LOS ANGELES — About 90 members of the California National Guard and over a dozen military vehicles like Humvees are helping protect immigration officers Monday as they carry out a raid in a Los Angeles park, defense officials said.
The operation in MacArthur Park, which is in a neighborhood with a large immigrant population about 2 miles west of downtown LA, includes 17 Humvees, four tactical vehicles, two ambulances and the armed soldiers. It comes after President Donald Trump deployed thousands of Guard members and active duty Marines to the city last month following protests over previous immigration raids.
Trump has stepped up efforts to realize his campaign pledge of deporting millions of immigrants in the United States illegally and shown a willingness to use the nation’s military might in ways other U.S. presidents have typically avoided.
The officials told reporters that it was not a military operation but acknowledged