WASHINGTON

A number of US senators questioned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday over the deployment of troops to Los Angeles, California in response to immigration protests.

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Hegseth reiterated that the National Guard and the Marines are in Los Angeles to protect law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

The US has assigned roughly 4,000 US National Guardsmen and 700 Marines to the streets of Los Angeles following the eruption of protests on June 6, in defiance of warnings from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass that the action would only serve to further inflame already-heightened tensions.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he has been "deeply disturbed and alarmed" by the use of active duty troops in Los Angeles.

Blumenthal asked Hegseth about possible contingency plans for the use of active duty military in other cities.

"We are deeply disturbed and alarmed that ICE officers are being attacked while doing their job in any city in America," Hegseth said, before Blumenthal interrupted him, saying: "But we ought to be equally alarmed by the illegal use of active duty Marines or other military. "

A US appeals court last week allowed President Donald Trump to maintain his deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles, temporarily pausing a lower court ruling that Trump's actions "were illegal—both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution."

Hegseth suggested that he would not obey a court ruling against the deployments.

“I don’t believe district courts should be setting national security policy,” he said. “When it goes to the Supreme Court, we’ll see."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked Hegseth whether he would carry out the order if Trump wanted to deploy Marines to Chicago and New York City even if the local governors and mayors objected.

"Thankfully, New York City, unlike California, unlike Gavin Newsom, is willing to step up and address the issue with the local law enforcement," he said.

"I'll take that as a yes," Warren replied.

The exchange was heated when Sen. Elissa Slotkin asked Hegseth whether he authorized the troops to detain or arrest protesters.

"If necessary, in their own self-defense, they could temporarily detain and hand over to ICE. But there’s no arresting going on," Hegseth said.

According to media reports, the Marines detained their first civilian last Friday.

Hegseth laughed when Slotkin asked him: "Have you given the order for to be able to shoot at unarmed protesters in any way?"

Slotkin said Trump’s previous defense chief, Mark Esper, "had more guts and balls” than Hegseth because Esper refused to maim unarmed protesters.

The senator referred to Esper's book, in which he wrote that Trump, during his first term, ordered him to shoot protesters in the legs.

Slotkin asked Hegseth: "Have you given the order? Have you given the order that they can use lethal force against, on...?"

"Senator, I’d be careful what you read in books and believing in, except for the Bible," Hegseth said.

"Oh my God!" said Slotkin.

The protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown intensified in Los Angeles and spread to more than a dozen US cities, including Dallas, Austin, Houston and San Antonio.