Sgt. 1st Class Andres Agag with the California Army National Guard pushes against the shields of other unit members while playing the role of an aggressive demonstrator during riot and crowd-control training on June 22, 2025, at Joint Forces Training Base, Calif. (National Guard photo)
Roughly 150 California National Guard troops working in Los Angeles for more than three weeks guarding federal property from immigration protesters and providing protection to federal agents making arrests have been reassigned to help prepare for wildfire season.
The troops were among more than 4,000 Guard members and 700 active-duty Marines sent to the city by President Donald Trump as immigration-related protests in early June swelled near a federal building in the downtown area. Trump authorized the deployment for 60 days.
Gov. Gavin Newsom fought with Trump over deploying the troops, arguing state and local law enforcement could handle the protests. He said Tuesday that getting the Guard troops back was “critical” to get wildfire prevention projects moving again.
“These men and women signed up to serve — not to be Trump’s political props. Letting a few of them return to fight fires is a step in the right direction, but thousands of soldiers are still being blocked from their real work as police officers, paramedics, summer schoolteachers and public servants. It’s time to send them all home,” Newsom said in a statement.
The small reduction in Guard troops came at the recommendation of Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of U.S. Northern Command, and was approved by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to NORTHCOM, the joint command overseeing the L.A. mission.
The 4,000 Guard troops and 700 Marines on duty leave the mission “appropriately sourced,” NORTHCOM said.
The Marines are primarily protecting federal buildings, though the command declined to say how many. The Guard troops are protecting federal law enforcement agents as they conduct arrests throughout the city by creating a security perimeter. The command did not say how frequently this work is carried out.
The Marines originally sent to Los Angeles were troops from 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment out of Twentynine Palms — a Marine Corps base about 140 miles east of the city. They have since been replaced by the same number of troops from 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, according to Army North, the headquarters managing the on-the-ground operations of the federal mission.
The troops of 2nd Battalion were needed to prepare for an upcoming deployment, Army North said. The Marine Corps did not respond Wednesday to a query about that upcoming deployment.
The National Guard troops relieved from the mission are full-time wildland firefighters with a specialized crew that partners with state firefighters to battle blazes and to serve in prevention efforts such as clearing brush and cutting fire lines, according to the California Military Department.
More than half of that team was diverted to Los Angeles, Newsom said.
Another roughly 140 Guard troops diverted to the L.A. mission came from a counterdrug task force working at ports of entry and across the state to combat transnational criminal activity and seize illegal drugs, Newsom said.
The jobs of other California Guard members still working in Los Angeles include 385 medical personnel and first responders, 355 law enforcement officers, 158 civil servants, 158 educators and teachers, and 97 agricultural workers, according to the governor’s office.
