The deployment of US Marines and National Guard troops to Los Angeles will cost around $134 million, estimates the US Department of Defense, a CNN report citing senior Pentagon spokesperson Bryn MacDonnell says. She dropped the news during her appearance before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, saying the expense mainly includes transport, accommodation, and food.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine also testified before the subcommittee. Hegseth said the deployment is projected to take 60 days and reassured lawmakers that the soldiers will be well supported during the mission.
The military deployment comes in the wake of President Donald Trump’s contentious move to deploy federal troops into Los Angeles to suppress protests over recent immigration enforcement activities. Trump defended his move, come despite backlash from California Democratic leaders, saying the troops will stay “until there’s no danger.
The president first authorized the deployment of 2,000 National Guardsmen at the weekend, then set it at 4,000 and sent another 700 Marines to the city. He claimed the action averted possible chaos and violence.
Legal analysts have raised serious alarm regarding the uncommon deployment of active-duty troops within US territory. Former US Air Force lieutenant colonel Rachel VanLandingham described the action as “incredibly rare,” adding that it typically takes an insurrection declaration to justify such action. The last president to defy a governor’s authority over the National Guard was in 1965.
There is speculation that Trump will use the Insurrection Act, adding still more federal power. The administration is accused by critics of ratcheting up tensions in order to legitimize wider military actions. California Governor Gavin Newsom has already attempted to stop the National Guard and Marine deployments through lawsuits, labeling the federal response as undermining state powers.
