Pentagon withdraws about half of National Guard troops from Los Angeles

About half of the California National Guard members deployed to Los Angeles last month are being released, the Pentagon said Tuesday, significantly rolling back the Trump administration’s unprecedented military deployment to the city.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell indicated in a statement that the administration had been successful in dispelling what it deemed violent dissent in the region.

“Thanks to our troops who stepped up to answer the call, the lawlessness in Los Angeles is subsiding,” he said. “As such, the Secretary has ordered the release of 2,000 California National Guardsmen (79th IBCT) from the federal protection mission.”

President Donald Trump had ordered about 4,000 California National Guard troops and 700 active-duty Marines to Los Angeles in June, in response to mass demonstrations opposing immigration raids across the region.

State and city leaders have repeatedly called for an end to the deployment, which had been authorized for 60 days despite the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). It marked the first time in about 60 years that an American president made such a decision without a governor’s consent.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) on Tuesday credited the withdrawal of troops to the city’s pushback against the deployment.

“This happened because the people of Los Angeles stood united and stood strong. We organized peaceful protests, we came together at rallies, we took the Trump administration to court – all of this led to today’s retreat,” Bass said in a statement.

In a later news briefing, Bass – who had personally asked White House officials not to send in the Guard – again argued that the deployment was unnecessary.

“We are a city of 500 square miles. We had problems in about 2 square miles,” she said.

Bass suggested that ceasing the use of certain tactics during the immigration raids would have eased tensions: “What we saw was masked men, unmarked cars, drawing guns, snatching people off the street.”

The Washington Post reported Friday that a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from conducting indiscriminate immigration stops in the Los Angeles area and denying detainees access to lawyers.

The June protests drew thousands of people but were not especially large by Los Angeles standards. Videos circulated showing smashed cars and self-driving Waymo cars set ablaze, and Los Angeles police reported that some people threw “concrete, bottles and other objects.” But the protests remained contained to a few downtown blocks, and instances of violence were sporadic. Trump repeatedly condemned participants as “insurrectionists,” “looters” and “criminals” before deploying the military to the city.

The move escalated Trump’s ongoing feud with Newsom and other Democratic state leaders.

California swiftly sued the Trump administration, arguing that Trump overstepped his authority by calling up the National Guard in defiance of the governor. A federal appeals court last month ruled that Trump could keep the Guard in Los Angeles as the litigation continues.

The Pentagon released 150 National Guard members earlier this month in its first rollback, but about 4,000 remained on the ground, drawing ire from activists and city and state leaders.

Newsom on Tuesday called on the Defense Department to send the remaining troops home.

“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,” he said in a statement. “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.”

As of last week, mass anti-ICE protests had given way to quieter, more methodical dissent as the agency continued enforcement operations across the region – recently showing up at MacArthur Park in central Los Angeles and at two California cannabis farms.

Bass, at the news briefing Tuesday, sought to highlight the fear and disruption experienced by the immigrant community.

“Now, I’m hoping that people … will feel that they can leave their homes and go back to work, that the restaurants that were on the verge of closing will now be able to be maintained, that the 4,000 independent businesses in the garment district will come alive again, because it’s been a ghost town,” she said.