200 Marines moved to LA to relieve Guard troops amid California legal standoff
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- 200 Marines deployed to guard LA federal building amid National Guard dispute
- Court paused judge's order to return California Guard control to Gov. Newsom
- Marines trained in civil unrest protocols; not authorized for law enforcement
Roughly 200 Marines were sent into Los Angeles on Friday to protect a federal building, replacing some National Guard troops stationed there, according to the military commander overseeing the federal deployments in the city.
The Marines have completed training in handling civil unrest, the Associated Press reported, and were expected to begin guarding the Wilshire Federal Building at noon.
Their arrival came the morning after a federal appeals court paused a judge’s order that President Donald Trump return control of the California National Guard to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Newsom had sued to challenge the president’s unusual deployment of the Guard. The order set a compliance deadline of noon Friday, but a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked it Thursday night, allowing Trump to maintain command.
Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, the commander in charge of the military presence in the south state, dubbed Task Force 51, announced the 200 Marines’ move in a virtual Defense Department briefing, a spokesperson for U.S. Northern Command said.
“I would like to emphasize that the soldiers will not participate in law enforcement activities. Rather, they’ll be focused on protecting federal law enforcement personnel,” Sherman said, according to the AP.
Despite the repeated assurances, troops stationed outside the Westwood facility detained an Army veteran in the afternoon, according to the Los Angeles Times and other media outlets. Northern Command confirmed the incident, which occurred near the intersection of Wilshire and Sepulveda boulevards.
Images taken by a Reuters photographer showed Marines restraining the man with zip ties before turning him over to Department of Homeland Security officials. The man, identified as 27-year-old Marcos Leao, said he was trying to access the Veterans Affairs office inside the building and bypassed a Marine checkpoint marked with yellow tape.
Leao said he was told to return behind the tape and to get on the ground when he did not comply. “It worked pretty natural,” he told the Times after being released, adding that the troops “believed I wasn’t following orders.”
U.S. Northern Command said in a statement that Title 10 forces “may temporarily detain an individual in specific circumstances,” but only until they can be handed over to civilian law enforcement.
The White House and Trump administration officials ordered the deployment of 4,000 Guard members without Newsom’s approval to quell protests over his administration’s deportation policies. A day after, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the battalion from the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms.
In a congressional hearing earlier in the week, Defense Department officials estimated the 60-day operation for all personnel would cost $134 million.
During arguments over the deployments Thursday before Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, attorneys for the state said they believed about 140 Marines were scheduled to relieve Guard troops within the next 24 hours.
The Marines protecting the Westwood complex account for only some of the 700 Marines activated for training in domestic use-of-force rules and crowd control. Video from news outlets include KABC-TV in Los Angeles showed training taking place through the week at Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach in Orange County.
The personnel arrived the day before demonstrations under the slogan “No Kings” are planned in over 1,800 locations nationwide, including L.A. and outside the California state Capitol in downtown Sacramento.
>>> LIVE UPDATES: FOLLOW THE NO KINGS PROTEST AT THE STATE CAPITOL <<<
This story was originally published June 13, 2025 at 12:32 PM.
