WASHINGTON (AP) — The leading military official responsible for overseeing troops stationed in Los Angeles to address protests concerning immigration raids has requested Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to possibly reassign 200 of these forces back to assist in wildfire fighting efforts, according to two U.S. officials who spoke with The Associated Press on Monday.
President Donald Trump directed the dispatch of roughly 4,000 California National Guard members and 800 active-duty Marines against the preferences of Gov. Gavin Newsom in early June to address a series of protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles.
The domestic deployment of federal troops has brought about several legal considerations, such as whether the administration would attempt to invoke emergency powers under the Insurrection Act to allow these forces to engage in law enforcement activities on U.S. territory, which is typically prohibited except under exceptional circumstances. The Marines, however, are mainly tasked with the protection of federal buildings.
The Insurrection Act has not been used. But in at least one circumstance, Marines have temporarily detained civilians in Los Angeles.
California has just entered peak wildfire season, and Newsom has warned that the Guard is now understaffed due to the Los Angeles protest deployment.
The top military commander of those troops, U.S. Northern Command head Gen. Gregory Guillot, recently submitted a request to Hegseth to return 200 of the National Guard troops back to Joint Task Force Rattlesnake, which is the California National Guard’s wildfire unit, the officials said.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details not yet announced publicly.
Trump has contended that “there has been an invasion” of migrants entering the country without legal permission. At the height of the deployments some members of Congress in their annual budget hearings with the secretary questioned whether he foresaw extending the deployment nationwide, Hegseth did not provide a direct response.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, at the time told the lawmakers “I don’t see any foreign, state-sponsored folks invading, but I’ll be mindful of the fact that there have been some border issues.”
