Federal officials at the Pentagon confirmed that half of the 4,000 federalized members of the California National Guard deployed in Los Angeles are being released, though 2,000 guardsmen, along with 700 active-duty Marines remain in the city.
The controversial decision to federalize the troops came after demonstrations erupted downtown in early June to protest the federal immigration crackdown in L.A. County.
Once they arrived, the troops were tasked with guarding federal buildings and protecting federal immigration agents during enforcement operations.
The state took the Trump administration to court where a federal judge ruled that the president acted illegally when he federalized the National Guard without a request from Governor Gavin Newsom. That decision, however, was later overturned by an appeals court, which returned control of the troops back to Trump while the case remains ongoing.
Newsom has continued to criticize both the court’s decision and President Trump himself, pointing out that the guardsmen have been pulled away from their families and other essential duties “to serve as pawns for the President in Los Angeles.”
“While nearly 2,000 of them are starting to demobilize, the remaining guardsmembers continue without a mission, without direction and without any hopes of returning to help their communities,” the governor’s office wrote in a post to X. “We call on Trump and the Department of Defense to end this theater and send everyone home now.”
It’s not entirely clear why federal officials abruptly ended the 60-day deployment of 2,000 guardsmen, though Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said:
“Thanks to our troops who stepped up to answer the call, the lawlessness in Los Angeles is subsiding.”
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass released a statement praising Angelenos for the demobilization of the troops.
“This happened because the people of Los Angeles stood united and stood strong,” Bass said. “We organized peaceful protests, we came together at rallies, we took the Trump administration to court — all of this led to today’s retreat.”
So far, no information has been provided about how long the remaining guardsmen and Marines will remain in the region.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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