National Guard, Marine deployment in Los Angeles costs $134 million: Pentagon
National Guard, Marine deployment in Los Angeles costs $134 million: Pentagon The revelation before a congressional committee came as Democratic officials in California have criticized President Donald Trump deploying the military over the wishes of the state's governor.
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Anti-ICE raid demonstrators protest into fourth night
Anti-immigration raid protests are continuing into the fourth night as the Pentagon deployed active-duty U.S. Marines.
Bryn MacDonnell, a special assistant to the defense secretary, said the 60-day deployment is estimated to cost $134 million.
Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-California, voiced his 'severe concern' with the deployment without consulting with Gov. Gavin Newsom.
WASHINGTON – Defense officials said the Pentagon is spending $134 million to deploy 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to respond to protests against federal immigration enforcement in Los Angeles.
Bryn MacDonnell, a special assistant to the secretary of Defense, said the cost for the 60-day deployment for travel, housing and food is coming out of operations and maintenance accounts.
More: Amid LA deployment, Hegseth falsely attacks Tim Walz over 2020 George Floyd riots
'What's the justification for using the military for civilian law enforcement purposes in LA?' Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-California, asked at a House Appropriations subcommittee on the Defense Department's budget. 'Why are you sending warfighters to cities to interact with civilians?'
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said President Donald Trump 'believes in law and order.'
'Every American citizen deserves to live in a city that's safe,' Hegseth said. 'We're proud to do it.'
Aguilar said troops were seen sleeping on floors and not provided food, fuel or water from the Defense Department, reflecting a lack of preparation for the deployment.
'I want to express my severe concern with the deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles without consultation with the state of California,' Aguilar said. 'Why were we unprepared to provide them basic necessities?'
Hegseth called the criticism 'disingenuous' for a hasty deployment and said he was personally monitoring the mission.
'There are moments when you make do as best you can temporarily,' Hegseth said. 'We are ensuring they are housed, fed, water capabilities in real time – from my office because I care that much about the California Guard and the Marines.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
18 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Dozens of LA-area mayors demand the Trump administration stop intensified immigration raids
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dozens of mayors from across the Los Angeles region banded together Wednesday to demand that the Trump administration stop the stepped-up immigration raids that have spread fear across their cities and sparked protests across the U.S. But there were no signs President Donald Trump would heed their pleas. About 500 of the National Guard troops deployed to the Los Angeles protests have been trained to accompany agents on immigration operations , the commander in charge said Wednesday. And while some troops have already gone on such missions, he said it's too early to say if that will continue even after the protests die down. 'We are expecting a ramp-up,' said Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, noting that protests across the nation were being discussed. 'I'm focused right here in LA, what's going on right here. But you know, I think we're, we're very concerned.' Hours later, a demonstration in Los Angeles' civic center just before start of the second night of the city's downtown curfew briefly turned chaotic when police in riot gear — many on horseback — charged at a group, striking them with wooden rods and later fired crowd control projectiles, including one that struck a woman who writhed in pain on the ground. After the curfew went into effect, a handful of arrests were made before the area cleared out and the evening quieted down. The LA-area mayors and city council members urged Trump to stop using armed military troops alongside immigration agents. 'I'm asking you, please listen to me, stop terrorizing our residents,' said Brenda Olmos, vice mayor of Paramount, who said she was hit by rubber bullets over the weekend. 'You need to stop these raids.' Speaking alongside the other mayors at a news conference, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the raids spread fear at the behest of the White House. The city's nightly curfew will remain in effect as long as necessary. It covers a 1-square-mile (2.5-square-kilometer) section of downtown where the protests have been concentrated in the city that encompasses roughly 500 square miles (1,295 square kilometers). 'If there are raids that continue, if there are soldiers marching up and down our streets, I would imagine that the curfew will continue,' Bass said. Those who have been caught up in the nationwide raids include asylum seekers, people who overstayed their visas and migrants awaiting their day in immigration court. The administration has cited the protests in its decision to deploy the military. Governor asks court to step in California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, has asked a federal court to put an emergency stop to the military helping immigration agents in the nation's second-largest city. This week, guardsmen began standing protectively around agents as they carry out arrests. A judge set a hearing for Thursday. The Trump administration called the lawsuit a 'crass political stunt endangering American lives' in its official response on Wednesday. The military is now closer to engaging in law enforcement actions such as deportations, as Trump has promised in his crackdown . The Guard has the authority to temporarily detain people who attack officers, but any arrests must be made by law enforcement. The president posted on the Truth Social platform that the city 'would be burning to the ground' if he had not sent in the military. Some 2,000 National Guard soldiers are in Los Angeles and are soon to be joined by 2,000 more along with about 700 Marines, Sherman said. Speaking in an interview with The Associated Press and ABC, Sherman initially said National Guard troops had already temporarily detained civilians in the Los Angeles protests over immigration