The top military commander in charge of the National Guard troops President Donald Trump deployed to Los Angeles to respond to protests against the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement is requesting a portion of the forces return to wildfire fighting duty.
Northern Command head, Gen. Gregory Guillot, submitted a request to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth that 200 of the troops be reassigned back to Joint Task Force Rattlesnake, which is the California National Guard’s wildfire unit, a U.S. official told NOTUS on Monday.
The news was first reported by the Associated Press on Monday. It remains unclear how soon the Pentagon will respond to the request.
President Donald Trump last month became the first president since 1957 to send military troops into a state against its governor’s wishes following a weekend of protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom — who warned that the state’s wildfire unit is operating at 40% capacity due to the deployments to LA — has filed a restraining order to regain control of the troops, but they remain deployed while the case makes its way through the court system.
In a post on X in response to Guillot’s request, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said, “Turns out the Trump administration’s decision to needlessly deploy soldiers in L.A. instead of preparing for actual emergencies was as reckless and performative as it was predictable.”
Newsom also celebrated the request in a statement released Monday.
“We’re glad to see the top military commander overseeing Trump’s illegal militarization of Los Angeles agree: it’s time to pull back National Guard troops and get them back to their critical firefighting duties,” Newsom said in a statement released Monday. “President Trump: listen to your military leaders, and stop the political theater.”
California is just beginning its peak wildfire season.
As summer temperatures average near triple digits, California wildfire crews are fighting several fires across Southern California that have forced thousands to evacuate. Riverside County, outside of San Bernardino, on Monday experienced its fourth new fire in two days, at the same time crews battled a 1,400-acre blaze 25 miles away near Banning.
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Amelia Benavides-Colón is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and NewsWell, home of Times of San Diego, Santa Barbara News-Press and Stocktonia.
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