Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a military research group, said there is little evidence that the military presence is necessary.
“The need for military forces in Los Angeles is low while the need for National Guard forces elsewhere in the state is rising,” Kavanagh said. “That they’re still deployed after so much time, when there doesn’t seem to be a need, suggests that this really is about setting precedent of having military forces involved in immigration enforcement and deployed in U.S. cities.”
Kavanagh said she was disturbed to see Guard troops accompanying federal agents on immigration raids. Even if they had orders not to participate in law enforcement activities, confrontations could escalate quickly.
“There’s so many chances for things to spiral out of control,” she said. “While we haven’t seen any unintentional escalation yet, that doesn’t mean we won’t.”
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