Troops in Los Angeles

The Marines are heading to Los Angeles. The Trump administration deployed a battalion of 700 to the city, along with 2,000 additional National Guard troops, in response to days of protests in the city. The demonstrations were more limited last night, and state officials criticized Trump’s orders.

“This is a provocation, not just an escalation,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in an interview with The Times. “This is intended to sow more fear, more anger, and to further divide.”

The Pentagon did not make clear why it would need more National Guard troops in the city. The state has also sued to block the use of the National Guard. And Democrats expressed alarm about the arrival of Marines. As our colleagues explain in this article, American military troops are supposed to be used inside the U.S. only in the rarest and most extreme situations.

Strangely, even as his administration deployed the armed forces, Trump said the situation in Los Angeles had already calmed down. “It’s still simmering a little bit,” he told reporters at the White House yesterday afternoon. “But not very much.”

The police and small groups of protesters clashed in the Little Tokyo neighborhood yesterday, where the L.A.P.D. made arrests, and used tear gas to disperse crowds. But there generally seemed to be fewer clashes between protesters and police officers. So far, the National Guard appears to have largely stayed out of those confrontations.

ICE’s escalation