The Pentagon has withdrawn more than a thousand National Guard troops sent to Los Angeles, further scaling back President Donald Trump’s controversial deployment.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on July 30 recalled 1,350 California National Guardsmen assigned to protect federal buildings and personnel amid public uproar following recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across the city and Southern California.
The troop withdrawal comes with about a week left in what the White House described as a 60-day deployment that started on June 7. Two weeks ago the administration called back 2,000 California National Guardsmen from their assignments in Los Angeles.
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Approximately 250 troops will remain in Los Angeles to protect personnel and property, the Pentagon said. At the peak of their deployment, nearly 5,000 service members were dispatched to the region: most were National Guard troops, but Trump also sent 700 Marines to guard federal property in the city.
The troops were directed to suppress protests and to protect ICE agents conducting immigration raids.
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Several California Democratic lawmakers criticized the June deployment, calling it an overreach of presidential authority, accusing Trump of inciting violence. Trump’s response at the time was that “Los Angeles would be burning right now” without the military presence.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, sued the Trump administration, alleging the deployment was unlawful. A San Francisco appeals court ruled that the troops could remain.
Newsom said July 30 in a post on X that Trump’s “chaotic, needless takeover of the California National Guard, his political theatrics in LA have blown up in his face.”
“President Trump is realizing that his political theater backfired. This militarization was always unnecessary and deeply unpopular,” Newsom said in a statement.
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also viewed the deployment as a “political stunt” and said in a July 30 post on X the withdrawal was a “win.” Bass said she would continue to pressure the administration until “ALL troops are out of L.A.”
Hegseth responded to Bass in an X post of his own.
“You’re welcome Mayor. These brave troops are redeploying because their mission was so successful. You should be thanking them for saving your city from mobs & chaos,” Hegseth said. “We will continue to support law enforcement – even when you won’t.”
The troop deployment has been estimated to cost about $134 million, according to the Pentagon.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pentagon recalls 1,000 more National Guard troops from Los Angeles
