A promotion for a National Guard officer is being delayed by one of California’s senators in protest of the Trump administration’s military deployments in Los Angeles.
In a floor speech Thursday, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., announced he had placed what’s known as a hold on Lt. Gen. Thomas Carden’s nomination to receive a fourth star and become vice chief of the National Guard Bureau until President Donald Trump withdraws all remaining 2,000 National Guardsmen and 700 Marines from LA and commits to not sending any out-of-state Guardsmen to California.
“I want to be very clear about something: My objection is about more than Lt. Gen. Carden,” Padilla said in his speech. “None of what we are seeing in Los Angeles through this militarization is business as usual. Deploying the Guard against the wishes of the governor, against the wishes of the mayor and against even the wishes of local law enforcement — the sheriff, the police chief — none of that is normal.”
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Military.com reached out to the Pentagon for comment on Padilla’s hold but did not receive a response in time for publication.
A hold cannot prevent a nominee from being confirmed, but it means the Senate cannot use the expedited procedures it normally does for military nominees and must make room in its limited floor schedule for roll call votes to approve the nomination.
Padilla’s hold is the latest instance of once-apolitical military nominations getting embroiled in political decisions that the nominees have no control over.
While it has become common practice for senators to place holds on civilian nominees in protest of an administration policy, placing holds on military nominees was, until recently, considered taboo.
In 2023, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., placed a blanket hold on all general and admiral promotions in protest of the Biden administration’s policy of providing administrative leave and covering travel costs for service members who needed to travel to get reproductive health care, including abortions.
Tuberville’s action, which a government watchdog confirmed this year upended military families’ lives, drew bipartisan backlash. He relented after 10 months with no concessions, though the Trump administration has since repealed the abortion aspect of the travel policy.
Since Tuberville’s blockade, holds have been placed on military nominees for reasons ranging from opposing Pentagon diversity initiatives to rebuking the Afghanistan withdrawal to demanding more information about then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization.
Unlike Tuberville’s blanket hold, Padilla is targeting a single nominee for a topic their current job overlaps with, but the move still stalls a promotion over an issue unrelated to the nominee’s personal qualifications or performance.
Carden right now is the deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command, which is the combatant command overseeing Task Force 51, the name of the military operation in LA.
Last month, Trump deployed 4,000 National Guardsmen and 700 Marines to the city to protect federal buildings and immigration officers in response to the protests against the administration’s immigration raids.
The Trump administration argued the deployments, which were done over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass, were necessary by depicting Los Angeles as a lawless, violent wasteland. In reality, despite some isolated incidents of violence, the protests were largely peaceful and confined to a few blocks of downtown LA.
The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that the troops deployed to the city have been fighting boredom more than anything else.
Padilla has been a central voice in opposition to the deployments, and at one point was manhandled by security and placed in handcuffs after trying to ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question at a press conference.
In a statement sent after Military.com’s deadline Friday, the White House criticized Padilla for the hold on Carden.
“It’s totally outrageous that a senator would allow a key military appointment to go unfilled in a pathetic attempt to grandstand after his community was ravaged by violent mobs and attacks on law enforcement,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in an emailed statement.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon relieved about 2,000 Guardsmen from their mission in LA. But that still leaves another 2,000 Guardsmen and all 700 of the originally deployed Marines.
“None of these service members signed up to become a political prop, but Trump has put them in this impossible position that he knew would escalate tensions in the region and take them away from their critical missions elsewhere,” Padilla said in his floor speech. “Stop militarizing our cities and using our service members as political pawns.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to add a statement sent by the White House after publication.
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