The Department of Defense said the 700 Marines from Twentynine Palms will protect federal agents and property with the California National Guard.

Around 200 Marines armed with rifles, riot control equipment, gas masks, roughly 20 hours of civil disturbance training and the ability to temporarily detain civilians arrived in the country's second-largest city after days of public anticipation.

The Marines will join some 2,000 National Guard troops that have been on the streets of the city since last week when immigration raids set off protests.

Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, commander of Task Force 51 who is overseeing the 4,700 troops deployed, said that the Marines have finished training on civil disturbance and the first batch moved to a federal building west of downtown Los Angeles where they will start their operations at noon local time.

“Constitutionally, as a nation, we do not want to use active duty troops, deploy them against American citizens and others residing in our country. Because the impact is so negative. It makes it appear that the United States of America is a battleground,” Barthel said.

The 700 marines set to deploy to Los Angeles to aid the 2,100 National Guard soldiers have finished their training on June 11, ready to hit the ground by Friday, said the U.S. Northern Command

Hughes is a retired Master Sergeant with the United States Marine Corps. "I documented what the Marines were doing in LA. I was in Compton with them, so I patrolled with them. You know, we were on the streets,” Hughes said. She was at Camp Pendleton when troops there were sent to Los Angeles for the 1992 riots.

U.S. Marines are on the ground in downtown Los Angeles, as the city prepares for massive protests over the weekend including some of hundreds of scheduled "No Kings Day" demonstrations.