President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are in a legal showdown over the use of the California National Guard to quell rioters and assist with immigration enforcement in Los Angeles.
And it’s setting the stage for what could become a growing issue in sanctuary states as anti-ICE protests spread across the country, with nationwide protests planned on Saturday.
On Thursday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked a federal judge’s order that directed President Donald Trump to return control of National Guard troops to California after he deployed them there in an attempt to restore order, the Associated Press reported.
The Trump administration has been hit with an onslaught of lawsuits as leftist Democrats launch a full-court press to stop his mass deportation agenda. Protests descended into violent and destructive riots—believed to be fueled by paid agitators and anarchists—in Los Angeles beginning on Friday, June 6, and continuing this week.
Video footage and images showed chaotic scenes as protests erupted in Los Angeles over immigration raids. Over the weekend, protesters blocked a major freeway and set police cars on fire, along with spray painting graffiti on buildings and busting out windows. They hurled rocks and bricks at police and looted businesses in downtown.
Newsom filed an emergency request in federal court Tuesday to block the Trump administration from using the California National Guard and Marines to support immigration operations in Los Angeles.
Newsom’s lawsuit filed this week against Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Defense Department seeks to restrict what the National Guard and the Marines can do in Los Angeles, and to allow them only to protect federal facilities and personnel.
The state asked the judge to temporarily block the troops’ actions and the broader lawsuit questions Trump’s right to deploy the National Guard and Marines in California without Newsom’s input or consent.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump thanked the appeals court Friday morning.
“If I didn’t send the Military into Los Angeles, that city would be burning to the ground right now,” he said.
Newsom on Thursday held a press conference, taking to social media and other outlets to claim victory, but that was short-lived.
Earlier Thursday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled the National Guard deployment was illegal. Breyer, a Bill Clinton-era appointment, said Trumps’s order to authorize National Guard to respond to the scene both violated the Tenth Amendment and exceeded Trump’s statutory authority.
In quick legal maneuvering, the Trump team filed an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The Appeals Court ruling came only hours after Breyer’s order was to take effect at noon Friday. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Tuesday, the AP reported.
The White House had called Breyer’s order “unprecedented” and said it “puts our brave federal officials in danger.”
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly added: “The district court has no authority to usurp the President’s authority as Commander in Chief. The President exercised his lawful authority to mobilize the National Guard to protect federal buildings and personnel in Gavin Newsom’s lawless Los Angeles. The Trump Administration will immediately appeal this abuse of power and looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”
Activating the National Guard typically lies with governors, but there are limited circumstances under which the president can deploy those troops. Trump federalized members of the California National Guard under an authority known as Title 10 to help guard federal buildings in Los Angeles.
After federal agents began conducting immigration raids Friday, June 6, the situation quickly escalated and turned violent and chaotic as protestors and agitators set police cars on fire, hurled rocks and bricks at ICE agents and LAPD officers, and stormed the 101 Freeway, a major thoroughfare in the city.
Since Los Angeles is a sanctuary city, LA officers cannot assist federal agents with immigration enforcement. On Sunday, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said his department was “overwhelmed” by the rioters, who also started looting businesses in the downtown area.
Federal agents with ICE and other agencies also were outmanned on June 6 when protestors surrounded them and tried to stop the immigration enforcement efforts in Los Angeles.
Newsom sued to block the Guard’s deployment against his wishes. Newsom, in his emergency filing, argued that the troops were originally deployed to protect federal buildings.
His emergency filing requested the court to block the troops from helping protect immigration agents during the raids, arguing that involving the Guard would only escalate tensions and promote civil unrest.
Breyer said in his ruling that what is happening in Los Angeles does not meet the definition of a rebellion. In his broad ruling, the judge determined Trump had not properly called the Guard up in the first place.
“The protests in Los Angeles fall far short of ‘rebellion,’” he wrote.
He said the Trump administration identified instances of people acting violently, but not “a violent, armed, organized, open and avowed uprising against the government as a whole.”
Breyer also wrote it was not up to the federal government “to take over a state’s police power whenever it is dissatisfied with how vigorously or quickly the state is enforcing its own laws.”
In a news conference following Breyer’s ruling, Newsom echoed the ruling’s language. “There’s no invasion. There’s no rebellion,” he said. “It’s absurd.”
Initially, roughly 2,000 National Guard members were deployed to the city early Sunday. Trump authorized on Monday 700 Marines and another 2,000 National Guard troops to respond to the unrest.
All are part of Task Force 51, whose mission is to protect federal functions and property, according to U.S. Northern Command.
The National Guard response followed a weekend of violence spurred by ICE agents arresting criminals and federal agencies executing search warrants for workforce enforcement operations.
The AP reported Breyer’s order applied only to the California National Guard troops and not Marines who were also deployed to the LA protests. The judge said he would not rule on the Marines because they hadn’t responded to any protests yet.
Newsom had praised the earlier ruling.
“Today was really about a test of democracy, and today we passed the test,” Newsom said in a news conference before the appeals court decision.
Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, commander of Task Force 51, which is overseeing the Guard troops and Marines sent to Los Angeles, said that as of Wednesday about 500 of the Guard troops had been trained to accompany agents on immigration operations, the AP reported. Photos of Guard soldiers providing security for the agents have already been circulated by immigration officials.
None of the Marines have been trained to go on immigration raids, and it is not yet clear if they eventually will, Sherman said.
