By Idrees Ali and Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that the deployment of thousands of troops to Los Angeles was about maintaining law and order as federal agents do their job.
“The mission in Los Angeles … it is about maintaining law and order on behalf of law enforcement agents, who deserve to do their job without being attacked by mobs of people,” Hegseth told lawmakers during a U.S. Senate hearing.
Hegseth added the deployment of the 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines was lawful and constitutional.
Democratic lawmakers have sought answers from Hegseth about the deployments, and raised concerns about sending active-duty U.S. troops to a mission they said would be better carried out by law enforcement officers.
The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Jack Reed said the tasks being carried out by troops were meant for law enforcement agencies.
“Law and order is a civil function under the Constitution of the United States, civil enforcement, law enforcement authorities – not the U.S. military,” Reed said.
The Pentagon has said the deployment will cost $134 million, including travel, housing and food for troops.
The military has a long history of deployments within the United States. National Guard and active-duty troops are deployed for natural disasters and other events, including helping set up temporary hospitals during the pandemic.
During the 2020 wave of nationwide protests over racial injustice, more than 17,000 National Guard troops were activated by 23 states.
What is rare, however, is sending active-duty troops during times of civil disturbance.
Marines are trained for conflicts around the world – from the Middle East to Africa – and are also used for rapid deployments in case of emergencies, such as threats to U.S. embassies.
Trump has sought to portray the protest in Los Angeles as an attack on national sovereignty.
“What you’re witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and on national sovereignty, carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags,” Trump said in a speech on Tuesday, adding his administration would “liberate Los Angeles.”
Asked whether the United States was being invaded by a foreign nation, the top U.S. general said there was no evidence of an invasion.
“At this time, I don’t see any foreign state-sponsored folks invading,” General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during the same hearing.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Patricia Zengerle, Editing by Franklin Paul and Rod Nickel)
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