Defense secretary Pete Hegseth told the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee Tuesday the military is "critical" to domestic security as Democratic officials and local advocates criticized the administration's actions as an over-reaction to Los Angeles' immigration raid protests.
"I think we're entering another phase — especially under President Trump with his focus on the homeland — where the National Guard and Reserves become a critical component of how we secure the homeland," Hegseth told lawmakers.
About 4,000 National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines have been sent to Los Angeles in response to protests largely limited to a few blocks of the city's downtown area.
In a speech to soldiers at Fort Bragg Tuesday, Trump called Los Angeles a "trash heap," saying that criminals control entire neighborhoods. He described protesters as "animals" and a "foreign enemy."
"There's a couple reasons why this situation is so unprecedented," said Janessa Goldbeck, CEO of Vet Voice Foundation, a nonprofit that works to get veterans involved in advocacy.
First, Goldbeck said, the National Guard hasn't been deployed without local consent since the civil rights protests of the 1960s. The other reason, she said, is federal law restricts the use of the military for domestic law enforcement in most situations.
"It seems that the president is looking for pretense to deploy these troops into the streets as a way of reshaping, really, how Americans view military power and who it belongs to," she said. "In this case, it seems the president is very intent on reshaping the military to be his own force to be used for political purposes."
Reluctance to use military forces for domestic law enforcement is nothing new — it's mentioned in the Magna Carta, a charter of rights signed by the English king in 1215.
Under U.S. law, the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military from performing domestic law enforcement without an act of Congress. Trump could get around the law by invoking the Insurrection Act, which he's said he could do, but so far hasn't.
Troops currently in Los Angeles are under orders to protect federal agents and property.
Trump's weekend executive order isn't limited to Los Angeles — it says he can deploy troops anywhere there's protests or where protests are "likely" to occur.
Goldbeck says the action — turning the military against the public — threatens to erode the public's trust in its military.
"In this country, we have the most professional fighting force in the world — and we have a force that is apolitical," she said. "And when the president is directing active duty military to do law enforcement in the streets, that puts them in a very political position."
Hegseth sowed some confusion online Monday when he said on his X account 700 Marines were deploying to Los Angeles from Camp Pendleton despite a U.S. Northern Command statement indicating the Marines were coming from Twentynine Palms, a Marine base in San Bernardino County.
In an email to KPBS, a U.S. Northern Command spokesperson explained the headquarters element of the unit deploying is based at Camp Pendleton. That unit, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, is an infantry unit stationed at Twentynine Palms. It falls under the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton.
