Judge blocks Trump administration’s deployment of national guard troops in Los Angeles

A US judge on Wednesday morning blocked the deployment by the federal government of national guard troops in Los Angeles and ordered the guard returned to the control of the California governor, a court filing showed.

The Trump administration is being challenged in federal court over its authority and rationale for continuing to maintain command over the national guard troops it deployed to the city earlier this year.

In a historically rare move, the Trump administration federalized California’s national guard in June, dispatching about 4,000 troops in response to protests in the city over immigration raids, despite opposition from the state’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, who quickly filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state.

Newsom called the move unprecedented and illegal, and the case has been unfolding in the courts for months.

On Wednesday, US district judge, Charles Breyer, rejected the Trump administration’s claim that recent protests against aggressive enforcement by the federal immigration authorities amounted to a rebellion.

The federal government had argued that the incidents legally justified the extraordinary step of taking federal control of state national guard units against the wishes of a state governor, the office that typically controls such troops, and sending them onto the streets of LA.

During a hearing in San Francisco last Friday, Breyer had appeared skeptical of the federal government’s case and, specifically, argued that the situation in Los Angeles had changed since the troops were first deployed, questioning whether the administration could command the state’s national guard indefinitely.

California had asked the judge to issue a preliminary injunction in order to return control of the remaining national guard troops in Los Angeles to the state, on which Breyer ruled on Wednesday. He had previously declared that the deployment was illegal.

Breyer, in a San Francisco court filing granted the preliminary injunction sought by California officials to end the deployment and return the 100 or so remaining troops to the state’s command. But he also put the decision on hold until Monday.

The administration initially called up more than 4,000 California national guard troops, but that number had dropped to several hundred by late October.

The Republican administration had extended the deployment in LA until February, arguing that they still needed them there to help protect federal personnel and property.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting.