Marines are headed to Los Angeles as the Trump administration ratchets up tensions that threaten to turn largely peaceful protests there into a full-blown crisis. It’s a rare and aggressive step to involve active-duty troops in civilian law enforcement activities.
A defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, called the activation of the Marines a “provocation” designed to foster to a “manufactured crisis.”
Experts question the legality of the mobilization of the Marines.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump took the already extraordinary action of calling up more than 2,000 National Guard troops to tamp down demonstrations in California. In doing so, he exercised rarely used federal powers that bypassed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s authority.
Two of my sister’s close friends are Marines and just happened to be training in California when all this started. They got sent to LA and are very upset about it. These kids only joined the military to get their education paid for. They’re only 22.
They might need this. They weren’t sent by Congress and the Constitution doesn’t say the president can deploy active duty military to uphold the law. 18 U.S.C. § 1385 These are illegal orders but I’m just a USMC vet online so I’d suggest at least informing them of the hotline so they can make their decisions with the proper knowledge.
I’ll have my sister send this to them. Thank you so much.