Trump’s border czar defends decision to deploy hundreds of Marines to quell LA protests

President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan argued Monday that it was necessary to deploy hundreds of Marines to Los Angeles to quell immigration protests that are happening in the city – despite local officials saying it’s unclear why they are there or what they are doing.

President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan argued Monday that it was necessary to deploy hundreds of Marines to Los Angeles to quell immigration protests that are happening in the city – despite local officials saying it’s unclear why they are there or what they are doing. “Yes, it all depends on the activities of these protesters – I mean, they make the decisions. I keep hearing reports that they’re rioting because President Trump sent National Guard here, it’s just ridiculous,” Homan told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “We don’t know what’s going to happen tonight – it seems like at night, the crowds get bigger, the violence peaks. So, we want to be ahead of the game. We’ll be well prepared for the military here to protect government property and protect officers’ lives,” he said. Homan declined to say what standard the Trump administration was using to decide if mobilizing the Marines would be necessary. “They’re not reinforcing immigration law – we’re doing that, we’re immigration officers,” Homan said. “Their job is protection of property and protection of our agents and their lives and their wellbeing, along with the public’s wellbeing.” Over the weekend, Trump became the first president in decades to call in the National Guard without a request from a governor – doing so without invoking the Insurrection Act, the 1807 law that allows the president to deploy American soldiers to police US streets in extreme circumstances. Trump ordered the Department of Defense to deploy an additional 2,000 California National Guard members to the Los Angeles area on Monday evening, according to the Pentagon.