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President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of about 4,000
California National Guard troops and 800 active duty Marines
against the wishes of Gov. Gavin Newsom in early June to respond
to a series of protests against Immigration and Customs
Enforcement raids in Los Angeles.
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.
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.”
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