The Pentagon has confirmed the withdrawal of 2,000 California National Guardsmen from Los Angeles, roughly half the federal troops deployed to the city. United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the withdrawal, citing that “the lawlessness in Los Angeles is subsiding”. The troops were deployed to help enforce federal immigration raids amid widespread protests.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass described the withdrawal as a “retreat”, crediting the success of peaceful protests and legal actions. “This happened because the people of Los Angeles stood united and stood strong,” Bass said. “We organised peaceful protests, we came together at rallies, we took the Trump administration to court. All of this led to today’s retreat.”
The city had joined a lawsuit that led to an order from a federal judge barring immigration officers from detaining people based solely on their race or for speaking Spanish. Federal troops deployed to Los Angeles are authorised to detain people who pose a threat to federal personnel or property, but only until police can arrest them. Military officials are not allowed to carry out arrests themselves.
According to Department of Homeland Security figures, the raids have led to the arrest of 2,792 undocumented immigrants. California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom said that “thousands of members are still federalised in Los Angeles for no reason and unable to carry out their critical duties across the state”. “End this theatre and send everyone home,” he added in a post on social media.
Despite legal challenges, a US appeals court has let Trump retain control of California’s National Guard, the first to be deployed by a US president against the wishes of a state governor since 1965. Newsom’s office said in late June that California National Guard firefighting crews were “operating at just 40 percent capacity due to Trump’s illegal Guard deployment”, as fires were “popping up across the state” months after devastating fires tore through Los Angeles.
The deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles is part of the Trump administration’s efforts to enforce immigration laws and crack down on undocumented immigration. Trump has promised to deport millions of people in the country without documentation and has executed raids at work sites, including farms that were largely exempted from enforcement during his first term. The administration has faced dozens of lawsuits across the country challenging its tactics.
A recent poll showed support for immigration in the US has increased since last year, while backing for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants has gone down. The poll suggests that the public is increasingly sympathetic to the plight of undocumented immigrants, and that Trump’s immigration policies may not be as popular as he thinks.