Trump administration releases 2,000 California National Guard members in Los Angeles
The U.S. Department of Defense on Tuesday released half of the 4,000 California National Guard members it deployed last month to crack down on anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the release of 2,000 Guard members it had deployed to the South State on June 7, according to Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell.
“Thanks to our troops who stepped up to answer the call, the lawlessness in Los Angeles is subsiding,” Parnell said in a statement. His office declined to say why they were being released before their initial 60-day deployment was set to expire.
In early June, the Pentagon seized control of the National Guard over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s objections and ordered them, along with 700 Marines, to guard federal buildings and immigration officials as they carried out a series of deportation raids around Southern California.
At least 160 people were arrested in the ensuing protests, including a labor leader who was hospitalized while protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The still-ongoing raids were ordered by White House aide Stephen Miller, a Santa Monica native, to arrest hundreds of undocumented migrants and deport them from the U.S. A farm worker died last week after falling 30 feet from a rooftop during an immigration raid on a cannabis farm in Ventura County.
Newsom sued to stop the Department of Defense from seizing control of the Guard, which was the first time since 1965 that the federal government took over a state militia against a governor’s wishes. The case is ongoing.
Since then, he and President Donald Trump, who suggested that he would arrest Newsom, have taunted each other in media interviews and on social media.
“For more than a month, the National Guard has been pulled away from their families, communities and civilian work to serve as political pawns for the President in Los Angeles,” Newsom said Tuesday.
“While nearly 2,000 of them are starting to demobilize, the remaining guards members continue without a mission, without direction and without any hopes of returning to help their communities. We call on Trump and the Department of Defense to end this theater and send everyone home now.”
This story was originally published July 15, 2025 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Trump administration releases 2,000 California National Guard members in Los Angeles."
