Around 250 National Guard troops will stay in Los Angeles to help protect federal personnel and buildings after the latest drawdown ordered by the Department of Defense (DOD).
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the release of about 1,350 California National Guard members from the federal protection mission on Wednesday. Those troops were initially deployed to help contain protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement Thursday that those troops remaining in Los Angeles will protect “federal personnel and property.”
“We greatly appreciate the support of the more than 5,000 Guardsmen and Marines who mobilized to Los Angeles to defend Federal functions against the rampant lawlessness occurring in the city,” Parnell said.
Apart from some 4,000 National Guard troops, another 700 Marines were also directed to help curb the protests in light of President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
State and local lawmakers, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D), strongly criticized the deployment of soldiers, arguing the administration was hiking tensions.
Some 2,000 National Guard troops were pulled by the Trump administration in mid-July. Days later, Hegseth directed that all 700 Marines be called off from Los Angeles, with the DOD arguing their “unmistakable presence” in the city was “instrumental in restoring order and upholding the rule of law.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who filed a lawsuit arguing the administration’s deployment of the National Guard was unlawful, welcomed the Pentagon’s decision to downsize the National Guard’s presence in Los Angeles, claiming that Trump’s “political theater backfired.”
“This militarization was always unnecessary and deeply unpopular. The President must do the right thing to end this illegal militarization now because the economic and societal impacts are dire,” Newsom said in a statement on Thursday. “The women and men of our military deserve more than to be used as props in the federal government’s propaganda machine.”
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