Committee questions DOD on National Guard and Marine deployments to Los Angeles: cost, duration and legal basis

Members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense pressed DOD leaders on June 10 over the department's deployment of National Guard troops and active-duty Marines to Los Angeles to protect federal immigration operations.

Ranking Member Betty McCollum criticized the decision to deploy active-duty forces for domestic missions as "premature and escalatory," saying active-duty units "have absolutely no role in domestic law enforcement, and they are not trained for those missions." Several members raised procedural and budgetary questions, asking whether governors and state officials were consulted and requesting precise cost and funding-account information.

Secretary Hegseth defended the deployments as necessary to protect ICE agents conducting operations and said the department had deployed forces to "help" local law enforcement where it assessed a need. He described the deployment as a response to attacks on federal agents and said commanders on the ground were trained for their tasks.

Brynn McDonald provided a cost estimate to the committee: $134,000,000 for the current deployment, largely for temporary duty travel, housing and related costs, and said the funding came from military accounts and actions related to FSRM; she noted that the department planned to backfill budget lines affected by those transfers. Secretary Hegseth said the administration had authorized a 60-day deployment to maintain order.

Members asked for written follow-up on what training or missions were deferred because of the deployments and which specific appropriation lines would be used or backfilled. Ranking Member McCollum and Rep. Aguilar asked for a full accounting of what items in affected accounts would be delayed or reduced because of the transfers.