The Trump administration’s military deployment in Los Angeles has cost nearly $120 million so far, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California reported on Thursday as he demanded that the White House release the remaining troops.
Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, said the figure came from data obtained by the governor’s office and the California National Guard after he made a public-records request to the Defense Department. It reflects the cost since June 7, when President Trump ordered the first of more than 4,000 National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines into the nation’s second-largest city in response to immigration protests.
The expenses, Mr. Newsom said, included $71 million for food and shelter, $37 million in payroll, more than $4 million in logistics supplies, $3.5 million in travel and $1.5 million for demobilization.
The Pentagon initially estimated that the activation would cost $134 million and last about 60 days. As of Thursday, the deployment has lasted 89 days, with about 300 troops remaining on orders that have been extended into November.
In a statement, Mr. Newsom condemned the Los Angeles deployment as “political theater” that has sent “millions of taxpayer dollars down the drain” and corroded the readiness of the National Guard.
Mr. Newsom’s public-records request to military officials last month called on them to tell American taxpayers “how much this folly has cost them.” His office still has not formally received a response from the Defense Department to that request. The governor also requested cost calculations from the California National Guard, which supplied his office with the data.
The nearly $120 million figure is consistent with standard pay and support costs for the Marines and the National Guard. The total cost matched data supplied to the federal government, according to a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the deployment costs with the press.
At the height of the deployment, thousands of National Guard soldiers were being housed in a sprawling and hastily erected tent city south of Los Angeles at a military facility near Long Beach. Only a few hundred troops were assigned any duties away from the base. Many of those who were given outside assignments — largely to assist federal agents arresting undocumented immigrants in workplaces — were used illegally, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.
Federal law generally prohibits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement, and military officials who testified in court described an ongoing struggle to ensure that troops were not used by federal agents in ways that violated their authority or endangered the public. In interviews with The New York Times, several members of the National Guard, including infantrymen and two officials in leadership roles, spoke of low morale during the deployment. They described troops who were demoralized, bored and questioning the mission. On the upside, they said, the federal activation meant better benefits and higher pay.
Most of the troops have since been released, with the remainder scattered across several federal facilities in Southern California. The Trump administration extended their activation last month, saying the troops are needed to protect federal buildings and personnel.
This week, Mr. Newsom asked the federal court to order their removal, saying that the extension amounted to an “intimidation” tactic in advance of a November special election on redistricting that could impact control of Congress in 2026.
Mr. Newsom’s announcement of the deployment costs came as other Democratic-led cities across the United States have braced for the presence of federal troops.
Mr. Trump has already sent National Guard troops into Washington, D.C., saying the military is needed there to fight crime. And he has suggested that the National Guard could be sent into Chicago, New Orleans and other cities.
Shawn Hubler is The Times’s Los Angeles bureau chief, reporting on the news, trends and personalities of Southern California.
The post Trump’s L.A. Military Deployment Cost $120 Million So Far, Newsom Says appeared first on New York Times.
