JAKARTA - United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered half of the 4,000 National Guard troops sent to Los Angeles to protect property and federal personnel during a series of protests last month, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the decision was based on the success of the mission.
"Therefore, the Minister has ordered the release of 2,000 California National Guard members from a federal protection mission," he explained.
It is understood that President Donald Trump deployed California National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June, against Democratic Party Governor Gavin Newsom's wishes to defuse protests sparked by workplace immigration raids by Immigration and Customs agents.
Apart from the National Guard, President Trump's Administration also sent around 700 Marines.
Despite a lawsuit, the US appeals court allowed the Trump Administration to maintain control of the California National Guard.
However, his decision to send troops to Los Angeles sparked a national debate about the use of the military on US soil and sparked political tensions in the country's second most populous city.
The Pentagon has defended the deployment, saying ICE agents' security ensures they can carry out their duties.
Even after the withdrawal of military personnel from Los Angeles, 2,000 National Guard troops will remain in the city along with about 700 Marines.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who complained that military power was unnecessary and damaged the local economy, said the opposition was contributing to the withdrawal.
Protesters regularly appear in immigration raids in the Los Angeles region, showing their opposition to government forces protests.
"This happened because the people of Los Angeles united and steadfast. We organized peaceful protests, we gathered in demonstrations, we sued the Trump Administration in court, all of this led to the withdrawal of troops today," said Mayor Bass.
He referred to the lawsuit filed by the city and led to an order by a federal judge prohibiting immigration officials from detaining people based solely on their race or language skills.
Troops in Los Angeles have the authority to detain people threatening federal personnel or property, but only until police can arrest them. Military personnel are not allowed to make their own arrests.
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President Trump has pledged to illegally deport millions of people in the country and has carried out raids on workplaces, including agriculture most excluded from law enforcement during his first term of office.
The immigration policy of President Trump's administration has led to dozens of lawsuits across the country. President Trump himself has increasingly turned to the military in his immigration crackdown. In addition to sending troops to Los Angeles, thousands of active troops have been deployed to the border with Mexico and the Pentagon has created military zones in border areas.
The zones are meant to allow the Trump Administration to use troops to detain migrants without referring to the 1807 Insurgency Act which authorized the president to deploy the US military to suppress events such as civil unrest.
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