Title 32 National Guard: Major General details LA mission duties
Leader of Task Force 51 details SoCal mission
Hundreds of Marines have arrived in Southern California as military leaders reveal more about their mission. The Marines and National Guard will take orders from the national government as opposed to local officials.
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. - Officials in Los Angeles imposed a curfew in downtown LA on the fifth day of protests against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
This comes after Trump deployed more than 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to LA over the objections of city and state leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
What powers do the National Guard have?
What we know:
The National Guard has the authority to temporarily detain people who attack officers, but any arrests ultimately need to be made by local law enforcement.
During a press conference Wednesday in Orange County, Major General Scott Sherman, deputy commanding general in Army North, revealed details of the "forward contingency command post," which the Army calls "Task Force 51."
According to Sherman, orders directed by Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth authorize 4,700 total personnel - 4,000 from the California National Guard and 700 Marines.
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Since their deployment, Guard troops have had limited engagement with protesters as they were originally deployed to protect federal buildings.
"Our mission is to protect federal agencies, federal partners, their personnel, as they conduct their federal mission, and even more in particular, as they do the enforcement of federal law, he said. "Then also to protect all federal assets and federal facilities that are located in the locations where there have been demonstrations lately."
Sherman said Guard members will also be protecting ICE agents "strictly for the protection of the personnel as they do their [federal] job."
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"This is crowd control, this is stuff that we do not do usually, and this is working with federal law enforcement… they are in the lead, we're supporting them," he added.
About Title 10
Big picture view:
According to Title 10 federal orders, soldiers do not conduct law enforcement operations such as arrests or search and seizure.
Guard members are strictly used for the protection of federal personnel and to protect them as they do their federal missions.
"In the case of the recent ICE raids where we've had protesters show up and there has been vandalism of federal buildings, [Task Force 51] is specially trained with de-escalation, crowd control, rules of use force."
Title 10 states soldiers are allowed to detain and wait for law enforcement to handle the demonstrators. They do not conduct arrests.
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According to a U.S. official, troops will be armed with their normal service weapons but will not be carrying tear gas. They also will have protective equipment such as helmets, shields and gas masks.
When asked why the Marines were deployed and not another branch of the military, Sherman said "all federal military personnel.. it is part of their mission. So in this case, it was closes and what could be used at the time."
Insurrection Act
What we know:
Having the Marines deploy to protect federal buildings allows them to be used without invoking the Insurrection Act, one U.S. official said.
The Insurrection Act allows the president to direct federal troops to conduct law enforcement functions in national emergencies. But the use of that act is extremely rare.
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Officials said that has not yet been done in this case and that it’s not clear it will be done.
The backstory:
The deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state’s National Guard was activated without a request from its governor, a significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the administration’s mass deportation efforts.
The last time the National Guard was activated without a governor’s permission was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
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Troops under federal authorities are in general prohibited from conducting law enforcement on U.S. soil under the Posse Comitatus Act.
Local perspective:
A judge blocked Gov. Gavin Newsom's emergency motion in federal court to block National Guard members and Marines from assisting with immigration raids in Los Angeles.
"Trump is turning the U.S. military against American citizens," Newsom wrote on X.
Bass blamed the ICE raids and the military response for the unrest in the city.
"Last Thursday, there was nothing happening in this town that called for the raids that took place Friday," Bass told reporters at a downtown news conference Monday evening. Nothing was happening. Nothing warranted the raids."
She said the immigration raids being carried out should be curtailed.
"Stop the raids," she said. "This is creating fear and chaos in our city and it is unnecessary."
What's next:
At this time, there are 2,000 personnel on duty ready to perform operations, Sherman said, and an additional 2,000 that are mobilizing, or preparing.
The next round of troops will be ready Thursday at around 3 p.m. to come and start training at the Naval Weapons Station, Seal Beach.
"They're doing their training right now. We train for a federal mission for a war fight, so they're right now going through civil disturbance training and the standing rules of force training," he said.
That two-day training involves civil disturbance, how to control crowds, and how to protect federal facilities.
Military aid will cease at the direction of the officer or agent in charge of the operations.
"It's a day-by-day situation," Sherman said.
Soldiers will be housed in military tents in Los Alamitos.
The Source: Information for this story is from a news briefing with Major General Scott Sherman on June 11, 2025, and previous FOX 11 reports. The Associated Press contributed.