SAN FRANCISCO, California: A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on December 10 to remove the California National Guard from Los Angeles and return control of the troops to the state.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction sought by California officials, but also put the decision on hold until December 22 to allow the administration to appeal.
President Donald Trump had called up more than 4,000 California National Guard troops in June without seeking approval from Governor Gavin Newsom. While the number had dropped to several hundred by late October, California continued to oppose Trump's command of the troops.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson stated that the administration would appeal Breyer's ruling and hoped to emerge victorious on the issue.
"President Trump exercised his lawful authority to deploy National Guard troops to support federal officers and assets following violent riots that local leaders like Newscum refused to stop," she said, using a pejorative moniker Trump has used to refer to the Democratic governor.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the ruling was a victory for democracy and the rule of law. He accused the administration of playing "political games" with the troops.
"But the President is not king," he said in a statement. "And he cannot federalize the National Guard whenever, wherever, and for however long he wants, without justification."
Breyer dismissed the administration's arguments that he could not review extensions of the Guard deployment and that troops were still needed in Los Angeles to protect federal staff and property. He called the first claim "shocking" and said the second was almost a "misrepresentation."
About 100 California Guard members still in Los Angeles are assigned to protect federal buildings or remain at a nearby base, and they are not patrolling the streets with immigration officers, according to U.S. Northern Command.
California argued that the situation in Los Angeles has changed since Trump first sent the troops after clashes between federal immigration officers and protesters angered by stricter immigration enforcement. During one protest, rocks were thrown at Border Patrol vehicles, and one man later pleaded guilty to throwing a Molotov cocktail.
The judge accused the Trump administration of "effectively creating a national police force made up of state troops."
The idea that risks from demonstrations in the Los Angeles area could not be managed today without the National Guard defied "common sense," the judge wrote.
