\n<\/p>\n
Marines are headed<\/span> to Los Angeles as the Trump administration ratchets up tensions that threaten to turn largely peaceful protests there into a full-blown crisis. It\u2019s a rare and aggressive step to involve active-duty troops in civilian law enforcement activities.<\/p>\n A defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, called the activation of the Marines a \u201cprovocation\u201d designed to foster to a \u201cmanufactured crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n Experts question the legality of the mobilization of the Marines.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> that bypassed Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s authority.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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\u00a0did so, U.S. Northern Command activated 700 Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, assigned to Twentynine Palms, California. They are being shipped out to support Task Force 51 \u2014 a deployable command post\u00a0<\/a>used in crisis response \u2014 \u201cwho are protecting federal personnel and federal property in the greater Los Angeles area,\u201d according to a statement issued by NORTHCOM. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe level of escalation is completely unwarranted, uncalled for, and unprecedented \u2014 mobilizing the best in class branch of the U.S. military against its own citizens,\u201d Newsom\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cMilitary presence is not needed. The state is already working with local partners to surge 800+ additional state and local law enforcement officers into Los Angeles<\/a> to clean up President Trump\u2019s mess,\u201d Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for Newsom, told The Intercept by email.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Experts say that the introduction of the Marines further strains civil-military relations and risks violation of the Posse Comitatus Act: a bedrock 19th-century law seen as fundamental to the democratic tradition in America. The Posse Comitatus Act bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is obviously an extreme escalation that is going to pour gasoline on an already combustible situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cThis is obviously an extreme escalation that is going to pour gasoline on an already combustible situation,\u201d said Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center\u2019s liberty and national security program. \u201cIt\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The Trump administration is attempting to justify its escalatory tactics by claiming people protesting<\/a> his anti-immigration agenda<\/a> constitute a rebellion or threaten to become one.<\/p>\n\n