The 700 Marines deployed to Los Angeles last month amid protests over increased immigration enforcement are being pulled from the city, the Pentagon confirmed Monday.
“With stability returning to Los Angeles, [Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth] has directed the redeployment of the 700 Marines whose presence sent a clear message: lawlessness will not be tolerated,” chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement to The Hill’s sister outlet NewsNation.
Parnell claimed the Marines’ “unmistakable presence” in the city was “instrumental in restoring order and upholding the rule of law,” even as few of the service members remained in public view following the initial show of force in June.
The Trump administration continues to scale back its military deployment in Los Angeles after President Trump ordered some 4,100 California National Guard troops and later the 700 Marines to the city to quell protests of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The move was heavily criticized by California state officials for bypassing the consent of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who accused Trump of inflaming tensions with deployments he said were unnecessary.
After protests largely died down across the city, service members found themselves with little to do, and last week Hegseth ordered half of some 4,000 remaining guard members to return home. That leaves 2,000 in Los Angeles to continue with their role of protecting ICE agents as they conduct raids.
Another 150 guard members had earlier been allowed to leave the city to help fight wildfires in California.
Newsom has continued to push for all deployed service members to leave the city, saying Trump has used them as “political pawns.”
“Thousands of members are still federalized in Los Angeles for no reason and unable to carry out their critical duties across the state,” he said in a statement posted to the social platform X on July 15. “End this theater and send everyone home.”
Parnell did not say when the Marines would depart the city, but a Defense official told The Washington Post they are set to return to the Twentynine Palms base in the coming days.
In a video posted to X on Monday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) celebrated the Marines’ departure, calling their initial deployment “unnecessary.”
“The Marines will be able to go back to their families and will be leaving Los Angeles,” she said. “I’d like to say that they heard from the people of Los Angeles: This was an unnecessary deployment.”
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