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Shortly after they began guarding a Los Angeles federal building Friday, U.S. Marines detained a man who had walked onto the property and did not immediately hear their commands to stop.
The brief detention marked the first time federal troops have detained a civilian since they were deployed to the nation’s second-largest city by President Donald Trump in response to protests over the administration’s immigration arrests. The Marines were activated earlier this week but began their duties Friday.
The man, Marcos Leao, was later released without charges and said the Marines were just doing their jobs.
A U.S. Army North spokesperson said the troops have the authority to temporarily detain people under specific circumstances. He said those detentions end when the person can be transferred to “appropriate civilian law enforcement personnel.”
Leao’s detention shows how the troops’ deployment is putting them closer to carrying out law enforcement actions. Already, National Guard soldiers have been providing security on raids as Trump has promised as part of his immigration crackdown.
Leao, a former Army combat engineer, said he was rushing to get to a Veterans Affairs appointment when he stepped past a piece of caution tape outside the federal building. He looked up to find a Marine sprinting toward him.
“I had my headphones in, so I didn’t hear them,” Leao said. “They told me to get down on the ground. I basically complied with everything they were saying.”
Leao was placed in zip ties and held for more than two hours by the Marines and members of the National Guard, he said. After Los Angeles police arrived, he was released without charges, he said. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department said they responded to a call at the scene but weren’t needed, and no charges were filed.
“I didn’t know it was going to be this intense here,” he said later.
A U.S. official told the AP that a civilian had stepped over the line. He was warned they would take him down and they did, according to the official, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
About 200 Marines out of the 700 deployed arrived in the city Friday, joining 2,000 members of the National Guard that have been stationed outside federal buildings this week in Los Angeles. Another 2,000 Guard members were notified of deployment earlier this week.
Before the unusual deployment, the Pentagon scrambled to establish rules to guide U.S. Marines who could be faced with the rare and difficult prospect of using force against citizens on American soil.
The forces have been trained in de-escalation, crowd control and standing rules for the use of force, the military has said.
But the use of the active-duty forces still raises difficult questions.
“I believe that this is an inevitable precursor of things yet to come when you put troops with guns right next to civilians who are doing whatever they do,” said Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and military judge.
He said it’s an example of Trump’s attempt to unravel the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars active-duty forces from conducting law enforcement.
