The Trump administration was dealt another blow as a federal judge on Tuesday, September 2, ruled that his administration “willfully” broke federal law by sending National Guard troops to the Los Angeles area in early June to combat days of protests over immigration raids via an Associated Press article.
Charles Breyer, a San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge, ruled that Trump violated a law known as the Posse Comitatus Act, which sharply limits the use of the military for domestic enforcement, by employing troops to control crowds and bolster federal agents during immigration and drug raids, as outlined by Reuters.
The judge has filed an injunction stemming from Trump deploying 4,000 National Guard members and 700 active-duty U.S. Marines to Los Angeles, but the injunction only applied to California. But Breyer said an injunction was necessary to prevent future violations of the law separating the military from law enforcement.
Pleased with the ruling, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement that the court sided with democracy. “No president is a king—not even Trump—and no president can trample a state’s power to protect its people,” he says via an AP report.
However, Reuters says around 300 National Guard members remain in Los Angeles and have an extended deployment into November, which could interfere with California elections in November, according to the state. The state said in a court filing that the remaining troops should be turned back to the state’s control.
Breyer says he did not require the 300 remaining soldiers to withdraw from the state but highlighted that they received improper training and ordered the Trump administration to stop using them “to execute the laws,” according to the AP.
Politico reports that Breyer put his ruling on hold until September 12 to allow the Trump administration to appeal.
The deployment of National Guard troops has been a key initiative of Trump as he a deployed troops to Washington D.C. and has threatened to send troops to other democratic ran cities in the United States.
