Trump Deploys Marines to a “Manufactured Crisis,” Defense Official Says

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 situation It s a rare and aggressive step to involve active-duty troops in civilian law enforcement exercises 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 emergency 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 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 He followed it up two days later with an even more extreme move While it is unclear under what authority Trump and the Defense Department did so U S Northern Command activated Marines from the nd Battalion th Marines st Marine Division assigned to Twentynine Palms California They are being shipped out to aid Task Force a deployable command post used in problem response who are protecting federal personnel and federal property in the greater Los Angeles area according to a announcement issued by NORTHCOM The level of escalation is altogether unwarranted uncalled for and unprecedented mobilizing the best in class branch of the U S military against its own citizens Newsom s office mentioned in a message Military presence is not needed The state is already working with local partners to surge additional state and local law enforcement officers into Los Angeles to clean up President Trump s mess Tara Gallegos a spokesperson for Newsom notified The Intercept by email Experts say that the introduction of the Marines further strains civil-military relations and risks violation of the Posse Comitatus Act a bedrock th-century law seen as fundamental to the democratic tradition in America The Posse Comitatus Act bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement This is obviously an extreme escalation that is going to pour gasoline on an already combustible situation This is obviously an extreme escalation that is going to pour gasoline on an already combustible situation disclosed Elizabeth Goitein senior director of the Brennan Center s liberty and national protection scheme It s almost inevitable that the Marines are going to be laying hands on civilians and exercising the kinds of coercive powers that would normally be illegal under the Posse Comitatus Act The Trump administration is attempting to justify its escalatory tactics by claiming people protesting his anti-immigration agenda constitute a rebellion or threaten to become one Related Trump s Dangerous Decision to Suppress Anti-ICE Protests With Troops The directive signed by Trump calling up the Guard cites U S C a provision within Title of the U S Code on Armed Services that allows the federal deployment of National Guard forces if there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Leadership of the United States Task Force is now comprised of approximately National Guard soldiers in a Title status and active-duty Marines according to NORTHCOM and have been trained in de-escalation crowd control and standing rules for the use of force The Marines have the same task and purpose as the National Guard declared another defense official who spoke with The Intercept on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely You can think of them as an additional force to do the same thing They just happen to be active-duty Marines But all of the troops in total who are doing this are all activated under Title Goitein disputes that Marines can be employed under the same authority as the National Guard Legally they can t rely on the same authority They re not in the same position legally she revealed Title U S C applies to the National Guard It doesn t apply to the active-duty armed forces Goitein also pointed to the cultural difference and the inhabitants perceptions that separate National Guard troops from the active-duty armed forces Active-duty troops like these Marines are full-time professional soldiers The National Guard at least historically have been citizen-soldiers who are in their communities during the week and training on weekends she reported The Intercept For Californians Los Angelenos who are facing these Marines it feels different and to several degree it is different A meager hundred of the National Guard troops called up to serve in Los Angeles are already in the city as federal agents and people protesting immigration raids faced off for a fourth day on Monday Protests as of the afternoon were largely orderly and peaceful Mobilizing Marines against their neighbors is a profoundly dangerous escalation This deployment is plainly illegal and it points to the reason why we have laws against these deployments in the first place Sara Haghdoosti the executive director of Win Without War advised The Intercept Not only is it an authoritarian power grab it also threatens the physical fitness of people exercising their constitutional rights to protest and to the moral medical of Marines now ordered to suppress those rights The post Trump Deploys Marines to a Manufactured Emergency Defense Official Says appeared first on The Intercept