Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth answered questions on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, at a Senate Committee on Appropriations hearing about National Guard troops deployed in Los Angeles to help quell immigration protests. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday said the National Guard could be deployed to immigration protests beyond Los Angeles and suggested the role of troops in immigration enforcement could expand despite concerns from lawmakers about legality.
Hegseth maintained the call-up of 4,000 National Guard members and 700 active-duty Marines was “lawful and constitutional” and said the same legal authorities that the Pentagon used to mobilize the National Guard in California over the objections of its governor could be employed in other cities.
“If there are other riots in places where law enforcement officers are threatened, we would have the capability to surge National Guard there if necessary,” he said in testimony to the Senate Appropriation Committee’s defense subpanel.
Hegseth did not answer when asked whether he would approve a request from the Department of Homeland Security this week to provide military drone surveillance to the agency and authorize military forces to detain or arrest American citizens protesting immigration raids.
“We very much support President Donald Trump’s focus on defending the homeland, on our southern border, as well as supporting law enforcement officials doing their jobs,” he said.
“So, the answer is yes,” said Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, a member of the subpanel who is also the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Hegseth’s testimony before the subpanel was his second appearance on Capitol Hill this week and came as protests that started in Los Angeles against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown spread across the country.
U.S. Northern Command confirmed Tuesday that service members have started accompanying federal agents as they conduct immigration raids and arrests in Los Angeles, a move that California has called unlawful.
“Service members are protecting federal assets and personnel while they perform their federal functions,” the command said in a statement. “Military service members will not directly participate in law enforcement activities.”
A federal judge in California has set a hearing for Thursday to hear California’s request to limit Marines and National Guard troops to guarding federal buildings.
Reed pointed out to Hegseth on Wednesday that maintaining law and order is a civil function under the Constitution. Hegseth countered there is “plenty of precedent for U.S. military support.”
In an exchange with Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Hegseth also refused to answer whether it was appropriate for the Pentagon to deploy the National Guard to Washington, D.C., in response to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Hegseth only said it was “the right decision” to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles and criticized former President Joe Biden’s administration for revoking his assignment to protect Biden’s inauguration when Hegseth was a member of the District of Columbia National Guard.
Murphy said Hegseth’s responses appeared to confirm concerns from many Americans that the Trump administration is “not willing to defend against attacks made on our democracy by supporters of the president” but is willing to deploy the National Guard against protesters criticizing the president.
“That’s not how our taxpayer dollars are supposed to work,” he said. “They’re supposed to be used to defend the United States, no matter the nature of the political affiliation of the protesters.”
