Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has been asked to reduce the number of National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles in response to anti-ICE protests earlier this month.
Trump deployed 4,000 California national guard troops and 800 active duty Marines to LA in early June in response to the protests.
He claimed the move saved the city from ‘complete obliteration’ despite the protests being confined to downtown LA and the rest of the city functioning normally. Local leaders say the city’s law enforcement was effectively handling the situation until Trump intervened.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) called Trump deploying the troops “reckless” and “pointless”.
In a letter sent to Hegseth recently, the top military commander of those troops, U.S. Northern Command head Gen. Gregory Guillot, requested that he pull back 200 troops from protest duty and deploy them to Joint Task Force Rattlesnake, California National Guard’s wildfire unit, the Associated Press reports.
The AP noted that California has entered peak wildfire season, and Gov. Newsom has warned that the Guard is now understaffed due to troops deployment to Los Angeles to quell protests.
