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DHS chief Kristi Noem wants the US military directly involved in detaining and arresting protesters in Los Angeles, according to a letter sent to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The letter, first obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle, was authored by Noem prior to her meeting on Monday with Donald Trump and other top Cabinet officials concerning the unfolding demonstrations in Los Angeles.
It seemed to baselessly accuse some participants in the demonstrations as being part of “foreign terrorist organizations” as Noem requested “support [for] our law enforcement officers and agents across Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Federal Protective Services (FPS).”
Noem added that federal immigration authorities were supposedly facing “invasive, violent, insurrectionist mobs that seek to protect invaders and military-aged males belonging to identified foreign terrorist organizations, and who seek to prevent the deportation of criminal aliens.”
White House and DHS officials have not made such accusations publicly.
A DHS spokesperson told the Chronicle that “the posture of our brave troops has not changed”, seemingly indicating that the letter’s requests were not fulfilled. US troops do not have constitutional authority to make arrests, but an official told CBS News that members of the armed forces may "hold a rioter until police come to arrest them” if they witness an assault or another criminal act.
Trump’s order directing the National Guard to Los Angeles states that troops “may perform those military protective activities that the Secretary of Defense determines are reasonably necessary to ensure the protection and safety of Federal personnel and property”, but does not specifically grant arrest power.
Mostly centered around a federal building where detainees are believed to be held, demonstrations kicked off in the city last week after ICE raids began under new direction from the White House to target businesses and other public settings in broad sweeps — a departure from efforts to specifically identify persons with criminal backgrounds for deportation. The new direction came at the order of Stephen Miller, architect of Trump’s mass deportation plan.
Over the weekend the protests grew sporadically violent, with a number of Waymo self-driving cars torched and a handful of clashes between police and protesters. But city officials including LAPD’s chief have said that the addition of National Guard troops and Marines to fortify the federal building and other areas of the city is a needless escalation by the White House.
City officials have roundly condemned the Trump administration’s response to the unfolding unrest, while also vowing to hold protesters who commit criminal acts accountable.
“Let me be clear: ANYONE who vandalized Downtown or looted stores does not care about our immigrant communities. You will be held accountable,” Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass said on Tuesday.
But their responses haven’t made a dent in the criticism coming from the White House, as Trump and members of his administration continue to paint Democratic leadership in the city as ineffective, corrupt and focused on attacking Republicans over public safety. On Tuesdsay, the tension escalated as the president endorsed a threat issued by his “border czar”, Tom Homan, to order the arrest of California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.
Meanwhile, the president’s critics argue that his decision to lean on the military to suppress dissent in Los Angeles is a sign of the authoritarian bent of Trump’s second administration.
A Rolling Stone investigation published on Tuesday cited two sources with knowledge of the president’s conversations as saying that Trump was speaking to aides about identifying the earliest possible moment when it would be appropriate to send in federal troops for crime suppression efforts quickly after taking office in January.
The president himself this week also threatened a massive law enforcement response against any demonstrations that disrupt a military parade the White House putting on in Washington, D.C. this Saturday to mark the Army’s 250th anniversary.
