Trump’s use of National Guard during Los Angeles immigration protests is illegal, a judge rules

Donald Trump

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration violated federal law in the use of National Guard troops amid Southern California immigration enforcement operations and accompanying protests.

Judge Charles Breyer found President Donald Trump’s administration violated federal law by sending troops to the Los Angeles area. The judge in San Francisco did not require the remaining troops withdrawn, however. He set his order to go into effect on Friday.

The order comes after California sued. The state said the troops sent to Los Angeles over the summer were violating a law that prohibits military enforcement of domestic laws. Lawyers for the Republican administration have argued the Posse Comitatus Act doesn’t apply because the troops were protecting federal officers, not enforcing laws. They say the troops were mobilized under an authority that allows the president to deploy them.

The decision comes as Trump has discussed National Guard deployments in Democratic-led cities like Chicago, Baltimore and New York. He has already deployed the Guard as part of his unprecedented law enforcement takeover in Washington, where he has direct legal control.

Trump federalized members of the California National Guard and sent them to the second-largest U.S. city over the objections of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and city leaders. Trump did so under a law that allows the president to call the guard into federal service when the country “is invaded,” when “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government,” or when the president is otherwise unable “to execute the laws of the United States.”

Trump has pushed the bounds of typical military activity on domestic soil, including through the creation of militarized zones along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Newsom posted on X, in an all-caps reflection of the president’s own social media style, “DONALD TRUMP LOSES AGAIN. The courts agree -- his militarization of our streets and use of the military against US citizens is ILLEGAL.”

The White House did not immediately respond to message seeking comment.