Marines From 29 Palms Mobilizing as President Orders Troop Deployment to Los Angeles

Closer to home tonight, the president has ordered the deployment of hundreds of active-duty Marines from the Marine Corps base in 29 Palms — a major development drawing attention across Southern California.

Video from late this afternoon shows military equipment moving westbound on Highway 62, headed toward Los Angeles. The decision is being called unprecedented, as it marks one of the rare instances of domestic troop mobilization involving active-duty Marines.

The Marine Infantry Battalion from 29 Palms is being sent to reinforce the National Guard, which is already on the ground in L.A.

NBC Palm Springs' Caitlyn Kelley is live tonight from the gates of the base with more on what’s happening:

Caitlyn:
The National Guard forces are already in place in Los Angeles. And now, 700 active-duty Marines from here at 29 Palms are also being deployed to support. That brings the total to around 2,800 troops expected to be on the ground in L.A.

Now earlier, it wasn’t entirely clear whether the troops had already left the base or were still prepping for departure. But take a look behind me — Eddie’s zooming in now — what you can see are roughly 10 to 12 white buses, each capable of transporting 50 to 60 personnel. We’ve seen them drive into the base, but none have left just yet, which suggests preparations are still underway.”

Earlier today, U.S. NORTHCOM tweeted images of Marines from 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, in full armor with military vehicles. The tweet noted that the unit was placed on alert status over the weekend and is preparing to deploy to Greater Los Angeles by June 9.

“The tweet came about an hour ago,” Caitlyn Kelley added, “and based on the lighting and uniforms in those images, we believe the photos were taken just shortly before the tweet went out. So it appears deployment is imminent — but hasn’t happened yet.”

There are also unconfirmed reports that troops from Camp Pendleton in San Diego may join the 29 Palms unit, possibly forming a full brigade headed into Los Angeles.

“We’re still working to confirm that,” Caitlyn Kelley said. “But again, we’ll be staying right here at the base to track these movements and bring you updates as soon as we have them.”