Marines are seen standing guard at a federal building in Los Angeles

By AMY TAXIN, LOLITA C. BALDOR and JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Marines were seen standing guard outside a federal building in Los Angeles on Friday as they started to take over some posts from National Guard members after protests erupted last week over immigration raids and President Donald Trump deployed the troops to the city.

Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, the commander of Task Force 51 who is overseeing the 4,700 combined troops, said the Marines finished training on civil disturbance and are starting their operations by replacing Guard troops guarding the Wilshire Federal Building, which houses several federal offices. Guard soldiers can then be assigned to protect more law enforcement agents on raids, Sherman said.

About 200 Marines out of the 700 deployed to the protests are in the city, Sherman said. It’s unclear if the Marines will eventually provide security on raids.

Dozens of Marines were seen standing at the entrance to the 17-story Wilshire Federal Building midday Friday. They were wearing combat gear and carrying rifles as they mingled with Guard members, who have been checking IDs of people entering the parking lot.

It is the same building that Democratic U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla on Thursday was forcefully removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s news conference and handcuffed by officers as he tried to speak up about the immigration raids.

As the Trump administration targets migrants around the country for detainment and deportation, the raids have led to the arrests of asylum-seekers, people who overstayed their visas and migrants awaiting their day in immigration court.

The Marines are taking their posts a day after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked a federal judge’s order that had directed Trump to return control of Guard troops to California, shortly after a federal judge had ruled the Guard deployment was illegal, violated the Tenth Amendment, which defines power between federal and state governments, and exceeded Trump’s statutory authority.

Some 2,000 Guard troops have been in the city this week. Hundreds have provided protection to immigration agents making arrests. Another 2,000 Guard members were notified of deployment earlier this week.

None of the military troops will be detaining anyone, Sherman said.

“I would like to emphasize that the soldiers will not participate in law enforcement activities,” Sherman said. “Rather, they’ll be focused on protecting federal law enforcement personnel.”

Roughly 500 Guard members have been used to provide security on immigration raids after undergoing expanded instruction, legal training and rehearsals with the agents doing the enforcement before they go on those missions.

An 8 p.m. curfew has been in place in a 1-square-mile (2.5-square-kilometer) section of downtown. The city of Los Angeles encompasses roughly 500 square miles (1,295 square kilometers). Protests have ended after a few hours with arrests this week largely for failure to disperse. On the third night of the curfew, officers with the Department of Homeland Security deployed flash bangs to disperse a crowd that had gathered near a jail, sending protesters sprinting away.

As with the past two nights, the hours long demonstrations remained peaceful and upbeat, drawing a few hundred attendees who marched through downtown chanting, dancing and poking fun at the Trump administration’s characterization of the city as a “war zone.”

The protests began Friday after federal immigration raids arrested dozens of workers in Los Angeles. Protesters blocked a major freeway and set cars on fire over the weekend, and police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades.

Elsewhere, demonstrations have picked up across the U.S., emerging in more than a dozen major cities. Some have led to clashes with police, and hundreds have been arrested.

Demonstrations are expected over the weekend in cities across the United States, and governors are weighing what to do should Trump send troops to other states for immigration enforcement.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has called the troop deployment a “serious breach of state sovereignty” and a power grab by Trump, and he has gone to court to stop it. The president has cited a legal provision that allows him to mobilize federal service members when there is “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”

Under federal law, active-duty forces are prohibited by law from conducting law enforcement.

States face questions on deploying troops

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has put 5,000 Guard members on standby in cities where demonstrations are planned. In other Republican-controlled states, governors have not said when or how they may deploy troops.

A group of Democratic governors earlier signed a statement this week calling Trump’s deployments “an alarming abuse of power.”

The Trump administration has said the troops are necessary to protect federal officers and quell unrest.

In Los Angeles, troops work in shifts, and the public is likely to only see a few hundred out at a time, Sherman said.

Hundreds arrested in LA protests

So far, the protests have been centered mostly downtown near City Hall and a federal detention center where some immigrants are being held. Much of the sprawling city has been spared from the protests.

There have been about 500 arrests since Saturday, the vast majority of which were for failing to leave the area at the request of law enforcement, according to the police department.

There have been a handful of more serious charges, including for assault against officers and for possession of a Molotov cocktail and a gun. Nine officers have been hurt, mostly with minor injuries.

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Taxin reported from Santa Ana, California. Baldor contributed from Washington.