Military requesting to pull 200 troops back from California protest duty

Military requesting to pull troops from protests

The military is requesting the National Guard to reassign 200 troops to firefighting duty instead of being at protest sites in the wake of ongoing wildfires.

LOS ANGELES - The top military commander overseeing troops in Los Angeles has formally requested that 200 National Guard forces be re-assigned from responding to immigration protests to wildfire-fighting duties. 

What we know:

The head of U.S. Northern Command, General Gregory Guillot, has submitted a request to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to return 200 National Guard troops to Joint Task Force Rattlesnake, the California National Guard’s wildfire unit. 

This comes after President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of about 4,000 California National Guard troops and 800 active duty Marines to Los Angeles in early June, against the wishes of Governor Gavin Newsom.

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The deployment was in response to protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. 

California has recently entered its peak wildfire season, and Governor Newsom has warned that the Guard is understaffed due to the Los Angeles deployment.

The backstory:

The federal troops' domestic deployment has raised multiple legal questions, particularly concerning whether the administration would invoke emergency powers under the Insurrection Act to allow these forces to conduct law enforcement on U.S. soil. 

While the Insurrection Act has not been used, in at least one instance, Marines have temporarily detained civilians in Los Angeles. 

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President Trump has stated that "there has been an invasion" of migrants entering the country without legal permission. 

At the height of the deployments, members of Congress questioned Secretary Hegseth in annual budget hearings about a potential nationwide extension of the deployment, but he did not provide a direct response.

What they're saying:

General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers at the time, "I don’t see any foreign, state-sponsored folks invading, but I’ll be mindful of the fact that there have been some border issues."

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The U.S. officials who provided details on the request to reassign troops spoke on the condition of anonymity, as the information had not yet been publicly announced.