Hegseth warns US Marines on 'high alert' to be deployed in LA riots
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has issued a stark warning, threatening the deployment of active-duty Marines in Los Angeles amid ongoing riots against ICE.(Image: AP)Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has issued a stark warning, threatening the deployment of active-duty Marines in Los Angeles amid ongoing riots against ICE. Hegseth voiced his stern threat on X late Saturday evening.
"The violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal Law Enforcement are designed to prevent the removal of Criminal Illegal Aliens from our soil," penned Hegseth. "A dangerous invasion facilitated by criminal cartels (aka Foreign Terrorist Organizations) and a huge NATIONAL SECURITY RISK.
Article continues below"Under President Trump, violence and destruction against federal agents and federal facilities will NOT be tolerated," he continued. "It's COMMON SENSE."
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Hegseth voiced his stern threat on X late Saturday evening.(Image: Getty Images)Further escalating the issue, Hegseth announced, "The @DeptofDefense is mobilizing the National Guard IMMEDIATELY to support federal law enforcement in Los Angeles."
He went on to detail that, "And, if violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized - they are on high alert.", reports the Mirror US.
California Governor Gavin Newsom lashed out at the threat. He wrote on Instagram: "The Secretary of Defense is now threatening to deploy active-duty Marines on American soil against its own citizens. This is deranged behaviour."
"The violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal Law Enforcement are designed to prevent the removal of Criminal Illegal Aliens from our soil," penned Hegseth.(Image: AP)This tough stance from the Defense Secretary comes just after Newsom released his own statement about the situation earlier in the day. "The federal government is taking over the California National Guard and deploying 2,000 soldiers in Los Angeles - not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle," claimed the governor.
"Do not give them one," he urged. "Never use violence. Speak out peacefully."
This tough stance from the Defense Secretary comes just after California Governor Gavin Newsom released his own statement about the situation. (Image: AP)White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to Newsome's tweet, stating, "Illegal criminal aliens and violent mobs have been committing arson, throwing rocks at vehicles, and attacking federal law enforcement for days."
She went on to say, "Gavin Newsom has done nothing to stop this violence.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to Newsome's tweet(Image: AP)"He should be thanking President Trump for bringing law and order to California - a basic value that Newsom and his fellow Democrats have failed to uphold," Leavitt added. In a fiery statement, Leavitt accused Democrat leaders of "completely abdicating their responsibility to protect their citizens.
"In recent days, violent mobs have attacked ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles, California," Leavitt stated. "These operations are essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States.
"In the wake of this violence, California's feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens," she continued. "That is why President Trump has signed a Presidential Memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester.
"The Commander-in-Chief will ensure the laws of the United States are executed fully and completely," she concluded. Trump's order to send in the National Guard follows a clash between anti-ICE protesters and authorities after demonstrations at a federal detention center where police fired tear gas and flash-bangs, also detaining a union leader.
The unrest caught the attention of Trump, who vented his frustrations on Truth Social, blasting California's state and local leadership.
"If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can't do their jobs, which everyone knows they can't, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem," Trump posted, calling for a forceful response to the "RIOTS and LOOTERS, the way it should be solved."
Reports emerged depicting border patrol agents in riot gear and gas masks holding positions outside an industrial park in Paramount, with further accounts of agents releasing tear gas into the crowd of spectators and protesters who jeered from the sidewalks, capturing the event on their smartphones.
In a statement to Fox News, ICE Deputy Director Tom Homan said firmly, "We are making Los Angeles safer. We are going to bring the National Guard in tonight."
The situation intensified as one woman took to a megaphone, loudly demanding "ICE out of Paramount. We see you for what you are," and pointedly telling the officers, "You are not welcome here."
Protest signs popped up among the assembly, with one declaring, "No Human Being is Illegal."
Article continues belowThe thoroughfare was closed off to vehicular traffic as Border Patrol agents surveyed the area.