A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s deployment of California’s National Guard to Los Angeles and called the move illegal.
The judge’s order to return control of the troops to California Governor Gavin Newsom will not go into effect immediately and the administration has filed an appeal.
The state sued President Donald Trump on Monday over his order to deploy the troops without Newsom’s consent.
Trump said he was sending the troops – who are typically under the governor’s authority – to stop LA from “burning down” in protests against his immigration crackdown. Local authorities have argued they have the situation in hand and do not need troops.
US District Judge Charles Breyer said the question presented by California’s request was whether Trump followed the law set by Congress on the deployment of a state’s National Guard.
“He did not,” the judge wrote in his decision. “His actions were illegal… He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith.”
But the judge stayed the order until Friday afternoon to give the Trump administration time to appeal against it. The administration did so almost immediately after the order was issued.
Newsom posted on social media on Thursday afternoon that “the court just confirmed what we all know — the military belongs on the battlefield, not on our city streets”.
The Trump administration has said it took over California’s National Guard to restore order and to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as they swept up people in Los Angeles who were believed to be in the country illegally.
Despite Newsom’s objections, Trump ordered a total of 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to help quell the unrest. Some of the Guard troops are now authorised to detain people until police can arrest them.
A president last deployed the National Guard without a governor’s consent more than 50 years ago – during the civil rights era. It is more common for a governor to activate troops to deal with natural disasters and other emergencies, and then ask for federal assistance.
Before a packed courtroom on Thursday, a justice department attorney told Judge Breyer that Newsom did not need to be consulted when Trump issued his order.
“Governor Newsom was fully aware of this order…he objected to it,” Attorney Brett Shumate said. “There is one commander-in-chief of the US armed forces.”
“No,” Judge Breyer, the younger brother of former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, responded.
“The president isn’t the commander -in-chief of the National Guard,” he said but added there were times and situations where the president could become the head of the troops.