raids. He later said he based his comments on photos and footage he had seen that turned out not to be a representation of Guard members in Los Angeles. Curfew continues in downtown LA Police detained more than 20 people, mostly on curfew violations, on the first night of the curfew and used crowd-control projectiles to break up hundreds of protesters. But officers were more aggressive in controlling demonstrators Wednesday evening and as the curfew took effect, police were beginning to make arrests. Los Angeles police have made nearly 400 arrests and detentions since Saturday, the vast majority of which were for failing to leave the area at the request of law enforcement, according to the police department. There have been a handful of more serious charges, including for assault against police officers and for possession of a Molotov cocktail and a gun. Nine police officers have been hurt, mostly with minor injures. Some were transported to a hospital and released. Protests have spread nationwide Demonstrations have also spread to other cities nationwide, including Dallas and Austin in Texas, and Chicago and New York, where thousands rallied and more arrests were made. In New York City, police said they took 86 people into custody during protests in lower Manhattan that lasted into Wednesday morning. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the majority of demonstrators were peaceful. A 66-year-old woman in Chicago was injured when she was struck by a car during downtown protests Tuesday evening, police said. Video showed a car speeding down a street where people were protesting. In Texas, where police in Austin used chemical irritants to disperse several hundred demonstrators Monday, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's office said Texas National Guard troops were 'on standby' in areas where demonstrations are planned. Guard members were sent to San Antonio, but Police Chief William McManus said he had not been told how many troops were deployed or their role ahead of planned protests Wednesday night and Saturday. Officers with the Texas Department of Public Safety said the Texas National Guard was present at a protest downtown. The protests began Friday after federal immigration raids arrested dozens of workers in Los Angeles. ___ Golden reported from Seattle. Associated Press writers Julie Watson in San Diego, Jesse Bedayn in Denver, and Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
News24
21 minutes ago
- News24
Marines to patrol LA streets as some residents say: ‘Our city is not at all on fire'
US Marines will be on the streets of Los Angeles within days to help control protests. Democrats have condemned the Trump administration's action as authoritarian. Some in the city say the scale of the protests is exaggerated. US Marines will join National Guard troops on the streets of Los Angeles within two days, officials said on Wednesday, and would be authorised to detain anyone who interferes with immigration officers on raids or protesters who confront federal agents. US President Donald Trump ordered the deployments over the objections of California Governor Gavin Newsom, sparking a national debate about the use of the military on US soil and animating protests that have spread from Los Angeles to other major cities, including New York, Atlanta and Chicago. Los Angeles on Wednesday endured a sixth day of protests that have been largely peaceful but occasionally punctuated by violence, mostly contained to a few blocks of the city's downtown area. The protests broke out last Friday in response to a series of immigration raids. Trump in turn called in the National Guard on Saturday, then summoned the Marines on Monday. 'If I didn't act quickly on that, Los Angeles would be burning to the ground right now,' said Trump at an event at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. READ | 'The president wants a big show': Trump sends in Marines as night curfew imposed on Los Angeles State and local leaders dispute that, saying Trump has only escalated tensions with an unnecessary and illegal deployment of federal troops, while Democrats nationally have condemned his action as authoritarian. AFP reported that six days after unrest began - prompting the US president to send soldiers into the streets, over the furious protests of local officials - life in the City of Angels was going on largely as normal. 'Everything is hunky dory right here at Ground Zero,' Lynn Sturgis, a retired teacher who was protesting outside the federal complex that has been at the heart of the demonstrations in Downtown Los Angeles, told AFP. Our city is not at all on fire, it's not burning down, as our terrible leader is trying to tell you. Lynn Sturgis 'Not at all... this is very calm,' protester Ellen Carpenter, a retired federal worker who was demonstrating alongside Sturgis, told AFP. 'I lived in Washington, DC for a long time, so I was part of very large protests there, you know, millions and millions of people. This is a little wimpy by comparison.' 'This whole thing has been manufactured by the current administration,' Sturgis said. According to Reuters, Trump is carrying out a campaign promise to deport immigrants, employing forceful tactics consistent with the norm-breaking political style that got him elected twice. 'President Trump promised to carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history and left-wing riots will not deter him in that effort,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt US military said on Wednesday that a battalion of 700 Marines had concluded training specific to the Los Angeles mission, including de-escalation and crowd control. They would join National Guard under the authority of a federal law known as Title 10 within 48 hours, not to conduct civilian policing but to protect federal officers and property, the military said. 'Title 10 forces may temporarily detain an individual in specific circumstances such as to stop an assault, to prevent harm to others, or to prevent interference with federal personnel performing their duties,' the Northern Command said. