Newsom files emergency motion to 'immediately block' Trump's use of military to stop LA riots
Accusing the federal government of intentionally provoking rioters and "turning the military against American citizens," California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, filed an emergency motion to stop President Donald Trump from further using the National Guard and Marines to quell the ongoing anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles.
Fiery riots and looting have overtaken much of Los Angeles over the last several days following a series of ICE operations in the city. Despite the riots, Newsom said that the federal government's military response has been unnecessary and that the protests are "largely nonviolent."
Newsom and California Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the motion in a federal court for the Northern District of California on Tuesday. The motion asks the court to grant the state a temporary restraining order keeping Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Department of Defense from the "use of the military and the federalized National Guard to patrol communities or otherwise engage in general law enforcement activities," which they say "creates imminent harm to State Sovereignty, deprives the State of vital resources, escalates tensions and promotes (rather than quells) civil unrest."
In a Tuesday statement, Newsom's office said that the motion is charging the Trump administration with violations of the U.S. Constitution and Title 10 authority, "not only because the takeover occurred without the consent or input of the Governor, as federal law requires, but also because it was unwarranted."
In the statement, Newsom's office blamed the ICE agents for the riots, saying that their operations were carried out "without providing notification to law enforcement and engineered them to provoke community backlash."
The next several days saw unrest and violent confrontations between anti-ICE rioters and law enforcement, while the Department of Homeland Security urged California state leaders to "call off their rioting mob."
A DHS statement put out Saturday read, "Last night, over 1,000 rioters surrounded a federal law enforcement building and assaulted ICE law enforcement officers, slashed tires, defaced buildings, and taxpayer-funded property. It took the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) 2 hours to respond."
In response to the escalating chaos, Trump deployed thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles. Later, he also ordered 700 U.S. Marines into the city to restore order.
The move has been met with intense pushback from Newsom and other California Democrats.
Newsom's office said that though "some violent and illegal incidents were reported," the protests "were largely nonviolent and involved citizens exercising their First Amendment right to protest."
The statement claimed "the protests did not necessitate federal intervention, and local and state law enforcement have been able to control the situation, as in other recent instances of unrest."
"The federal government is now turning the military against American citizens," Newsom said in the statement.
The governor claimed that Trump's "sending trained warfighters onto the streets is unprecedented and threatens the very core of our democracy."
"Donald Trump is behaving like a tyrant, not a President," said Newsom.
Newsom has sued the Trump administration for deploying the military to Los Angeles. The lawsuit said Trump "unlawfully bypassed" Newsom by putting National Guard troops under federal control without the governor's permission.
The California attorney general, meanwhile, has claimed the president is "looking for any pretense to place military forces on American streets to intimidate and quiet those who disagree with him."
"It's not just immoral — it's illegal and dangerous," said Bonta.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump administration and the Department of Defense for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Trump warned his administration is "not playing around."
Trump added that he had called California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday and criticized his handling of the riots.
"A day ago, I called him up to tell him got to do a better job. He's done a bad job causing a lot of death and a lot of a lot of potential death," Trump said of Newsom.
Trump offered further details on his exchange with Newsom to Fox News' John Roberts. Trump told Roberts that his first call to Newsom was not picked up, but that they did connect and speak for 16 minutes when he called again.
"I told him to, essentially, 'get his ass in gear,' and stop the riots, which were out of control," Trump told Roberts.
"If we didn't send out the National Guard and last night, we gave him a little additional help. Los Angeles would be burning right now. Los Angeles would be not a lot different than what you saw take place in California, in Los Angeles just a little while ago," Trump added in his statement to reporters, referring to this year's wildfires.
Trump went on to describe the rioters as "animals," and argued they are paid agitators rather than real protesters.
"They look in your face and they spit right in your face. They're animals. And these are paid insurrectionists. These are paid troublemakers they're agitators. They're paid," Trump said. "These are paid insurrectionists or agitators or troublemakers. You can call it whatever you want. And we ended it, and we have in custody some very bad people, some very bad people."
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