After weeks of infighting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday night ordered the withdrawal of roughly 2,000 National Guard troops from Los Angeles—about half of the total force stationed there—amid mounting political backlash over their controversial presence.
“Thanks to our troops who stepped up to answer the call, the lawlessness in Los Angeles is subsiding,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement.
The move marks a major scaling back of a military operation that began in early June, after a wave of immigration raids triggered citywide protests. President Donald Trump had federalized the California National Guard and dispatched 4,000 troops, along with more than 700 active-duty Marines, in one of the largest domestic deployments in recent history.
The White House initially signaled a 60-day mission, but it’s unclear why the drawdown began ahead of schedule—or how long the remaining forces will stay. What’s clear is that the decision follows intense criticism from state and local Democrats, who slammed the mobilization as a politically motivated show of force.
By mid-June, most protests had quieted down, and Mayor Karen Bass lifted a curfew she had imposed in parts of downtown Los Angeles. But the troops remained. According to The New York Times, National Guard members were seen standing with rifles outside federal buildings and maneuvering through Los Angeles traffic in armored vehicles, raising alarm in immigrant communities already rattled by Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity.
Trump’s decision to activate the Guard without California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s consent was unprecedented—it marked the first time a president had federalized National Guard troops over a governor’s objections since 1965. California sued, with Attorney General Rob Bonta calling the move unconstitutional and an infringement on state authority. But a federal appeals court rejected the challenge, ruling that Trump had “exercised his statutory authority.”
Despite the legal defeat, California officials kept the pressure on. Bass and other leaders demanded a full withdrawal and framed the issue as one of state sovereignty and civil rights.
“This happened because the people of Los Angeles stood united and stood strong,” Bass said Tuesday. “We organized peaceful protests, we came together at rallies, we took the Trump administration to court—all of this led to today’s retreat.”
Newsom, meanwhile, called the deployment an “assault on democracy” and accused the White House of targeting “people who are least able to defend themselves.”
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The military has insisted that troops are not authorized to arrest civilians, only to detain individuals who pose a threat to federal personnel or property until law enforcement can take over. Still, the heavy presence has altered daily life in parts of the city, particularly immigrant-heavy neighborhoods. One LA-area mayor, Arturo Flores, a Marine veteran, described the actions of ICE and the presence of troops as a “campaign of domestic terror” and “psychological warfare.”
The drawdown is a meaningful shift, but not a full retreat. About 2,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines remain in the region. Los Angeles is still under military watch, but for the first time since the deployment began, there’s a sense that the end may finally be in sight.