Garamendi Statement on New CBO Estimate that Domestic Military Deployments Cost More Than Half a Billion Dollars
WASHINGTON, DC — Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a new report revealing that the Trump administration’s domestic deployments of the National Guard and Marines have cost at least $589 million, more than double what the bicameral investigation led by Congressman John Garamendi (CA-08) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) previously revealed. The Garamendi-Warren investigation found that the Pentagon had committed at least $258 million for deploying thousands of troops to Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, and Memphis, and for plans to reassign 600 Judge Advocates (JAGs) as immigration judges.
In response to the new report, Representative Garamendi released the below statement:
“America’s armed forces exist to defend the nation and support communities in moments of real crisis, not to be used as props in partisan theater. Pulling service members away from their livelihoods and families to fuel an aggressive immigration crackdown undermines their mission,” said Rep. Garamendi. “The report that Senator Warren and I released showed how Trump’s reckless diversion of our military to support immigration enforcement came at a significant cost to our readiness and national security. Now, the CBO report shows without a doubt what we feared. President Trump and Secretary Noem have failed to exercise basic judgment by allowing ICE operations to spiral out of control in U.S. cities. Dragging the military into their mess only compounds the failure and wastes taxpayer money while draining essential military resources. Taxpayers deserve answers and accountability for the hundreds of millions of dollars burned on this reckless misuse of power.”
The CBO’s report includes a breakdown of the cost of troop deployments per service member—an average increase of $260 per person per day, or $95,000 per person per year—along with health care, lodging, food, and transportation costs for those service members. According to the report, continuing deployments to Washington, D.C., Memphis, New Orleans, and Chicago will cost $93 million per month.
In December 2025, Congressman Garamendi and Senator Warren released a separate report detailing the Trump administration’s diversion of more than $2 billion from the Department of Defense to the Department of Homeland Security for immigration enforcement.
Since the beginning of Trump’s presidency, Congressman Garamendi has been a strong critic of ICE and its excessive use of force. He was among the first Members of Congress to oppose ICE’s use of the military for deportations and has prevented Travis Air Force Base from being used as an ICE detention center. Congressman Garamendi is also a co-sponsor of every major legislative effort to rein in ICE.
###