

The use of active-duty soldiers to deal with political unrest is extremely rare.

This is not about public safety, Newsom wrote in X on Monday. It is about petting the ego of a dangerous president.

The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Jack Reed, said he was seriously concerned about Trump's deployment of active-duty Marines.

"Since the founding of our nation, the American people have been absolutely clear: we do not want the military conducting law enforcement on U.S. soil," he said.

US Marines train for conflicts around the world - from the Middle East to Africa - and are also used for rapid deployment in the event of emergencies, such as threats against US embassies.