'Trump Caved': 150 National Guardsmen To Return To CA Control

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Trump administration released 150 of California's National Guard troops back under Gov. Gavin Newsom's command Tuesday after a top military commander intervened.

"[President Donald Trump] caved," Newsom tweeted Monday afternoon. "Our firefighters are finally returning to fight wildfires. Better late than never. Now — send the rest home."

The release followed weeks of debate between Newsom and Trump's respective camps and a dizzying back-and-forth legal battle.

The head of the guard's U.S. Northern Command, Gen. Gregory Guillot, requested Monday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth return some of those forces to state command.

While 150 troops will return to wildfire duty in California, the remaining troops are "still appropriately sourced to conduct our Federal Protection Mission," according to the U.S. Northern Command.

"Nearly 5,000 soldiers — including police, paramedics, and first responders — are still sitting idle in L.A. for nothing," Newsom said Monday.

Some 4,000 military troops deployed to guard Downtown Los Angeles amid anti-ICE protests have become both a spectacle and a flashpoint in California, as the Trump administration presses forward with controversial immigration raids and militarization over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom, state lawmakers and local leaders.

Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass have condemned the president's actions, with the mayor requesting that the California National Guard be returned to wildfire fighting duty as fire season returns. In recent weeks, the protests have largely quieted down, leaving a massive military force guarding federal buildings facing little in the way of an obvious threat.

The deployment of the state guard sparked a legal battle last month, raising questions over whether President Donald Trump overstepped his authority by sidestepping the governor to deploy U.S. Marines and the National guard during protests that unfurled in downtown LA. The level of unrest has quieted since the demonstrations first sparked in June in response to a disruptive campaign to oust immigrants from the state.

Guillot spoke with Hegseth and asked that 200 troops be returned to wildfire duty. Ultimately, that decision lies with the adjutant general of the California National Guard officials confirmed, Politico reported.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details not yet announced publicly.

Newsom, who pursued legal action against the Trump administration over the deployment, has persistently accused Trump of illegally commandeering the National Guard and consequently inflaming tensions in LA.

“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 wrote in a Monday statement. “President Trump: listen to your military leaders and stop the political theater.”

Protests erupted on June 6 amid a sweeping deportation push in California, prompting Trump to deploy 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to the Los Angeles area — despite the insistence by Newsom and Bass that the state could manage the unrest.

RELATED: Trump Doubles Soldier Deployment To LA, And Protests Spread Across Southland

At issue is the debate over who holds rightful authority over the National Guard.

"The President’s action to turn the military against its own citizens threatened our democracy and moved us dangerously close to authoritarianism," Newsom said last week.

The federal troops' domestic deployment also raised the question of whether the administration would seek to employ emergency powers under the Insurrection Act, a rarely used measure.

Since their deployment in Los Angeles, the Marines have been primarily assigned to protecting federal buildings, and the Insurrection Act has not been used. But in at least one circumstance, Marines have temporarily detained a civilian in Los Angeles.

The Ongoing Legal Battle

In June, Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit to try to stop Trump's deployment military forces in the Los Angeles area.

"The federal government is now turning the military against American citizens," Newsom said in a statement after filing the lawsuit. "Sending trained war fighters onto the streets is unprecedented and threatens the very core of our democracy. Donald Trump is behaving like a tyrant, not a President. We ask the court to immediately block these unlawful actions."

While a federal lower court judge initially ruled in Newsom's favor, stating that Trumps actions "were illegal" and ordered Trump to return the guard's control to Newsom, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit stayed that ruling shortly after.

RELATED: Appeals Court Stays Ruling Ordering Trump To Return Control Of CA National Guard To Newsom

The appeals court on June 24 allowed Trump to maintain control of the guardsmen deployed to Los Angeles.

The court ruled that while a president doesn't have unlimited power to control a state guard, the Trump administration presented sufficient rationale to do so.

“The undisputed facts demonstrate that before the deployment of the National Guard, protesters ‘pinned down’ several federal officers and threw ‘concrete chunks, bottles of liquid, and other objects’ at the officers,” the court wrote.

RELATED: Pregnant U.S. Citizen Detained By Border Patrol In South Bay Gives Birth: Report

Trump has claimed that “there has been an invasion” of migrants entering the U.S. without legal authorization. During peak troop deployments, some members of Congress used their annual budget hearings with the secretary to press him on whether he anticipated expanding the operation nationwide. Hegseth did not give a direct answer.

At the time, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers, “I don’t see any foreign, state-sponsored folks invading, but I’ll be mindful of the fact that there have been some border issues.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.