US governors are divided along party lines about military troops deployed to protests
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is calling President Donald Trump's military intervention at protests over federal immigration policy in Los Angeles an assault on democracy and has sued to try to stop it. Meanwhile, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is putting the National Guard on standby in areas in his state where demonstrations are planned.
The divergent approaches illustrate the ways the two parties are trying to navigate national politics and the role of executive power in enforcing immigration policies.
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CTV News
28 minutes ago
- CTV News
Judge says Trump illegally deployed National Guard to help with LA protests, must return control
DHS police and National Guard protect the outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. President Donald Trump must return to California's governor control over National Guard troops his administration deployed to Los Angeles to assist in immigration enforcement and controlling unrest, a federal judge said in a temporary restraining order Thursday. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said Trump overstepped his bounds in ordering the deployment of roughly 4,000 National Guard members to LA after protests erupted over the immigration crackdown. The order, which takes effect at noon Friday, applies only to the National Guard troops and not Marines who were also deployed to the city. 'Today was really about a test of democracy, and today we passed the test,' Gov. Gavin Newsom, who had asked the judge for an emergency stop to troops helping carry out immigration raids, said in a news conference after the decision. The deployment of the Guard was illegal and both violated the Tenth Amendment and exceeded Trump's statutory authority, Breyer said. The White House had no immediate comment on the ruling, but the federal government immediately filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit court. The Trump administration called the lawsuit a 'crass political stunt endangering American lives' in its official response Wednesday. Newsom's case was solely focused on the National Guard, and the judge said when the state attorney asked about whether this could apply to the Marines that he would not rule on that because they were not on the streets yet. About 700 Marines have been undergoing civil disturbance training at Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach in Orange County, California. Nicholas Green, an attorney for the state, told the court: 'I have been told by the office of the governor that within the next 24 hours, 140 Marines will replace and relieve National Guard members in Los Angeles.' Typically the authority to call up the National Guard 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. Title 10 allows the president to call the National Guard into federal service under certain limited circumstances, such as when the country 'is invaded,' when 'there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government,' or when the president is unable 'to execute the laws of the United States.' Breyer said in his ruling that what is happening in Los Angeles does not meet the definition of a rebellion. 'The protests in Los Angeles fall far short of 'rebellion,'' he wrote. It was not immediately clear how that would change the situation on the ground. Newsom sued to block the Guard's deployment against his wishes. California later filed an emergency motion asking the judge to block the Guard from assisting with immigration raids. The governor argued that the troops were originally deployed to protect federal buildings and wanted the court to block the troops from helping protect immigration agents during the raids, saying that involving the Guard would only escalate tensions and promote civil unrest. 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. 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. In his broad ruling, the judge determined Trump had not properly called the Guard up in the first place. The lawsuit argued that Title 10 also requires that the president go through governors when issuing orders to the National Guard. Brett Shumate, an attorney for the federal government, said Trump complied with the statute by informing the general in charge of the troops of his decision and would have the authority to call in the Guard even if he had not. In a brief filed ahead of the Thursday hearing, the Justice Department said Trump's orders were not subject to judicial review. 'Courts did not interfere when President Eisenhower deployed the military to protect school desegregation. Courts did not interfere when President Nixon deployed the military to deliver the mail in the midst of a postal strike. And courts should not interfere here either,' the department said. 'Our position is this is not subject to judicial review,' Shumate told the judge. Breyer, who at one point waved a copy of the constitution, said he disagreed. 'We're talking about the president exercising his authority, and the president is of course limited in that authority. That's the difference between a constitutional government and King George,' he said. The protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles intensified after Trump called up the Guard and have since spread to other cities, including Boston, Chicago and Seattle. Trump has described Los Angeles in dire terms that Bass and Newsom say are nowhere close to the truth. The Marines have not yet been spotted in Los Angeles, and Guard troops have had limited engagement with protesters. Olga R. Rodriguez, The Associated Press
National Post
an hour ago
- National Post
White House defiant as judge rules Trump's National Guard deployment was illegal
LOS ANGELES — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged Thursday to carry on with the Trump administration's immigration crackdown despite waves of unrest across the U.S. Article content Hours later a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order directing President Donald Trump to return control of the Guard to California. The order, which takes effect at noon Friday, said the deployment of the Guard was illegal and both violated the Tenth Amendment and exceeded his statutory authority. Article content Article content Article content Gov. Gavin Newsom had asked the judge to put an emergency stop to troops helping to carry out immigration raids. Article content The developments unfolded as cities nationwide braced for major demonstrations against Trump over the weekend, and their leaders pleaded with residents to protest peacefully. Noem said the immigration raids that fueled the protests would move forward, saying agents have thousands of targets. Article content 'This is only going to continue until we have peace on the streets of Los Angeles,' she said during a news conference that was interrupted by shouting from U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat who was forcibly removed from the event. Article content Newsom has warned that the military intervention is part of a broader effort by Trump to overturn norms at the heart of the nation's democracy. He also said that sending National Guard troops on the raids has further inflamed tensions in Los Angeles, where large and sometimes volatile protests have broken out since the crackdown began nearly a week ago. Article content So far, the protests have been centered mostly in downtown LA near City Hall and a federal detention center where some immigrants are being held. Much of the sprawling city has been spared from the protests. Article content Article content The Trump administration on Wednesday called Newsom's lawsuit a 'crass political stunt endangering American lives.' Article content Demonstrations have picked up across the U.S., with protests emerging in more than a dozen major cities. On Wednesday, police in Seattle used pepper spray to clear out protesters, and officers in Denver used smoke and pepper balls to control a crowd. Article content Police in riot gear — many on horseback — charged at a group of protesters Wednesday night in LA just before the start of the second night of the city's downtown curfew. The officers struck some demonstrators with wooden rods and later fired crowd-control projectiles, and there were a handful of arrests.
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Judge orders Trump to return control of California National Guard to state
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to return control of the California National Guard to the state after finding the U.S. president had overstepped his bounds with the "unlawful" decision to send troops to Los Angeles. In his ruling, Judge Charles Breyer of the Northern District of California said the troops' presence in Los Angeles has already caused "significant harm" and inflamed tension in the city. "The federal government cannot be permitted to exceed its bounds and in doing so create the very emergency conditions that it then relies on to justify federal intervention," Breyer wrote. "The citizens of Los Angeles face a greater harm from the continued unlawful militarization of their city." The order is set to take effect at noon on Friday. It was a loss for U.S. President Donald Trump, who has maintained thousands of National Guard troops to control protests over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the country's second-largest city. WATCH | Trump's pattern of governing by executive order: Protests, tariffs, borders: Why Trump says everything is an emergency | About That 11 hours ago Duration 12:03 Description: U.S. President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to respond to immigration protests in California with a rarely used law invoked when the government believes a rebellion is underway. Andrew Chang breaks down how Trump's framing of these protests as an emergency — along with everything from trade deficits to fentanyl — exists as part of a larger pattern of governing by executive order with unchecked power. California Gov. Gavin Newsom applied for a temporary restraining order to regain control of the troops, which are typically deployed either by the state or at the state's request. He celebrated the judge's decision on Thursday. "The court just confirmed what we all know — the military belongs on the battlefield, not on our city streets. This win is not just for California, but the nation," he wrote on X. "It's a check on a man whose authoritarian tendencies are increasing by the day. End the illegal militarization of Los Angeles now." Protests during the week have been largely peaceful and smaller in size than they were last Saturday. Eight National Guard officers standing on the steps to the Federal Building on Los Angeles Street on Thursday weren't immediately aware of the ruling.
