US military can temporarily detain protesters in Los Angeles, commander says
The commander overseeing U.S. military operations in Los Angeles said Wednesday that troops deployed to the city can temporarily detain individuals if necessary but cannot make arrests, clarifying their authority amid ongoing protests.
In an interview with ABC News and the Associated Press, Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman -- the commander of Joint Task Force 51 -- also said that about 500 National Guard troops have been trained to accompany Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on raids in order to provide them with force protection.
Joint Task Force 51 is the military's name for the 4,700 National Guard troops and Marines deployed to the Greater Los Angeles Area to protect federal buildings and federal personnel in the wake of protests that began after recent ICE operations across the city.
"We're there to protect their federal officers, their federal personnel," Sherman said in the interview. "We're there to protect them so that they can do their job."
If those personnel are assaulted, Sherman said, "Soldiers or Marines are allowed to take that person, detain them in place, wait for the federal law enforcement officer to come and arrest that individual."
The general noted that in that kind of situation, federal law enforcement personnel would be "right next to you" and implied the term detention could just be the brief physical contact in subduing a person who has assaulted federal personnel.
"We consider it once the Guard member has his or her arm or holding that person, that's when they're detaining that person," said Sherman.
He said that all the National Guard troops and Marines deployed to Los Angeles have gone through or are receiving several days of training in staging areas near the city on how to deal with crowd control and to learn the rules of force they are allowed to use during their deployment.
Sherman told ABC News that around 500 National Guardsmen have also received specific training to accompany ICE on immigration raid operations to provide them only with force protection and are not carrying out law enforcement duties.
Given that this is the first time that both the Guard and ICE are working together, Sherman said the troops are engaged in detailed "crawl, walk, run" rehearsals with ICE officers "so that we fully understand their operations."
Sherman has told ICE that they need to be very meticulous in those rehearsals so they can "fully explain everything that you want or that you need for these Soldiers or Marines to protect you so you can do the operation."
While some of the National Guardsmen have accompanied ICE on immigration raids, Sherman did not know if these types of operations would continue once the protests end.
The deployment faces legal challenges, with California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom filing a lawsuit challenging the federal government's authority to deploy troops without state coordination. The lawsuit argues that the deployment violates state sovereignty and the 10th Amendment of the Constitution.
President Donald Trump accused Newsom of not protecting ICE officers "in a timely manner" and said the officers were "attacked by an out of control mob of agitators, troublemakers, and/or insurrectionists."
When asked about the legal challenge at a Wednesday morning news conference, Sherman responded, "That's beyond my scope. I'm here to run operations."
While the scale of protests has been reduced in recent days, Sherman said in the interview that he is expecting "a ramp up" that could result from nationwide protests scheduled for this weekend.
"I'm focused right here in L.A., what's going on right here. But you know, I think we're, we're very concerned."
