The National Guard came to Los Angeles to disrupt the chaos. The troops end up fighting boredom
They were deployed by the Trump administration to combat “violent, uprising mobs” in and around Los Angeles, but in recent days the only thing many of the U.S. Marines and the California National Guard seem to be fighting is fighting.
“There’s nothing to do,” said a Marine as she stood guard outside the towering Wilhill Federal Building in Westwood this week.
Fierce protests in downtown Los Angeles that first encountered federal immigration attacks were nowhere to be seen on Wilhill Avenue or Veterans Avenue, so many troops experienced time chatting and jokes. The Marine declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to journalists, saying his role was primarily to approve visitors from the Federal Office of Workers and Veterans Affairs.
In the wills of Trump mobilized against California Gov. Gavin Newsom and La Karen Bass, more than five weeks after Trump mobilized an extraordinary military force, few National Guards and Marines remained in the public eye, with most retreating to local military bases in Orange County.
To show the military’s role in immigration enforcement operations has decreased, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the release of 2,000 National Guards on Tuesday. Now, Bass, the News Agency and others have demanded a complete evacuation of the remaining troops – about 2,000 California National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines.
Newsom said on X: “Thousands of members are still federalized in Los Angeles for no reason and cannot perform their key responsibilities throughout the state.”
“End this theater and send everyone home,” the governor said.
Bass said the troops’ main mission in Los Angeles is to protect federal buildings that “frankly don’t need to be protected.”
“They have to leave their families, have to leave education, have to leave work,” Bass said in a press conference Tuesday. “We have no problems for weeks, so why are they here?”
Steve Woolford, a resource consultant for nonprofit GI Rights Hotline, provided service staff with free confidential information, said the troops’ calls dropped sharply last month.
“The latest people I talk to sound like they’re bored and have nothing to do,” Wolford said. “They’re happy with it: they don’t ask for more. At the same time, I don’t think people see the real purpose at all.”
According to military officials and Governor’s Office officials, most National Guards have been stationed at the joint force training base in Los Alametos, and they speak on anonymous.
Over the past few weeks, a large tent city has risen at its Orange County base—about 25 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, some of which extend to 50 yards, offering living areas, cafeteria space and other amenities. On a recent morning, some people can be seen wearing full battle fatigue, some wearing T-shirts and shorts, and can be seen exercising, exercising and playing football games.
A group of separate Marines and National Guards remained in the Westwood Federal Building for the entire month. A Marine Corps who spoke with the Times said the federal building had equipped the troops for sleep and diet arrangements.
To be sure, some of the California National Guards are on intense missions with federal immigration agents on farms, warehouses and public streets.
On July 7, the guards accompanied federal agents in the performance of force of military events as they landed in horseback and armored vehicles at MacArthur Park. It is not clear if there were any arrests that day, but the crowd quickly formed around federal agents and troops, screaming for them to “take out F-Eliminate!”
A few days later, when migrant agents arrested about 200 ignorant immigrants at the Glass House Farm, a large, licensed cannabis garden, about 200 suspected undocumented immigrants in Camarillo, guards wearing riot-face shields and hundreds of protesters clutching long wooden batons.
But in recent weeks, most deployed guards and marines seem to have not been engaged in raids or even federal building security.
According to sources in the Newsom office, an estimated 90% of the National Guard has been stationed in the Los Angeles area in the past few days.
“In most cases … they sit around,” the source said.
The source spoke on anonymity because they spoke publicly on the deployment without authorization, and he said that an estimated 3% of the 4,000 soldiers (about 120 soldiers) participated in the daily mission, mainly consisting of the security of federal buildings.
Hundreds of other people stood in the “Quick Response” mission, preparing to mobilize immigrant raids or crowd control operations within a few hours. Even if all these troops are used every day, there are still about 88% of the 4,000 soldiers left (or three-quarters of the remaining 2,000 soldiers), which are underutilized, the sources said.
The Pentagon and Task Force 51 are military designations for Los Angeles-area forces, refusing to answer questions about how many guards and Marines are involved in daily tasks of protecting federal buildings or accompanying immigration agents. They also did not comment on the Newsom office’s claims that most troops were “sitting together.”
A task force statement said the guard soldiers and the Marines “mainly protect fixed-site federal facilities and protect federal law enforcement officers when conducting immigration enforcement activities such as assurance services.”
