Judge orders Trump to end deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration must stop deploying the California National Guard to Los Angeles and return control of the forces to the state.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction requested by California officials who opposed President Donald Trump’s unusual move to use State Guard troops without the governor’s approval to bolster his immigration enforcement efforts. But he postponed the decision until Monday.

California said conditions in Los Angeles have changed since Trump first took command and deployed the troops in June. The administration initially called up more than 4,000 California National Guard troops, but that number had dropped to several hundred by late October. Only 100 or so soldiers remained in the Los Angeles area.

The Republican administration extended the deployment until February while also trying to use California Guard members in Portland, Oregon, as part of its effort to send the military into Democratic-run cities over the objections of mayors and state governors.

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US Justice Department lawyers said the department still needs Guard members in the Los Angeles area to help protect federal employees and property.

An email to the White House seeking comment on Wednesday’s ruling was not immediately responded to.

Trump took command of the California National Guard after protests against his tightening immigration enforcement. The recall was the first time in decades that a state’s National Guard had been activated without a request from its governor, and represented a major escalation in the administration’s efforts to implement a policy of mass deportations. Troops were stationed outside a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles where protesters gathered and were later sent into the streets to protect immigration officers as they made arrests.

California sued, and Breyer issued a temporary restraining order requiring the department to return control of Guard members to California. But the Court of Appeal committee suspended this decision.

California argued that the president was using Guard members as his personal police force in violation of a law restricting the use of the military in internal affairs.

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The administration said the courts could not question the president’s determination that the violence during the protests made it impossible for him to enforce U.S. laws with regular forces and reflected insurrection or the risk of insurrection.

In September, Breyer ruled after a trial that the deployment violated the law. Other judges have blocked the administration from deploying National Guard troops in Portland, Oregon, and Chicago.