LOS ANGELES — The military presence in Southern California is being scaled back. The Pentagon has confirmed the withdrawal of 2,000 National Guardsmen from their assignment in Los Angeles.
Nearly 4,700 California National Guardsmen and active-duty Marines were initially sent to Los Angeles in early June. Their mission was to safeguard federal buildings and personnel amid protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in L.A.
“Thanks to our troops who stepped up to answer the call, the lawlessness in Los Angeles is subsiding. As such, the Secretary has ordered the release of 2,000 California National Guardsmen (79th IBCT) from the federal protection mission,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement provided to ABC News.
Many of the Guardsmen deployed to L.A. received specific training to provide perimeter security during ICE operations and were not carrying out law enforcement duties. They were, however, authorized to temporarily detain individuals if needed and then quickly turn them over to law enforcement personnel.
The federal troops’ domestic deployment raised multiple legal questions, including whether the administration would seek to employ emergency powers under the Insurrection Act to empower those forces to conduct law enforcement on U.S. soil, which they are not permitted to do except in rare circumstances. The Marines, however, are primarily assigned to protecting federal buildings.
READ MORE: Timeline: How ICE raids sparked LA protests and prompted Trump to send the military
Previously, the top military commander in charge of the troops deployed to Los Angeles asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if 200 of those forces could be returned to wildfire fighting duty.
Some politicians sounded he alarm, saying National Guard troops who would normally be working on state fire prevention and drug enforcement were deployed to L.A.
California has just entered peak wildfire season, and Gov. Gavin Newsom warned that the Guard was understaffed due to the Los Angeles protest deployment.
The top military commander of those troops, U.S. Northern Command head Gen. Gregory Guillot, 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 Associated Press contributed to this report.
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