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Friday, July 25, 2025

California governor asks court docket to dam Trump administration from utilizing troops in immigration raids




Politics

A protester waves a Nationwide Flag of El Salvador in entrance of a line of California Nationwide Guard in entrance of Federal Constructing on Monday, June 9, 2025, in downtown Los Angeles. AP Picture/Eric Thayer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom requested a federal court docket Tuesday to dam the Trump administration from utilizing the Nationwide Guard and Marines to help with immigration raids in Los Angeles, saying the observe would solely heighten tensions.

Newsom filed the emergency request after President Donald Trump ordered the deployment to LA of roughly 4,000 Nationwide Guard members and 700 Marines following protests pushed by anger over the president’s stepped-up enforcement of immigration legal guidelines.

The governor’s request stated it was in response to a change in orders for the Guard members, who have been initially deployed to guard federal buildings. The court docket paperwork stated sending troops on immigration raids would solely escalate tensions and promote civil unrest.

The Marines and one other 2,000 Nationwide Guard troops have been ordered to LA on Monday, including to a navy presence that native officers and Newsom don’t need and that the police chief says makes it tougher to deal with the protests safely.

Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith stated Tuesday that the Marines deployed to the world had not but been referred to as to reply to the protests and have been there solely to guard federal officers and property.

The Marines have been educated for crowd management however haven’t any arrest authority, Smith advised a funds listening to on Capitol Hill.

Paul Eck, deputy basic counsel within the California Navy Division, stated the company was knowledgeable that the Pentagon plans to direct the California Nationwide Guard to start out offering assist for immigration operations. That assist would come with holding safe perimeters round areas the place raids are going down and securing streets for immigration brokers, he stated within the governor’s emergency request.

Based on U.S. officers, the California Guard members who have been deployed have been approved to supply safety and safe streets and perimeters round areas the place enforcement actions are going down. The officers, who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate navy operations, stated the Guard members usually are not collaborating in any of the enforcement actions, however are offering safety and have already been doing a few of these missions within the Los Angeles space.

Trump left open the opportunity of invoking the Riot Act, which authorizes the president to deploy navy forces contained in the U.S. to suppress rebel or home violence or to implement the legislation in sure conditions. It’s some of the excessive emergency powers out there to a U.S. president.

“If there’s an rebel, I will surely invoke it. We’ll see,” he stated Tuesday from the Oval Workplace. “However I can inform you final evening was horrible, and the evening earlier than that was horrible.”

Trump has described Los Angeles in dire phrases that Mayor Karen Bass and Newsom say are nowhere near the reality.

Whereas protesters blocked a serious freeway and set automobiles on fireplace over the weekend, the demonstrations within the metropolis of 4 million folks have largely been centered in a number of blocks of downtown. On Monday, they have been far much less raucous, with 1000’s of individuals peacefully attending a rally at Metropolis Corridor and a whole lot extra protesting exterior a federal complicated that features a detention middle the place some immigrants are being held following office raids throughout town.

Los Angeles police stated they revamped 100 arrests Monday night, largely for failing to disperse the downtown space. One individual was arrested for assault with a lethal weapon and two police gives have been injured, the division stated.

Obscene slogans directed at Trump and federal legislation enforcement remained scrawled throughout a number of buildings. On the Walt Disney Live performance Corridor, staff have been busy washing away graffiti Tuesday morning.

In close by Santa Ana, armored Guard autos blocked a highway resulting in federal immigration and authorities workplaces. Staff swept up plastic bottles and damaged glass.

Sending within the navy is the newest step within the administration’s immigration crackdown as Trump pursues the mass deportations he promised final yr through the presidential marketing campaign. The protests have been pushed by anger over enforcement that critics say is breaking up migrant households.

Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth advised Tuesday that using troops contained in the U.S. will proceed to increase.

“I believe we’re coming into one other section, particularly underneath President Trump along with his give attention to the homeland, the place the Nationwide Guard and Reserves develop into a crucial element of how we safe that homeland,” he stated on Capitol Hill.

The mayor and the governor say Trump is placing public security in danger by including navy personnel although police say they don’t want the assistance.

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell stated he was assured within the police division’s capacity to deal with large-scale demonstrations and that the Marines’ arrival with out coordinating with the police division would current a “vital logistical and operational problem.”

The protests started Friday after federal immigration authorities arrested greater than 40 folks throughout Los Angeles and continued over the weekend as crowds blocked a serious freeway and set self-driving automobiles on fireplace. Police responded with tear fuel, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades.

Demonstrations have unfold to different cities nationwide, together with San Francisco and Santa Ana, California, in addition to Dallas and Austin, Texas. Authorities in Austin stated police used pepper spray balls and tear fuel to disperse a crowd that threw rocks and bottles at officers Monday, injuring 4.

The Pentagon stated deploying the Nationwide Guard and Marines prices $134 million. That determine got here out Tuesday simply after Hegseth engaged in a testy back-and-forth in regards to the prices throughout a congressional listening to.

The protection secretary defended Trump’s determination to ship the troops, saying they’re wanted to guard federal brokers doing their jobs.

In the meantime, Democratic members of California’s congressional delegation on Tuesday accused the president of making a “manufactured disaster” along with his orders to ship in troops.

On Monday, California Legal professional Basic Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit over using Nationwide Guard troops following the primary deployment, in search of an order declaring Trump’s use of the Guard illegal and asking for a restraining order to halt the deployment.

Trump stated town would have been “fully obliterated” if he had not deployed the Guard.

U.S. officers stated the Marines have been wanted to guard federal buildings and personnel, together with immigration brokers.

Regardless of their presence, there was restricted engagement up to now between the Guard and protesters whereas native legislation enforcement implements crowd management.

The deployment seemed to be the primary time in a long time {that a} state’s Nationwide Guard was activated with no request from its governor, a major escalation towards those that have sought to hinder the administration’s mass deportation efforts.

The final time the Nationwide Guard was activated with no governor’s permission was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson despatched troops to guard a civil rights march in Alabama, in response to the Brennan Heart for Justice.

Baldor and Copp reported from Washington. Related Press writers Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles, Amy Taxin in Orange County, California, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, and Greg Bull in Seal Seashore, California, contributed to this report.



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