United States President Donald Trump on Monday ordered the deployment of the Marine Corps in Los Angeles amid protests against immigration raids.

The Marine Corps is a branch of the US Armed Forces that acts as a crisis response force. It is rarely deployed domestically during civil disturbances in support of a police operation.

Over 700 Marines based out of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in California were mobilised to respond to the protests in Los Angeles, CNN reported.

The troops will join the National Guard – a reserve component of the US military – deployed over the weekend to quell the protests.

The US Northern Command said that the Marines will “seamlessly integrate” with the National Guard troops “protecting federal personnel and federal property in the greater Los Angeles area”.

The deployment comes amid demonstrations sparked by recent raids and arrests conducted by the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which oversees the deportation processes.

These raids are part of a broader crackdown by the Trump administration on undocumented immigrants.

Protests began on Friday in downtown Los Angeles and spread by Saturday to areas such as Paramount and Compton, CBS reported.

Federal agents had carried out arrests in several other locations during the day.

On Sunday, tensions escalated after thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to Trump’s deployment of the National Guard, CBS reported.

Highways were blocked and cars were set on fire, while law enforcement agencies used tear gas and rubber bullets to control the crowd.

Property was also damaged in the demonstrations, Reuters reported.

Unidentified officials told CBS that 53 persons had been arrested as of Monday in connection with the protests.

Meanwhile, the state of California on Monday sued the Trump administration for deploying the National Guard without consulting Governor Gavin Newsom.

The governor described the additional deployment of the Marines as “unwarranted” and “unprecedented”, CNN reported.

“The level of escalation is…uncalled for…mobilising the best in class branch of the US military against its own citizens,” CNN quoted the governor as saying.

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged to carry out more operations to round up suspected undocumented immigrants, Reuters reported.

Protests erupted in at least nine other US cities on Monday, including New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco, the news agency reported.

Also read: LA protests give Trump the excuse he needed to deploy force against his own people