Pentagon ending activation of all however 250 troops in Los Angeles – NBC Los Angeles

The Trump administration is deactivating all however 250 Nationwide Guard troops who had been initially despatched to Los Angeles in response to anti-ICE protests final month.

The Pentagon stated Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered 1,350 Nationwide Guard members to go away the area this week. The remaining 250 troops will proceed to guard federal personnel and property.

Roughly 4,000 Nationwide Guard troopers and 700 Marines had been deployed to Los Angeles in early June over the objections of state and native officers. Half of the Guard had been pulled again roughly two weeks in the past, and the Marines had been ordered to go away just a few days later.

“We tremendously recognize the assist of the greater than 5,000 Guardsmen and Marines who mobilized to Los Angeles to defend Federal capabilities in opposition to the rampant lawlessness occurring within the metropolis,” Parnell stated.

Native leaders have contested the presence of federal troops within the metropolis, blaming them for inflaming tensions within the area and stated their presence was pointless. Mayor Karen Bass known as the departure of extra troops “one other win for Los Angeles” in a publish Wednesday evening on X.

One other win for Los Angeles tonight: 1,000 extra troops are retreating.

We’ll proceed this stress till ALL troops are out of L.A.https://t.co/spbTtO09TS

— Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) July 31, 2025

The presence of Guard troops within the metropolis had been largely restricted to 2 places with federal buildings in Los Angeles, together with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement workplace and detention facility downtown. Some troopers have been defending federal brokers throughout immigration raids.

Nationwide Guard troops not too long ago accompanied federal authorities with weapons and horses at a July 7 operation at MacArthur Park, a neighborhood with massive Mexican, Central American and different immigrant populations, that ended abruptly.

A overwhelming majority of the troops remained on the Joint Forces Coaching Base in Los Alamitos throughout their time in Southern California and weren’t seen deployed in Los Angeles. Demonstrations within the metropolis and the area in latest weeks have largely been small, scattered impromptu protests round immigration arrests.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom stated in a press release that President Donald Trump’s “political theater backfired.”

“The ladies and men of our navy deserve greater than for use as props within the federal authorities’s propaganda machine,” Newsom stated.

Newsom sued the federal authorities in June over the deployment of the Nationwide Guard, arguing that Trump violated the regulation when he activated the troops with out notifying him. Newsom additionally requested the choose for an emergency cease to troops serving to perform immigration raids.

Whereas a decrease court docket ordered Trump to return management of the Guard to California, the ninth U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals briefly blocked the choose’s order.