--- title: "Trump federalizes 2,000 more National Guard troops for Los Angeles mission" description: "The move comes after 700 Marines were ordered to deploy to Los Angeles, where National Guard troops already are." date: "2025-06-09" modified: "2025-06-09" authors: - name: "Nicholas Slayton" job_title: "Contributing Editor" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/nicholas-slayton/" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/more-national-guard-federalized-los-angeles/" categories: - "Around the World" - "Military Branches" - "National Guard" - "News" - "United States" tags: - "adsafety" - "Northern Command" --- # Trump federalizes 2,000 more National Guard troops for Los Angeles mission ![National Guard troops carry riot shields with "California National Guard" on them.]() *California National Guard troops, wielding riot shields, guard a federal building in Downtown Los Angeles on June 9, 2025. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.* President Donald Trump ordered more California National Guard troops to be placed under federal command on Monday evening. They join more than 2,700 California National Guardsmen and [Marines]() already ordered to protect federal buildings and personnel as protests in Los Angeles County against federal immigration raids continue for the fourth straight day. “At the order of the President, the Department of Defense is mobilizing an additional 2,000 California National Guard to be called into federal service to support ICE & to enable federal law-enforcement officers to safely conduct their duties,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote in a [post on X](). The move comes only a few hours after roughly [700 U.S. Marines]() assigned to 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, based out of Twentynine Palms, California — approximately three hours east of Los Angeles — were ordered to deploy to Los Angeles County. U.S. Northern Command said that they were activated to provide an "adequate numbers of forces" in support of the federal mission. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell issued a statement saying that the Los Angeles Police Department could handle the demonstrations on its own. He also noted the “logistical and operational challenge” of the Marines coming to Los Angeles without coordinating with local police. As of Monday evening, 1,700 soldiers from the California National Guard’s 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team were in Los Angeles County, out of the 2,100 put under federal control, [according to]() U.S. Northern Command. In Downtown Los Angeles, the site of many demonstrations, the troops mostly stayed on federal property, some with riot shields, while local law enforcement directly engaged protesters. Small protests against immigration raids broke out on Friday, June 6 after heavily armed federal agents carried out several small operations around Los Angeles County. Protests grew over the weekend as local law enforcement fired tear gas and less than lethal weapons at demonstrators. Trump announced he would send the National Guard in on Saturday, June 7. The first 300 soldiers arrived on Sunday morning. California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized the federalization of additional National Guardsmen in his own statement. “The first 2,000? Given no food or water. Only approx. 300 are deployed — the rest are sitting, unused, in federal buildings without orders,” he wrote on X. Trump federalized the National Guard members using Title 10 of the U.S. Code. On Monday the state of California sued the Trump administration, saying it “unlawfully bypassed” the governor to take control of the National Guard troops. ***UPDATE: (6/9/2025);*** *This article has been updated with new figures from NORTHCOM on the amount of National Guard troops currently in Los Angeles County.* ## The latest on Task & Purpose - **A Marine Corps** [**reply-all email apocalypse**]() **has an incredible real-life ending** - **Army** [**shuts down**]() **its sole active-duty information operations command** - **Army plans to close more than** [**20 base museums**]() **in major reduction** - **Former** [**Green Beret**]() **nominated to top Pentagon position to oversee special ops** - **The Navy’s new recruiting commercial puts the ‘**[**dirt wars**]()**’ in the past** ## Author Nicholas Slayton is a contributing editor for Task & Purpose, covering conflict for over 12 years, from the Arab Spring to the war in Ukraine. His previous reporting can be found on the non-profit Aslan Media, The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, The New Republic, The American Prospect, Architectural Digest, The Daily Beast, and the Los Angeles Downtown News. You can reach him at nicholas@taskandpurpose.com or find him on Twitter @NSlayton and Bluesky at @nslayton.bsky.social. ### Author social links [Twitter]()