BURSTCalifornia Democrats celebrated a federal judge’s Tuesday ruling deeming President Trump’s use of military troops in Los Angeles illegal when they were deployed over immigration protests that at times turned violent.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer barred the Defense Department from using Marines and the National Guard to participate in civilian law enforcement in a 52-page ruling, which gave the administration until next Friday to appeal before the order goes into effect.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly, in a statement to The Associated Press, characterized the ruling as an example of "a rogue judge is trying to usurp the authority of the Commander-in-Chief to protect American cities from violence and destruction."
In June, Trump argued that the deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles would help immigration raids, preventing the city from “burning to the ground" amid protests and riots.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) celebrated the ruling, stating that, “No president is a king — not even Trump — and no president can trample a state’s power to protect its people.”
“As the court today ruled, Trump is breaking the law by ‘creating a national police force with the President as its chief.’ That’s exactly what we’ve been warning about for months. There is no rampant lawlessness in California, and in fact, crime rates are higher in Republican-led states.” Newsom said Tuesday.
The administration has withdrawn most of the National Guard from Los Angeles, but he has since deployed troops to Washington, D.C. in early August as part of an effort to crack down on crime. Trump in recent days has signaled the administration is considering sending the National Guard elsewhere, including Chicago.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) said Tuesday’s ruling “affirms” that Trump’s executive power is not “boundless.”
“For more than two months, the President has engaged in political theater, using National Guard troops and Marines as pawns to further his anti-immigrant agenda,” Bonta said on Tuesday. “In doing so, he trampled on one of the very basic foundations of our democracy: That our military be apolitical and the activities of troops on U.S. soil be extremely limited to ensure civil liberties and protect against military overreach.”
Breyer’s previous order against the administration’s deployment of the National Guard was blocked by a federal appeals court, allowing the president to keep the troops in Los Angeles.
“The military will remain in Los Angeles. This is a false narrative and a misleading injunction,” the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said on Tuesday. “The military has never engaged in direct law enforcement operations here in LA.”
“They protect our federal employees our properties so our federal agents can safely enforce federal laws in the face of the thugs being unleashed and encouraged by state and local politicians,” Essayli added on social platform X.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said that it has been a “bedrock principle since our nation's founding that America's military must not be used to police our own communities.”
"This opinion affirms that Donald Trump's use of the Marines and California National Guard in L.A. was unlawful and unjustified,” Schiff said Tuesday on X. “His goal was not to ensure safety, but to create a spectacle.”