Authorities across the US are bracing for more demonstrations, as troops mobilize in several states and spreading protests show no sign of slowing.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Thursday he had ordered more than 5,000 National Guard troops to be “strategically positioned” to assist law enforcement in his state.
President Donald Trump’s tough anti-immigration measures have triggered widespread unrest from the West Coast to the East Coast.
The civil disobedience that kicked off in Los Angeles have spread nationwide, now reaching other cities across the US, most notably Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and New York.
The military said some 700 US Marines deployed to Los Angeles by Trump would be on the city streets by Thursday or Friday.
The Marine Corps will be in addition to thousands of National Guard troops already summoned to suppress the mostly peaceful protests.
The troops and Marines deployed to Los Angeles have told friends and family members they are deeply unhappy about the assignment and worry their only meaningful role will be as pawns in a political battle they do not want to join.
Three different advocacy organizations representing military families said they had heard from dozens of affected service members who expressed discomfort about being drawn into a domestic policing operation outside their normal field of operations.
“The sentiment across the board right now is that deploying military force against our own communities isn’t the kind of national security we signed up for,” said Sarah Streyder of the Secure Families Initiative, which represents the interests of military spouses, children and veterans.
“Families are scared not just for their loved ones’ safety, although that’s a big concern, but also for what their service is being used to justify.”
Trump has taken the unusual step of ordering 4,000 national guard members to Los Angeles without the consent of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom.
Earlier this week, he also activated 700 Marines for deployment to Los Angeles, which he claimed was in danger of burning to the ground.
In reality, the anti-Trump protests – called first in response to aggressive federal roundups of undocumented immigrants, then in anger at the national guard deployment – have been largely peaceful and restricted to just a few blocks around downtown federal buildings.
Newsom has described the deployment as “a provocation, not just an escalation” and accused the White House of mistreating the service members it was activating.
The protests started last Friday after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) agents launched a series of raids, while Trump called in the National Guard and then the Marines to clamp down on protesters.
His critics say he has only escalated anti-immigration tensions with his unwarranted deployment of federal troops to Los Angeles.
A federal court hearing was scheduled on Thursday on whether the government can use the National Guard and Marines to enforce Trump’s anti-immigration policy.
Across the United States, street protests have been staged in cities including New York, Chicago and Washington.
Police have arrested hundreds of protesters in recent days as the protests take place in New York, Illinois, Georgia, Texas and Washington, among other places such as Raleigh in North Carolina, Eugene in Oregon, St. Louis in Missouri, Indianapolis in Indiana, and San Antonio in Texas.
