The pricey spectacle of President Trump's National Guard deployment in Los Angeles, ostensibly to protect federal facilities, has cost taxpayers a staggering $120 million. Even as 300 National Guard members remain stationed there, the California National Guard, responding to Governor Gavin Newsom's request, tabulated the costs: $71 million for food and essentials, $37 million in payroll, over $4 million in logistics, $3.5 million for travel, plus $1.5 million in demobilization expenses—a sum touching nearly $118 million, as reported on the Governor's official website.
Despite the high price tag of operations meant to secure the peace, the reality points to a spate of wasted resources and an underutilization of troops, with less than 20% actively engaged. Guardsmembers, pulled away from vital roles as educators, healthcare workers, and emergency responders, found themselves caught in a state of inertia that did nothing but quietly drain tax dollars and erode the spirits of those stationed, as revealed by the same source.
In a move to address the overreach, California filed for a preliminary injunction this past Tuesday with hopes to block Trump's order to extend the National Guard's stay through the upcoming Election Day. The federal court swiftly sided with California, granting the injunction and curtailing the continued militarization of the streets, underscoring that such deployment could not legally be a substitute for domestic police forces, as informed by the Governor's office release.
The backdrop to these events is the June 10 order by President Trump to federalize over 4,000 National Guard soldiers and to deploy U.S. Marines for civilian law enforcement in Los Angeles, beyond safekeeping federal sites. An emergency court request was filed by Governor Newsom and Attorney General Bonta to block this expansion, grounding their plea in the unlawfulness of such military involvement in civil policing, a narrative confirmed by the documents from the Governor's office announcement.
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