Military requesting to pull 200 troops back from California protest duty

WASHINGTON – The apical subject commandant successful complaint of troops deployed to Los Angeles to respond to protests against migration raids has asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if 200 of those forces could beryllium returned to wildfire warring duty, 2 U.S. officials told The Associated Press connected Monday.

President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of astir 4,000 California National Guard troops and 800 progressive work Marines against the wishes of Gov. Gavin Newsom successful aboriginal June to respond to a bid of protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids successful Los Angeles.

The national troops' home deployment raised aggregate ineligible questions, including whether the medication would question to employment exigency powers nether the Insurrection Act to empower those forces to behaviour instrumentality enforcement connected U.S. soil, which they are not permitted to bash but successful uncommon circumstances. The Marines, however, are chiefly assigned to protecting national buildings.

The Insurrection Act has not been used. But successful astatine slightest 1 circumstance, Marines person temporarily detained civilians successful Los Angeles.

California has conscionable entered highest wildfire season, and Newsom has warned that the Guard is present understaffed owed to the Los Angeles protestation deployment.

The apical subject commandant of those troops, U.S. Northern Command caput Gen. Gregory Guillot, precocious submitted a petition to Hegseth to instrumentality 200 of the National Guard troops backmost to Joint Task Force Rattlesnake, which is the California National Guard's wildfire unit, the officials said.

The officials spoke connected the information of anonymity to supply details not yet announced publicly.

Trump has contended that “there has been an invasion” of migrants entering the state without ineligible permission. At the tallness of the deployments immoderate members of Congress successful their annual fund hearings with the caput questioned whether helium foresaw extending the deployment nationwide, Hegseth did not supply a nonstop response.

The president of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, astatine the clip told the lawmakers “I don’t spot immoderate foreign, state-sponsored folks invading, but I’ll beryllium mindful of the information that determination person been immoderate borderline issues.”

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