LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Trump administration said Tuesday it is ending the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell announced the decision in a statement.
Roughly 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines had been deployed. It wasn’t immediately clear how long the rest would stay in the region. The troops were tasked with protecting federal buildings and guarding immigration agents as they carry out arrests.
The deployment began in early June and was slated to last 60 days.
President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of about 4,000 California National Guard troops and 700 active-duty Marines in early June to respond to a series of protests against immigration raids in and around Los Angeles.
Their deployment went against the wishes of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who sued to stop the deployment. A district court judge initially said Trump acted illegally when he deployed the Guard over Newsom’s opposition. But an appeals court said the administration could keep control of the troops. The case is ongoing.
Newsom said the National Guard’s deployment to L.A. has pulled troops away from their families and civilian work “to serve as political 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,” he said in a statement. “We call on Trump and the Department of Defense to end this theater and send everyone home now.”