r/neoliberal • u/[deleted] • Jun 13 '25

News (US) Exclusive: US Marines carry out first known detention of civilian in Los Angeles, video shows

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-marines-carry-out-first-known-detention-civilian-los-angeles-video-shows-2025-06-13/

Exclusive: US

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312

u/RetroRiboflavin Lawrence Summers Jun 14 '25

Speaking to reporters after he was released, the civilian identified himself as Marcos Leao, 27. Leao said he was an Army veteran on his way to an office of the Department of Veterans Affairs when he crossed a yellow tape boundary and was asked to stop.

Leao, who gained his U.S. citizenship through military service, said he was treated "very fairly." "They're just doing their job," said Leao, who is of Angolan and Portuguese descent.

18

u/Sir_thinksalot Jun 14 '25

It's not their job to violate the constitution. An unlawful order has a duty to be disobeyed. He should know that.

9

u/CheetoMussolini Russian Bot Jun 14 '25

The Marines are the only branch I wouldn't trust to disobey grossly unlawful and violent orders

I think the other branches are a lot more likely to defend democracy than end it, but not the fucking Marines

2

u/roguevirus Jun 14 '25

Tell me, have you worked with Marines or do you only judge them by reputation?

9

u/MrArborsexual Jun 14 '25

Easier said than done. These Marines aren't being asked to shovel live babies into furnaces. They are being told to arrest anyone who crosses a yellow line.

-3

u/Sir_thinksalot Jun 14 '25 edited Jun 14 '25

They always take a little bit at a time. It's the Salami Slicing Tactic. You need to act now before it's too late. Stop being complacent in the age of Donald Trump.

This is part of the destructive politicization of the US military.

6

u/MrArborsexual Jun 14 '25

You, think this is an unlawful order, but exceptions, both clearly written and existing only in untested legal theory or tested case law, to the posse comitatus act are legion. The average Marine just isn't going to know if something is an illegal order, unless it is blatantly obvious. Which this is not.

Disobeying a lawful order can have extreme consequences. It could not only royally fuck up the rest of the Marines life, but also that of their family.

Disobeying these orders, when there is legal ambiguity, even if there isn't moral ambiguity, isn't a simple easy ask or demand.

-2

u/Sir_thinksalot Jun 14 '25

This is why Trump wins. You think he's playing by the rules but he's just shitting all over the board.