Overview

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved 2,000 additional California Army National Guard soldiers under federal command to join 4,100 guardsmen and 700 Marines protecting federal property in Los Angeles.
• California Governor Gavin Newsom denounced the deployment as political theater that pulls soldiers away from wildfire response and border duties.
• Protests have largely died down and Mayor Karen Bass lifted the nighttime curfew, but immigrant neighborhoods continue to see shuttered businesses and steep drops in foot traffic.
• The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is set to decide the legality of the federal deployment after a district judge ruled its use against protesters unlawful.
• Democratic senators caution that using military forces for immigration enforcement in Los Angeles could pave the way for similar operations in other cities and threaten civil liberties.