For the third consecutive night, downtown Los Angeles will be under curfew from 8 p.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations continue in Southern California.

Mayor Karen Bass announced the extension and demanded the end of immigration operations during a Thursday afternoon news conference. Since Tuesday, the curfews appeared to tamp down on the clashes between law enforcement and protesters at night. 

"We have had to have a curfew in the city because we want to make sure that the downtown neighborhood and all the other neighborhoods are safe," she said. "But let me be very clear, we want peace to come to our city. The peace that we need to have happen needs to begin in Washington, and we need to stop the raids."

She also denounced the deployment of about 2,100 National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines, claiming their presence in the city is unnecessary.

"Having the military, soldiers who are trained to fight wars on foreign soil, here in our city, is not going to bring peace because, first and foremost, they are not needed," All that is going to do is provoke people and create, and addd to the sense of fear in this city. We know how to bring about peace, and peace begins with ICE leaving Los Angeles."

Marine Corps battalion prepares for deployment

The Marine Corps battalion deployed to Los Angeles has finished its training for the protests. It could be deployed by Friday, according to the Department of Defense.

The 700 Marines, based at Twentynine Palms, a city about 140 miles east of L.A., will protect federal buildings and personnel during the ICE protests that started on June 6, the U.S. Northern Command said in a statement Wednesday night. 

The 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, started its mission orientation on Thursday and would deploy shortly after it finishes, according to U.S. Northern Command. 

The contingent of troops, named Task Force 51, will accompany "ICE on missions, but they are not a part of the operations," the U.S. Northern Command wrote.  

"Title 10 forces do not do law enforcement functions. They protect; they don't participate," the Northern Command added.  

The task force will temporarily assist in detaining individuals and will transfer custody to civilian law enforcement personnel, according to Northern Command.

Title 10 of the United States Code gives the president the power to federalize the military. However, the Posse Comitatus Act, a 19th-century law, bars the military from participating in civil law enforcement.

The Insurrection Act, a rarely used law from the 19th century that "authorizes the president to deploy military forces inside the United States to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations," can override Posse Comitatus, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

When asked if he would invoke the Insurrection Act on Tuesday, President Trump said: "If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We'll see."

Gov. Gavin Newsom and other local officials, including Bass, strongly opposed the move to federalize the California National Guard and deploy Marines to L.A. County. Newsom delivered a statewide address denouncing the Trump administration, calling the deployment of troops a "brazen abuse of power" that escalated the protests.

Judge blocks National Guard deployment in LA

Initially, military officials planned to integrate the Marine Corps battalion with the thousands of National Guard soldiers Mr. Trump had federalized. 

But on Thursday, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from deploying the 4,100 soldiers from the California National Guard to the city. 

"His actions were illegal — both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution," Breyer wrote of Mr. Trump in a 36-page decision. "He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith."

The order does not apply to the Marines; however, the presiding judge indicated during the meeting that concerns about the potential actions of the Marines sent to L.A. are so far speculative. 

"The National Guard will come back under my authority by noon tomorrow," Newsom told reporters in a news briefing in San Francisco Thursday evening. "The National Guard will be redeployed to what they were doing before Donald Trump commandeered them."

Sen. Padilla removed during Secretary Noem's news conference

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the Wilshire Federal Building in Westwood Thursday morning to provide an update on the immigration operations and protests in Southern California. 

Noem described California's governor and the mayor of Los Angeles as the "burdensome leadership," while discussing the ongoing operations. 

"The Department of Homeland Security and the officers, agencies, departments and military personnel working on this operation will continue to sustain and increase our operations in this city. We are not going away," Noem said. "We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert to this city."

While Noem was speaking, Sen. Alex Padilla interrupted and attempted to ask a question before security began to push him out of the room. 

He could be heard yelling, "I'm Sen. Alex Padilla and I have questions for the secretary," as he was forcibly escorted out of the room.  

After being removed from the press conference, Padilla said he was handcuffed and forced to the ground but was not detained or arrested. He said he was in the Wilshire Federal Building for a scheduled briefing when he went to listen to Noem's speech. 

"If this how this administration responds to a senator with a question, if this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question you can only imagine what they're doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country," he said after the incident.

Following the interruption and towards the end of the news conference, Noem defended Mr. Trump's deployment of the military. 

"The idea of bringing more, yeah, I would say the President has the right to utilize every authority that he has under the Constitution, to to utilize Title 10 and to bring in military assets and National Guard units as needed, and he'll continue to assess that and use his prerogative to decide when it's necessary," she said. 

Prior to the federal judge's ruling, she added that officials are "pre-deploying assets" in Southern California and other areas, ahead of the weekend. 

"We are assessing this weekend's threat levels, not just here, but in cities across the country, and pre-deploying assets," Noem said. "We're using every tool that we have in our toolbox and pre-staging people, task forces, special swift response teams, people with specific gifts and talents that they can contribute to areas that we think they may be needed this weekend, so that we can prevent any kind of violence from being perpetuated."