MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
For the fourth straight night, people in Los Angeles took to the streets to protest ICE immigration raids.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
President Trump is now sending hundreds of active-duty Marines into the city and an additional 2,000 National Guard troops, doubling the amount he mobilized over the weekend. Trump says it's to control the protests. California's governor and LA's mayor, both Democrats, are calling this an unnecessary escalation.
MARTIN: NPR's Adrian Florido is in Los Angeles and is with us now to tell us more about all this. Good morning, Adrian.
ADRIAN FLORIDO, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So what's the latest on these Marines heading into the city?
FLORIDO: Well, the Defense Department said it's bringing 700 active-duty Marines in from 29 Palms, a military base 150 miles east of LA. A defense official told NPR they will be working with the already deployed National Guard troops. So this is a combined 4,700 military troops being deployed to Los Angeles for what so far have been largely peaceful protests with flare-ups of violence and vandalism.
MARTIN: What do we know about what these Marines will be allowed to do?
FLORIDO: Well, for now, the Pentagon says that they will be working with the National Guard troops to protect federal buildings and federal agents carrying out immigration enforcement. It's uncertain how much more they can do. Federal law generally bars active-duty forces from domestic law enforcement unless the president invokes the Insurrection Act. Trump has not done that yet but has suggested that he could. He's already called these protesters insurrectionists.
MARTIN: So what's been the response of California's governor, Gavin Newsom, who is, as we said, a Democrat?
FLORIDO: Well, he's been saying since the weekend that the president is trying to sow chaos. He calls this escalation unneeded and provocative. He said local and state police have been able to handle protesters who have turned violent and that they've been working to keep the peace on the streets. But here's what Newsom said to Fox's LA affiliate, KTTV.
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GAVIN NEWSOM: That's not what Trump is after. He's not for peacemaking. He's here for war. He wants a civil war on the streets.
FLORIDO: Newsom filed suit, challenging Trump's decision to take over the state National Guard without his authorization and has said that he'll also sue over the deployment of the Marines. For his part, Michel, Trump yesterday endorsed the idea of arresting Gavin Newsom, which is an extraordinary thing to say about a sitting governor.
MARTIN: And so you've been talking to a lot of people who've been participating in these protests. What are they saying about these thousands of troops being sent into the city?
FLORIDO: A lot of them are saying they fear that these troops coming in will inflame tension on the streets even further, like Sandra Martinez. She was out peacefully protesting last night.
SANDRA MARTINEZ: They're going to make it worse. Look at what everybody's doing. People are just going to - riled (ph) up.
FLORIDO: LA Mayor Karen Bass, Michel, said that the Trump administration is trying to see how far it can go to take control away from cities and states.
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KAREN BASS: I don't think that our city should be used for an experiment to see what happens in the nation's second-largest city. Well, maybe we can do this to other cities.
FLORIDO: She called on ICE to end its raids in Los Angeles. She said it conducted at least five yesterday.
MARTIN: Adrian, before we let you go, I understand that these protests against ICE raids are now spreading to other cities.
FLORIDO: They are. There were protests in at least two dozen cities across the country yesterday, and officials in different places are starting to express concern that things could get out of hand if the Trump administration continues down this path. Last night, Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said the president is using the military as a political weapon, which Reed said could, quote, "turn a tense situation in LA into a national crisis."
MARTIN: That is NPR's Adrian Florido in Los Angeles. Adrian, thank you so much.
FLORIDO: Thank you, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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