California National Guard troops under federal control sent to LA are 130 miles east of the city doing drug busts

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Tue Jun 24, 2025, 05:47 PM - Edit history (1)

Hat tip to discntnt_irny_srcsm for the point he made in reply #4. I changed the headline accordingly.

Original : National Guard troops sent to LA are 130 miles east of the city doing drug busts 


Updated : California National Guard troops under federal control sent to LA are 130 miles east of the city doing drug busts

Reposted by Completely and Totally Obliterated Hat

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
‪@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social‬

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This is the use of the military for domestic law enforcement; I don’t see any other way to describe it.

‪Nicholas Slayton‬
‪@nslayton.bsky.social‬
· 2h
California National Guard troops under federal control were sent to operate in "the greater Los Angeles area." What the actual definition of that area is for Task Force 51 is isn't clear. But apparently it includes the Salton Sea. New from me @taskandpurpose.com https://taskandpurpose.com/news/national-guard-drug-busts-la-area/.

Guardsmen sent to LA are 130 miles east of the city doing drug busts
It’s unclear how many National Guardsmen participated in the operation, but the force totalled roughly 500 people.
taskandpurpose.com
June 24, 2025 at 12:46 PM

This is the use of the military for domestic law enforcement; I don’t see any other way to describe it.

— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) 2025-06-24T16:46:37.853Z

Guardsmen sent to LA are 130 miles east of the city doing drug busts

National Guard troops federalized for operations in greater Los Angeles recently aided the DEA in the eastern Coachella Valley.

NICHOLAS SLAYTON


Soldiers with the California National Guard's 143rd Military Police Battalion, 49th Military Police Brigade form a security perimeter in Mecca, California as part of a federal operation on June 18, 2025. U.S. Army photo Sgt. Chase Murray

California National Guard soldiers operating under federal orders helped the Drug Enforcement Agency and other federal personnel carry out a raid on a large marijuana growth operation in the eastern Coachella Valley last week, 130 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

It’s unclear how many National Guard troops participated in the operation, but the force totalled roughly 500 people. According to the DEA, other agencies included Customs and Border Patrol, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Immigration and Custom Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The search warrant targeted the area around Thermal, a small town in the eastern Coachella Valley. CBS first reported on the raid.

In a statement, the DEA Los Angeles Field Division said that it was the lead agency looking into three large marijuana growth operations in the area. Executing a federal search warrant from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California, they searched 787 acres of land and arrested 70 to 75 people, the DEA said, most being described as undocumented immigrants and at least one being an American citizen. It also appears to be the farthest east that federalized National Guard troops have operated since being deployed.

The National Guardsmen involved in the operation were soldiers with the 143rd Military Police Battalion and the 670th Military Police Company, part of the California National Guard’s 49th Military Police Brigade. They’re serving under Task Force 51, the organization created by U.S. Northern Command for troops operating under Title 10 status. Images posted by the military to the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (or DVIDS), show the soldiers carrying riot shields creating security perimeters next to their Humvees in Thermal and the nearby unincorporated community of Mecca, close to the Salton Sea.

{snip}

[Lovie777]

1. Gov. Newsom told the courts that shithole took the NGs away from the borders..............

they were there re: drugs, et al.,

[Nigrum Cattus]

2. Why ?

It was just a weed grow. I thought he wanted to
stop fentanyl, cocaine, etc. - That doesn't take a
military presence. More wasted money & time !

[questionseverything]

3. This is blatantly illegal besides a huge waste of money

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

4. On the bluesky link...

This is using the state militia (military, sort of) for law enforcement. Title 18 USC 1385 prohibits the use of the federal military for law enforcement except under certain conditions.

This is just another show like the birthday parade for fearless leader. What a chump.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. Good point. I've edited the headline.

Original
National Guard troops sent to LA are 130 miles east of the city doing drug busts

Updated
California National Guard troops under federal control sent to LA are 130 miles east of the city doing drug busts

Thanks.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

6. Legal but not without some problematic precidents.

Can you say Kent State?