Veterans Slam Trump’s Deployment of Troops to L.A. and Threat to Use Marines: “This Is How Authoritarian Regimes Take Power”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Common Defense, the nation’s largest grassroots veterans organization, condemned Donald Trump’s deployment of the California National Guard in response to protests against immigration enforcement raids, and blasted Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s dangerous suggestion that active-duty Marines from Camp Pendleton be used to do the same.

“The militarized response to protests in Los Angeles is a dangerous escalation that undermines civil rights and betrays the principles we swore to uphold,” said Naveed Shah, Political Director of Common Defense and a U.S. Army veteran. 

California officials — including Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass — made clear that federal troops were neither requested nor needed. The Trump administration’s rush to deploy the Guard, and its threats to further escalate by deploying Marine combat troops against civilians, reveal a much larger agenda: the weaponization of the military for political gain.

“Marines don’t swear an oath to a politician, we swear it to the Constitution,” said Jojo Sweatt, Marine Corps veteran and Organizing Director at Common Defense. “The idea that Marines would be deployed to suppress the very people we’re meant to protect is a disgrace. It’s un-American.”

This escalation comes just ahead of Trump’s planned military parade in Washington — a made-for-TV spectacle designed to glorify himself and signal that the military serves him, not the people.

Common Defense is calling on veterans, military families, and all defenders of democracy to join us in the streets on June 14th — Flag Day — for nationwide ‘No Kings’ rallies to reject Trump’s authoritarian vision.

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Common Defense Civic Engagement is a grassroots, veteran-led organization (501c4) that was founded in 2016. We empower veterans to stand up for our communities against the rising tide of racism, hate, and violence, to organize against the entrenched powers that have rigged our economy, and to champion an equitable and representative democracy, where “liberty and justice” truly is for all. For too long, politicians from both political parties have attempted to use veterans as unwilling political props, and Common Defense serves as a home for veterans to organize and speak for themselves and support the candidates who truly share our values.