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Pete Hegseth Threatens to Send Marines to LA ICE Protests

The defense secretary said service members are “on high alert” at a base just an hour away from California’s largest city.

CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA - APRIL 23: U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivers remarks to students, faculty and staff at the U.S. Army War college on April 23, 2025 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The visit comes amid controversy following reports that Hegseth discussed sensitive military communications in an unsecured Signal chat for the second time with his wife, brother and others. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

By Will Neal

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has threatened to send the Marines to quell ongoing protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles.

Hegseth posted on X on that in addition to “mobilizing the National Guard IMMEDIATELY to support federal law enforcement” in California’s largest city, “active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized” if the violence continues.

“They are on high alert,” he added.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a meeting with Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz to the Pentagon in Washington, DC, May 27, 2025.

Defence Secretary Hegseth said Marines are standing by to respond to protests in Los Angeles.

Oliver Contreras / AFP via Getty Images

The Daily Beast has reached out to the Pentagon for further comment on Hegseth’s proposal.

The protests first erupted on Friday afternoon following a series of raids by ICE officials across the city, with police arresting dozens of demonstrators outside the downtown federal building where immigrants were being detained.

The White House has already dispatched an estimated 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the unrest, which continued through Saturday night.

US President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable discussion with the Fraternal Order of Police in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 5, 2025.

President Trump has already dispatched an estimated 2,000 National Guard members to the city to quell the demonstrations.

Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

Reuters reported that a number of protesters on Friday threw what appeared to be blocks of broken concrete at police, which were met with flash bangs, tear gas, and pepper spray.

Up to 400 people also gathered in the city of Paramount, Los Angeles County, on Saturday afternoon. Some threw rocks and other objects at law enforcement, with police firing “non-lethal munitions” in an effort to disperse the crowds, CBS reported.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 7: Protests and confrontations between immigration rights supporters and law enforcement are seen taking place in Paramount, California, and downtown Los Angeles, California, United States on June 7, 2025, following recent raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents. Demonstrators are seen using blockades and facing tear gas, flash bang grenades, and pepper ball shots, as rising tensions lead to damaged property across the affected areas. (Photo by Taurat Hossain/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Dozens of people have already been arrested amid the ongoing unrest.

Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images

One person was taken to a hospital not long after noon, with two others arrested for injuring peace officers, one of whom is accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail that struck three deputies.

At least one vehicle is also reported to have been torched in the neighbouring city of Compton. By evening, the crowds had again gathered outside the federal building in downtown Los Angeles, where they were again met with flash-bangs and tear gas, per CBS.

A man on a motorcycle waves a Mexican flag as smoke rises from a burning car on Atlantic Boulevard, during a standoff by protesters and law enforcement, following multiple detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in the Los Angeles County city of Compton, California, U.S., June 7, 2025.

Protests have been reported in downtown Los Angeles as well as the neighbouring cities of Paramount and Compton.

Barbara Davidson/Barbara Davidson/Reuters

“The violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal Law Enforcement are designed to prevent the removal of Criminal Illegal Aliens from our soil; a dangerous invasion facilitated by criminal cartels (aka Foreign Terrorist Organizations) and a huge NATIONAL SECURITY RISK,” Hegseth wrote.

A firework sent by protesters explodes near by the Los Angeles Sheriff Department officers during immigration protest on June 7, 2025 in Paramount, California.

The violence first broke out on Friday afternoon outside a downtown federal building where detained immigrants were being held.

Getty Images

He added that “it’s COMMON SENSE” that “violence & destruction against federal agencies & federal facilities will NOT be tolerated.”

LA Ice Protest, Donald Trump
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Trump himself has pushed baseless conspiracies about the unrest, claiming the “Radical Left protests” are being carried out by “paid troublemakers” while taking aim at California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for being “unable to to [sic] handle the task” of keeping the peace.

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