The estimated cost of deploying 700 Marines and the National Guard to Los Angeles to quell unrest is about $134 million, said a top Pentagon official in a congressional hearing on Tuesday.
After questioning from members of Congress, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth turned to his acting comptroller, Bryn Woollacott MacDonnell, who told lawmakers the total and said this “is largely just the cost of travel, housing, and food.”
She said the money will come from operations and maintenance accounts.
“We stated very publicly that it’s 60 days because we want to ensure that those rioters, looters, and thugs on the other side assaulting our police officers know that we’re not going anywhere,” Hegseth told members of the House appropriations defense subcommittee, referring to the troop deployment.
The Pentagon chief then added that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were being attacked for “doing their job” in Los Angeles, warranting the need to send troops.
White House border czar Tom Homan has told media outlets that ICE agents were serving criminal search warrants at a worksite last week as part of a probe into customs fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering.
On Monday afternoon, U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) confirmed that 700 active-duty Marines would be deployed to Los Angeles after several thousand National Guard troops were activated under a memorandum signed by President Donald Trump over the past weekend.
The commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Eric Smith, said the battalion deployed to Los Angeles is already there and ready to follow the orders from NORTHCOM, but clarified they have not yet been called to respond.
Smith testified at a Senate budget hearing on Tuesday and said that those Marines are trained for crowd control and would have shields and batons as their equipment. He said they have no arrest authority and are only there to protect federal property and federal personnel.
When asked by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) about whether Marines would use lethal force that could result in injuries and deaths, Smith said he had faith in them.
“I am not concerned,“ Smith told the panel. ”I have great faith in my Marines and their junior leaders and their more senior leaders to execute the lawful tasks that they are given.”
Democrats in California, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, have accused the Trump administration of trying to incite unrest, saying that the president is putting public safety at risk.
The Trump administration said that officials in California have slow-walked a response to the riots.
Later in the day, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced his office is filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the National Guard deployment, accusing the federal government of overreach. A news release issued by his office said the president should have first coordinated and sought Newsom’s approval before the decision was made over the past weekend.
