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National Guard troops in Los Angeles have already detained protesters boycotting operations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), though they were quickly turned over to local law enforcement, according to officials.
Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman told the Associated Press on Wednesday that about 500 National Guard Troops have been trained so far to help agents carry out immigration operations.
Immigration officials have already circulated photos of soldiers from the National Guard providing security for Department of Homeland Security agents.
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While riots have calmed down in Los Angeles, Sherman said he expected things to escalate once again.
“We are expecting a ramp-up,” he said, adding that officials are discussing protests across the U.S. “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.”
Sherman commands Task Force 51, which oversees the more than 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines who were deployed to Los Angeles in response to the protests that erupted on Friday as ICE agents conducted illegal immigration operations in the area.
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He told the AP that over the past few days, National Guard soldiers have temporarily detained anti-ICE protesters, though there have not been many as of late because things have calmed down.
Sherman also said the soldiers did not participate in the arrests or law enforcement activities. Instead, he added, they let the agitators go once police take them into custody.
The troops being deployed to the protests all go through several days of training on civil unrest. Those troops providing security during raids also go through additional instruction, legal training and rehearsals with the agents conducting the enforcement operations.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom has had a public war of words with Trump administration officials, accusing the president of having “commandeered” 2,000 of the state’s National Guard members “illegally, for no reason” without consulting with California’s law enforcement leaders.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, said its ICE operations are aiming to get “criminal illegal immigrant killers, rapists, gangbangers, drug dealers, human traffickers and domestic abusers off the streets.”
Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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