For the first time since their deployment by President Trump to Los Angeles, and in a historically rare action, Marines detained a civilian on American soil. Troops put zip ties on Marcos Leao, 27, an Army veteran, who was running an errand at the time, before turning him over to Department of Homeland Security personnel on Friday, Reuters reports. Leao later said he was heading to a Department of Veterans Affairs office and was stopped after crossing a yellow tape line outside the Wilshire Federal Building, which the Marines were guarding during protests of Trump's immigration raids.
Reuters photos showed Marines restraining Leao. "I had my headphones in, so I didn't hear them," he said, per the AP. "They told me to get down on the ground. I basically complied with everything they were saying." Leao said that he was held for more than two hours and that he was treated "very fairly" by the troops. "They're just doing their job," he said. The military is not generally authorized under federal law to make arrests. A spokesperson for US Northern Command confirmed that active-duty forces may temporarily detain individuals under certain circumstances but must transfer them to civilian law enforcement as soon as possible.
The current deployment does authorize Marines and National Guard troops to detain people posing threats to federal property or personnel until police arrive. But federal troops, rarely deployed on American soil in the first place, are rarely spotted detaining US civilians, even temporarily, per the New York Times. Los Angeles police Department said Friday that troops had played no part in any detentions by the department's officers. (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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