The Department of Defense is sending thousands more National Guard troops to protect federal property amid anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) riots in Los Angeles.
“By direction of the Secretary of Defense and in coordination with U.S. Northern Command, 2,000 additional California Army National Guard soldiers have been activated in a Title 10 status to support the protection of federal functions, personnel, and property in the greater Los Angeles area,” according to a Tuesday release from U.S. Northern Command.
The release says that the 49th Military Police Brigade will be sent to serve alongside the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat team and the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, under the direction of Task Force 51, which is commanded by Maj. Gen. Scott M. Sherman.
HEGSETH DEFENDS NATIONAL GUARD LA DEPLOYMENTS, SAYS ICE AGENTS MUST BE PROTECTED
The task force, which has been the subject of controversy since it was deployed to the West Coast city after an eruption of violence stemming from immigration operations carried out by ICE, will now be comprised of 4,100 National Guardsmen and 700 active duty Marines.
Gov. Gavin Newsom last week sued the Trump administration for deploying troops to California in the first place, accusing the president of having “commandeered” 2,000 of the state’s National Guard members “illegally, for no reason” without consulting with California’s law enforcement leaders.
“The INCOMPETENT Governor of California was unable to provide protection in a timely manner when our Ice Officers, GREAT Patriots they are, were attacked by an out of control mob of agitators, troublemakers, and/or insurrectionists,” Trump said on TRUTH Social in response to the lawsuit. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled in favor of Newsom.
An appellate court is currently reviewing the matter.
Northern Command said that the troops will not be used in a civilian law enforcement capacity, but rather they will “provide Task Force 51 with adequate numbers of forces to provide continuous coverage of the area in support of the lead federal agency.”
“The soldiers are completing training on de-escalation, crowd control, and use of the standing rules for the use of force in advance of joining the federal protection mission,” the release said.
“This is clean up from the Pentagon,” Newsom spokesperson Diana Crofts-Pelayo told Fox News Digital in a Wednesday morning statement. “This isn’t a new deployment — it’s the same group of soldiers who have been diverted from critical wildfire work and work at the border, now twiddling their thumbs for Donald Trump’s political theater. This is the deployment of the second set of 2,000 federalized Guard soldiers, under the June 9 order. The description of what they are and aren’t going to be doing is meant to be consistent with their legal position, rather than the immigration enforcement support we’ve seen them doing in Los Angeles.”
About two weeks ago, riots erupted in Paramount, California, just south of Los Angeles, after ICE conducted immigration sweeps in the city. Those riots quickly spread north, leading to several nights of showdowns between law enforcement and unruly bad actors.
Stores in downtown Los Angeles were broken into and looted, and some of the downtown area was vandalized with anti-ICE and anti-Trump graffiti.
Several “Kill Trump” messages were graffitied in the city’s downtown. The U.S. Secret Service told Fox News Digital last week it was “aware” of the threatening messages.
Meanwhile, violent behavior continues to flare up.
A mob of 100 looters ransacked an AutoZone in southern Los Angeles early Monday morning, resulting in the reported loss of $67,000 in merchandise.
Detectives are investigating whether the looting episode is related to a “street takeover.”
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
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