LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- President Donald Trump's federal deployment of the National Guard to support immigration raids in Southern California may be impacting the state's fire and drug response, some state politicians say.
One of the reasons the deployment has become so controversial is that it has drawn down members who would normally be working on state fire prevention and drug enforcement.
The mission for the California National Guard troops in Southern California is to protect personnel from the Department of Homeland Security. But now, California leaders say they're needed to help with the fire season.
The 4,000 California National Guard members assigned to Los Angeles as part of President Trump's mission to support ICE raids have become less visible around the city now that the Marines have arrived and protests have calmed.
Governor Gavin Newsom, who is fighting in court to bring the Guard back under his command, says, "Trump's actions in Los Angeles are harming public safety. Whether it's fentanyl takedown operations or wildfire response, the California National Guard plays a critical role in protecting our communities, and Trump is deliberately undermining that work."
State Senator Ben Allen, who represents the Pacific Palisades, says he's also frustrated by the president's order.
"While he's off scoring political points by utilizing, or under-utilizing, the Guard to be a part of his immigration agenda, this is actually harming our state's ability to do the fire and drug addiction work that we rely on the Guard to do," Allen said.
The California National Guard is only two weeks into their eight-week mission in Los Angeles, and the members here are part of Task Force Rattlesnake, the state's firefighting unit that's now only at 40% capacity. Allen says the Guard is critical to the state's fire prevention efforts.
"Things like maintenance of fire roads, things like making sure we have our firefighting assets all over the state properly placed, things like some of the brush clearance, working with Cal Fire partners to make sure that we have a better response," Allen said. "It's just lame that we don't have access to the Guard right now to do that sort of work."
According to L.A. County Fire Assistant Chief Drew Smith, this fire season could potentially see above-average, larger incidents.
"We've had half-ish the amount of rainfall this season in Los Angeles County, which averages about 14.5 inches, and we're ranging somewhere between 7 and 9 inches," Smith said.
In addition to fire support, Newsom says Trump's actions are harming the state's ability to fight the flow of illegal drugs at the border. Of the California National Guard troops, 32% are part of the counterdrug task force.