Federal officials also declined to provide precise details about the cost of deployment. Hegseth had previously said that the cost of mobilizing troops was $134 million, but it is not clear whether the estimate was accurate.
Jennifer Kavanagh, head of military analysis for defense priorities at the Military Research Group, said there is little evidence that a military presence is needed.
“Demand for the Los Angeles military is low, and demand for the National Guard elsewhere in the state is rising,” Cavana said. “After so much time, they are still deployed and seemingly not needed, it does show that it is indeed a precedent for getting the military involved in immigration enforcement and deploying it in U.S. cities.”
Kori Schake, senior fellow and director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, agreed: “They have a real training job – fighting and winning the nation’s war – this kind of performative policing is distracting.”
When the Trump administration announced that it would send 2,000 guards to Los Angeles, they would send 2,000 guards to the city and 2,000 guards to Los Angeles when protesters graffitied buildings in downtown areas burned Waymo driverless cars and clashed with ice, and they would try to conduct immigration attacks.
The Trump administration redoubled its efforts when California leaders protested and said deployment was unnecessary. 700 Marines from the Marine Air Ground Combat Center on June 10 Arrived A week later in Los Angeles, the task force swelled to 4,800 people when Heggs added 2,000 guards.
Newsom denounced Trump for preparing wildfire season for members of the California National Guard, noting that due to the deployment, the troops assigned to wildfires accounted for only 40% of their regular staffing levels. The governor’s office also complained that about 150 California Guard soldiers were withdrawn from the state’s anti-drug task force, which focused on interrupting drug dealings across the U.S.-Mexico border and across California.
The Trump administration finally approved a request to release 150 guard members for state wildfire suppression.
The Guards have been deployed to Los Angeles before, but have never defied the wishes of the mayor of Los Angeles and the governor of California.
In 1992, George HW Bush mobilized the National Guard to hold a riot in Los Angeles for a multi-day riot after President George HW Bush beat four white policemen in a jury. It was eventually dispatched about 6,000 soldiers, which was then the then government of California. Pete Wilson and Mayor Tom Bradley protect the failure points and control the community after mobs attack shops, torch buildings, and in some extreme cases beat and kill residents. The times are known as “the worst civil strife in Los Angeles’ history.”
The guards were summoned again in the 2020 protests about 30 years later, following the murder of George Floyd. After downtown buildings were destroyed and graffitied and police cars burned, Mayor Eric Garcetti asked Newsom to send 1,000 National Guards to resume orders and assist local law enforcement.
But last month, the federal government dispatched troops without the support of local politicians to start a fierce legal showdown.
The National Guard on the grounds of Los Angeles, Newsom and Atty the next day. General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to end an “illegal and unnecessary takeover” of the California National Guard department. They argue that without the governor’s consent or input, the National Guard’s unfounded command violated the U.S. Constitution and surpassed the President’s Chapter 10.
A U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco supported the state and ruled on June 12 that Trump violated Los Angeles, violated the state’s will, and violated the law. The judge issued a temporary restraining order that would return control of the National Guard to California. But the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals suspended the court’s order, allowing troops to stay in Los Angeles when federal court proceedings are filed.
Kavanagh said she would not want to see the guards accompanying federal agents in an immigration attack. Even if they have orders not to participate in law enforcement activities, the confrontation may escalate soon.
“There are a lot of opportunities to get things out of control,” she said. “While we haven’t seen any unintentional escalation yet, that doesn’t mean we won’t.”
Service staff advocates warned of low morale when troops were first deployed to Los Angeles. Wolford said the gastrointestinal rights hotline has received a series of calls for attention on immigration enforcement.
Wolford said some military personnel told the Hotline that they don’t want to support ice or play any role in the role of deporting people because they think immigration is part of the community, or immigrants to their families. Others say they don’t want to point guns at citizens. Some worry that the country is on the brink of martial arts and things like that and say they don’t want to be an armed occupier of their own country.
Many were shocked that the deployment order lasted 60 days.
“They really can’t keep us for that long, right?” Wolford said he was asked.
But when the military brought more contractors and built huge tents with cribs, Wolford said the hotline callers seemed to have resigned even more because they would stay in Los Angeles for a long time.
When asked about the pressure the troops faced on their mission to Los Angeles, a Marine outside the Wilshire Federal Building summed it up in this way:
“That’s just an order,” he said. “We do what we know – it’s a system.”
era sTaff wRiter Jeanette Marantos contributes to this report.
