Washington — Vice President JD Vance is heading to Los Angeles on Friday to tour a federal law enforcement operations center and meet with Marines on the ground, making him the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit the area since protests broke out over Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
The vice president’s office said he will tour a multi-agency Federal Joint Operations Center and a federal mobile command center, as well as meet with leadership and Marines on the ground. He’ll also deliver brief remarks.
President Trump federalized thousands of troops from the California National Guard in response to the Los Angeles-area protests and ordered about 700 Marines to be deployed to protect federal property. The president has directed federal immigration authorities to prioritize deporting individuals from Democratic-run cities, including Los Angeles, and a series of ICE operations in L.A. sparked the protests earlier this month.
Late Thursday, a federal appeals court allowed the president to keep control of the National Guard troops he deployed to the Los Angeles region, halting a ruling from a lower court judge who said the president acted illegally when he activated the troops over objections from California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The protests have waned, but the troops remain.
On Thursday, federal agents were seen outside the Los Angeles Dodgers ballpark, after the team said it blocked immigration authorities from entering. Fans protested, and the Department of Homeland Security said Customs and Border Patrol vehicles “were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement.”
Federal immigration officers have stepped up enforcement efforts, with White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller saying ICE officers are aiming for at least 3,000 arrests a day. So far, the number of arrests has failed to reach that target, with a daily average of about 1,200 arrests in the month of June as of earlier this week.
Back in Washington, Mr. Trump is handling international matters, particularly the Israel-Iran conflict. In a statement on Thursday, the president said he will decide whether the U.S. will join Israel in its strikes in the next two weeks. The president heads to Bedminster, New Jersey, for a fundraising dinner Friday night after meetings with his national security team at the White House.
