"I don't think that's heavy-handed," Speaker Mike Johnson said of the administration's threat to send active-duty Marines into the streets of Los Angeles

The U.S. secretary of defense has threatened to send active-duty Marines into the streets of Los Angeles to confront protesters opposing the administration’s detention and deportation of immigrants. At least three prominent Republicans don’t seem concerned about potential overreach.

“The [Department of Defense] is mobilizing the National Guard IMMEDIATELY to support federal law enforcement in Los Angeles. And, if violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert,” Hegseth wrote late Saturday on X, formerly Twitter, on his personal account.

This prompted ABC’s Jonathan Karl to ask House Speaker Mike Johnson: “Could we really see active duty Marines on the streets of Los Angeles?”

“One of our core principles is maintaining peace through strength,” Johnson said during an interview on Sunday’s episode of This Week. “We do that on foreign affairs and domestic affairs as well. I don’t think that’s heavy handed. I think that’s an important signal.”

“You don’t think sending Marines into the streets of an American city is heavy-handed?” Karl asked.

“We have to be prepared to do what is necessary, and I think the notice that that might happen might have the deterring effect,” Johnson said.

Active-duty military troops have not been sent in to suppress unrest since the 1992 Los Angeles protests after a jury acquitted four white police officers in the beating of Rodney King, a Black man who was pulled over for a traffic violation. The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits federal troops from engaging in civilian law enforcement unless there is a clear legal or constitutional basis for doing so. It was created to restrict the president’s ability to use the military against civilians. The exception to Posse Comitatus is the Insurrection Act, which Trump has not invoked.

Instead, Trump invoked Title 10 of the U.S. Code on Armed Services, which limits the troops’ actions to protecting federal officials rather than enforcing laws. Title 10 gives Trump authority to deploy the National Guard during “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States” and two other specific circumstances. Chris Mirasola of Lawfare wrote that Trump’s justification for using this authority is “factually contestable and, even on the face of the memorandum, unusually weak.”

Republican Sen. James Lankford on NBC’s Meet the Press argued that by deploying the National Guard, Trump is “trying to deescalate all the tensions that are there.” Newsom has said that Trump activating National Guard troops is “purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions”

“This is an American city, and to be able to have an American city where we have people literally flying Mexican flags and saying, ‘You cannot arrest us,’ cannot be allowed,” Lankford said on Sunday. “If someone violates the law, no matter what state that they’re in, they’re in violation of a federal law. They should face consequences for that.”

Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin also criticized protesters for carrying Mexican flags. “They were literally out there protesting, carrying a foreign flag. That is absolutely insane. They are not just peaceful protesters. These are illegals,” he said Sunday on State of the Union.

“Carrying a flag is not illegal, as you know,” CNN’s Dana Bash responded.

“Foreign flag while you’re attacking law enforcement, it’s pretty bad,” Mullin said.