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement: 'If any rioters attack ICE law enforcement officers, military personnel have the authority to temporarily detain them until law enforcement makes the arrest.'US Army Major General Scott Sherman, who commands the task force of Marines and Guardsmen, told reporters the Marines will not carry live ammunition in their rifles, but they will carry live rounds. Newsom and the state of California have sued Trump and the Defence Department to stop the deployment, maintaining that none of the Title 10 conditions were met to justify military deployment - such as a when the US is under threat from a foreign invasion or rebellion. California is also seeking a temporary restraining order to immediately stop the National Guard and Marines from participating in civilian law enforcement. A hearing on that restraining order is scheduled for Thursday in San Francisco federal court. The Trump administration argued in a court filing ahead of the hearing that the president has the discretion to determine whether a 'rebellion or danger of a rebellion' requires a military downtown LA, shortly before the second night of a curfew over a 2.5km2 area, relative calm was broken. Police said demonstrators at one location threw commercial grade fireworks and rocks at officers. Another group of nearly 1 000 demonstrators were peacefully marching through downtown when police suddenly opened fired with less lethal munitions in front of City Hall. Marlene Lopez, 39, a Los Angeles native, was demonstrating as flash bangs exploded just a few metres away. 'I am out here because of the fact that our human rights are being violated every day. If we give up, it's over. We have to stand our ground here in LA so that the nation will follow us,' Lopez said. Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Other protests have also taken place in Santa Ana, a largely Mexican-American city about 50km to the south, as well as major cities such as Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Seattle, Boston and Washington and San Antonio, Texas. New York police said an unknown number of people had been taken into custody on Wednesday. On Tuesday New York police said they took 86 people into custody, of which 34 were arrested and charged, while the others received a criminal court summons. The protests are set to expand on Saturday, when several activist groups have planned more than 1 800 anti-Trump demonstrations across the country. That day, tanks and other armoured vehicles will rumble down the streets of Washington, DC, in a military parade marking the US Army's 250th anniversary and coinciding with Trump's 79th birthday.
CNN
29 minutes ago
- CNN
Troops begin detaining immigrants in national defense zone at border in escalation of military role
US troops have begun directly detaining immigrants accused of trespassing on a recently designated national defense zone along the southern US border, in an escalation of the military's enforcement role, authorities said Wednesday US Army Lieutenant Colonel Chad Campbell described in detail the first detentions by troops last week of three immigrants accused of trespassing in a national defense area near Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Those migrants were quickly turned over to US Customs and Border Protection and are now among more than 1,400 migrants to have been charged with illegally entering militarized areas along that border, under a new border enforcement strategy from President Donald Trump's administration. Troops are prohibited from conducting civilian law enforcement on US soil under the Posse Comitatus Act. But an exception known as the military purpose doctrine allows it in some instances. Authorities 'noticed three individuals crossing the protective barrier into the United States,' Campbell said. 'A Department of Defense response went to interdict those three individuals, told them to sit down. … In a matter of three minutes, border patrol agents came in to apprehend. So that three minutes is that temporary detention' by the military. Trump has designated two national military defense areas along the southern US border for New Mexico and a 60-mile stretch of western Texas, from El Paso to Fort Hancock, while transferring much of the land from the Interior Department to oversight by the Department of Defense for three years. The Trump administration plans eventually to add more militarized zones along the border, a military spokesman said Wednesday at a news conference in El Paso. 'We have been very clear that there will be additional National Defense Areas across the southern border,' said Geoffrey Carmichael, a spokesperson for an enforcement task force at the southern border. 'I won't speculate to where those are going to be.' Proponents of the militarized zones, including federal prosecutors, say the approach augments traditional efforts by Customs and Border Protection and other law enforcement agencies to secure the border. 'These partnerships and consequences exist so that we can promote the most humane border environment we've ever had,' El Paso sector Border Patrol Chief Agent Walter Slosar said. 'We are dissuading people from entering the smuggling cycle … to make sure that smugglers cannot take advantage of individuals who are trying to come into the United States.' Defense attorneys — and judges in some instances — are pushing back against the novel application of national security charges against immigrants who enter through those militarized zones — and carry a potential sentence of 18 months in prison on top of a possible six-month sentence for illegal entry. A judge in New Mexico has dismissed more than 100 national security charges against immigrants, finding little evidence that immigrants knew about the national defense areas. Those migrants still confronted charges of illegal entry to the US. In Texas, a Peruvian woman who crossed the US border illegally was acquitted of unauthorized access to a newly designated militarized zone in the first trial under the Trump administration's efforts. US Attorney Justin Simmons, who oversees western Texas, vowed to press forward with more military trespassing charges. 'We're gonna keep going forward on these NDA charges,' Simmons said. 'We are gonna still bring them, we may win on them, we may not. … At the end of the day, you are not going to be allowed to stay in this country if you enter this country illegally.' Greater military engagement at the border takes place at the same time dozens of mayors from across the Los Angeles region banded together Wednesday to demand that the Trump administration stop the stepped-up immigration raids that have spread fear across their cities and sparked protests across the US. Trump has authorized the deployment of an additional 2,000 National Guard members to respond to immigration protests in LA. That directive brings the total number of Guard put on federal orders for the protests to more than 4,100. The Pentagon had already deployed about 700 Marines to the protests to the city.
