Congressional Republicans have offered a disturbing lack of pushback to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggesting that active-duty Marines could be sent to quell immigration enforcement protests in Los Angeles.
“I don’t think that’s heavy-handed,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said when asked about Hegseth’s proposal on ABC News’s “This Week.”
Hegseth raised the idea in a post on X Saturday evening, writing, “If violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized.” His remarks come after President Donald Trump ordered National Guard troops to Los Angeles on Saturday, a move that’s not typically made without the support of a state’s governor, which he does not currently have. The White House has claimed that it took this step because it’s addressing violence at these protests that targeted ICE offices and agents, while California leaders have said that they don’t need the troops.
The deployment of active-duty Marines would be another major escalation and a move that’s rarely employed by a president in response to protests.
“The deployment of active-duty troops under federal authority in response to civil unrest is a rare step, one that usually requires the president to find under the Insurrection Act that they are needed to enforce the law or restore order,” write The Wall Street Journal’s Eliza Collins and Nancy A. Youssef. “The George H.W. Bush administration deployed US Marines to help restore order after violent protests erupted in California in the wake of the 1992 acquittal of four police officers in the beating of Rodney King…[marking] the last invocation of the Insurrection Act.”
During Trump’s first term, Defense Secretary Mark Esper stated that active duty military should only be used to respond to protests in “the most urgent and dire of situations,” and that “we are not in one of those situations now,” breaking with the president.
Rather than criticizing Hegseth’s post about Marines, however, Johnson and other Republicans have either been open to the idea or declined to denounce it.
“You don’t think sending Marines into the streets of an American city is heavy handed?” ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl asked Johnson. “We have to be prepared to do what is necessary and I think the notice that that might happen might have the deterring effect,” Johnson responded.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) also declined to repudiate the idea directly, when asked about it on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Instead, he said “it won’t be necessary,” because the National Guard’s response will be sufficient.
And Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) downplayed the role of the Marines in a possible response without rejecting Hegseth’s statement out of hand.
“Active-duty Marines are not going to be put into local law enforcement,” Lankford said on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.” “They would be in support roles on it, as we have at the border. We have active-duty military at the border, but they’re not doing law enforcement tasks. They’re doing logistical tasks behind the scenes.”
“Local law enforcement should take care of this, but again when you’re seeing burning cars and federal law enforcement and law enforcement being attacked on the streets…we want to make sure those protests don’t spiral out of control,” Lankford said.
Democrats have emphasized that Trump’s use of the National Guard is only adding tension in Los Angeles, and have been incredulous at the possibility of active-duty military being sent in as well.
“The Secretary of Defense is now threatening to deploy active-duty Marines on American soil against its own citizens,” Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote in a Sunday post on X. “This is deranged behavior.”