负责监督美国在洛杉矶军事行动的指挥官周三表示，部署在该市的部队可以在必要时暂时拘留个人，但不能逮捕人，这澄清了他们在持续抗议活动中的权力。
在接受美国广播公司新闻和美联社采访时，51联合特遣部队指挥官斯科特·谢尔曼少将还表示，约有500名国民警卫队士兵接受了训练，以陪同移民和海关执法局(ICE)特工进行突袭，为他们提供武力保护。
联合特遣部队51是军方对部署在大洛杉矶地区的4700名国民警卫队士兵和海军陆战队士兵的称呼，以保护联邦建筑和联邦人员，抗议活动是在最近全市范围内的ICE行动后开始的。
“我们在那里保护他们的联邦官员，他们的联邦人员，”谢尔曼在采访中说。“我们在那里保护他们，让他们能够做好自己的工作。”
谢尔曼说，如果这些人员受到攻击，“士兵或海军陆战队被允许带走那个人，将他们拘留在原地，等待联邦执法人员前来逮捕那个人。”
将军指出，在这种情况下，联邦执法人员将“就在你身边”，并暗示拘留一词可能只是制服袭击联邦人员的人的短暂身体接触。
谢尔曼说:“我们认为，一旦警卫抓住他或她的手臂或抓住那个人，那就是他们拘留那个人的时候。”
他说，所有部署到洛杉矶的国民警卫队和海军陆战队士兵都已经或正在城市附近的集结地接受为期几天的训练，学习如何应对人群控制，以及在部署期间允许使用武力的规则。
谢尔曼告诉美国广播公司新闻，大约500名国民警卫队队员也接受了特殊训练，以配合移民和海关执法局的移民突袭行动，只为他们提供武力保护，而不是执行执法职责。
鉴于这是警卫队和ICE首次合作，谢尔曼说，部队正在与ICE官员进行详细的“爬行，行走，奔跑”排练，“以便我们充分了解他们的行动。”
谢尔曼告诉ICE，他们需要在这些排练中非常细致，以便他们可以“充分解释你想要或需要这些士兵或海军陆战队保护你的一切，以便你可以进行手术。”
虽然一些国民警卫队队员陪同ICE进行移民突袭，但谢尔曼不知道一旦抗议活动结束，这些类型的行动是否会继续。
部署面临法律挑战，加州司法部长罗布·邦塔和州长加文·纽瑟姆提起诉讼挑战联邦政府在没有州政府协调的情况下部署军队的权力。诉讼认为，部署违反了国家主权和宪法第十修正案。
唐纳德·特朗普总统指责纽瑟姆没有“及时”保护ICE官员，并表示这些官员“受到了一群失控的煽动者、麻烦制造者和/或叛乱者的袭击。”
在周三上午的新闻发布会上，当被问及法律挑战时，谢尔曼回应道，“那超出了我的范围。我是来运营的。”
虽然抗议活动的规模在最近几天有所缩小，但谢尔曼在采访中表示，他预计本周末全国范围的抗议活动可能会“加剧”。
“我现在正专注于洛杉矶，这里正在发生的事情。但你知道，我认为我们非常担心。”
US military can temporarily detain protesters in Los Angeles, commander says
The commander overseeing U.S. military operations in Los Angeles said Wednesday that troops deployed to the city can temporarily detain individuals if necessary but cannot make arrests, clarifying their authority amid ongoing protests.
In an interview with ABC News and the Associated Press, Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman -- the commander of Joint Task Force 51 -- also said that about 500 National Guard troops have been trained to accompany Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on raids in order to provide them with force protection.
Joint Task Force 51 is the military's name for the 4,700 National Guard troops and Marines deployed to the Greater Los Angeles Area to protect federal buildings and federal personnel in the wake of protests that began after recent ICE operations across the city.
"We're there to protect their federal officers, their federal personnel," Sherman said in the interview. "We're there to protect them so that they can do their job."
If those personnel are assaulted, Sherman said, "Soldiers or Marines are allowed to take that person, detain them in place, wait for the federal law enforcement officer to come and arrest that individual."
The general noted that in that kind of situation, federal law enforcement personnel would be "right next to you" and implied the term detention could just be the brief physical contact in subduing a person who has assaulted federal personnel.
"We consider it once the Guard member has his or her arm or holding that person, that's when they're detaining that person," said Sherman.
He said that all the National Guard troops and Marines deployed to Los Angeles have gone through or are receiving several days of training in staging areas near the city on how to deal with crowd control and to learn the rules of force they are allowed to use during their deployment.
Sherman told ABC News that around 500 National Guardsmen have also received specific training to accompany ICE on immigration raid operations to provide them only with force protection and are not carrying out law enforcement duties.
Given that this is the first time that both the Guard and ICE are working together, Sherman said the troops are engaged in detailed "crawl, walk, run" rehearsals with ICE officers "so that we fully understand their operations."
Sherman has told ICE that they need to be very meticulous in those rehearsals so they can "fully explain everything that you want or that you need for these Soldiers or Marines to protect you so you can do the operation."
While some of the National Guardsmen have accompanied ICE on immigration raids, Sherman did not know if these types of operations would continue once the protests end.
The deployment faces legal challenges, with California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsomfiling a lawsuitchallenging the federal government's authority to deploy troops without state coordination. The lawsuit argues that the deployment violates state sovereignty and the 10th Amendment of the Constitution.
President Donald Trump accused Newsom of not protecting ICE officers "in a timely manner" and said the officers were "attacked by an out of control mob of agitators, troublemakers, and/or insurrectionists."
When asked about the legal challenge at a Wednesday morning news conference, Sherman responded, "That's beyond my scope. I'm here to run operations."
While the scale of protests has been reduced in recent days, Sherman said in the interview that he is expecting "a ramp up" that could result from nationwide protests scheduled for this weekend.
"I'm focused right here in L.A., what's going on right here. But you know, I think we're, we're very concerned."
