Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) blasted President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles on Thursday as costly “political theater,” leaving taxpayers with a $120 million bill.
The money included $71 million for food and shelter, $37 million in payroll, more than $4 million in logistics supplies, $3.5 million in travel, and $1.5 million for demobilization, Newsom said.
The tally covers costs incurred since June 7, when Trump ordered more than 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines into Los Angeles after protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The figures come from data compiled by Newsom’s office and the California National Guard, following the governor’s public records request to the Defense Department.
In the June 7 executive order, Trump wrote that “violent protests” in LA had grown into “a form of rebellion” and that the military was needed to protect federal agents and property. Newsom, along with city officials, disputed the president’s reading of the situation, calling it a power grab and saying that sending in masked and armed immigration agents to a city where immigrants make up about a third of the population would lead to more chaos and violence. They also noted that local police had the protests, which were confined to only a few blocks in the downtown area, under control.
The Pentagon initially estimated in a House subcommittee hearing in June that the LA deployment would cost $134 million and last 60 days. So far, it has stretched to nearly 90 days, with 300 troops remaining in the country’s second-largest city until Election Day.
PENTAGON: NATIONAL TROOP DEPLOYMENT TO LOS ANGELES WILL COST $134 MILLION
“Let us not forget what this political theater is costing us all — millions of taxpayer dollars down the drain and an atrophy to the readiness of guardsmembers across the nation and unnecessary hardships to the families supporting those troops,” Newsom said in a statement. “Talk about waste, fraud, and abuse. We ask other states to do the math themselves.”
On Tuesday, United States District Judge Charles Breyer prohibited the Trump administration from sending in the National Guard to fight crime in California, ruling the president’s deployment of troops violated federal law and turned more than 4,000 soldiers into a national police force.
Newsom applauded the ruling, claiming that the court “sided with democracy and the Constitution.”
“No president is a king — not even Trump — and no president can trample a state’s power to protect its people,” he added. “Trump’s attempt to use federal troops as his personal police force is illegal, authoritarian, and must be stopped in every courtroom across this country.”
The ruling was a win for Newsom but raised legal questions about presidential authority. One day later, the Trump administration appealed the ruling.
In a separate legal ruling, Newsom also seeks an injunction to block the administration from staying in the state through Election Day.
Newsom, an early contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, filed the request for the preliminary injunction soon after Breyer’s ruling.
Other Democratic-led cities across the country have braced for the presence of federal troops.
Trump has already sent National Guard troops into Washington, D.C., saying the military is needed there to fight crime. And he has said he would send in troops to New Orleans, Baltimore, and Chicago, which he called “a hellhole.”
