Deployment of the National Guard and active duty Marines last weekend have sparked a fierce war between California leaders and President Donald Trump over the role of the military in civilian settings, and the role of state leadership versus federal control.
California leaders won the first round when a judge ruled Thursday that the administration illegally deployed National Guard troops to quell protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles. But hours later, and appeals court blocked that decision.
The back-and-forth court battle echoed the growing tension on the streets, where protestors demonstrating against ICE raids are meeting a growing military presence in the city.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer issued a temporary restraining order against the deployment, saying Trump hadn’t followed proper procedures to call up the Guard. Federal law requires that a governor issue orders to deploy the troops. The restraining order required Trump to return control of the National Guard to California Gov. Gavin Newsom by noon Friday.
“Hopefully Donald Trump will immediately back down,” Newsom said at a press conference Thursday evening.
Trump didn’t. Later Thursday night the administration got a reprieve – at least through Tuesday – when a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked that decision.
The standoff in LA raises the stakes for other communities with high immigrant populations including San Diego. Here’s everything you need to know.
Last weekend the White House authorized deployment of 4,000 National Guard troops in LA, with 700 Marines alongside them. Trump claimed the federal troops were necessary to restrain demonstrations against immigration enforcement. The protests “constitute a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States,” he stated in an executive order Saturday.
Gov. Gavin Newsom objected to what he called an “illegal and unnecessary takeover of a CalGuard unit, which has needlessly escalated chaos and violence.”
On Sunday Newsom demanded that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth rescind the order. California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit challenging the legal basis for deploying the National Guard and Marines.
At the court hearing Thursday, Breyer pushed back on the administration’s claims of authority over the National Guard, pointing out that the presidency is not a monarchy.
“It’s very important to understand that our military are not allowed to do civilian law enforcement, unless there is an insurrection,” said Rep. Mike Levin, whose district includes Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. “That standard hasn’t even been close to met in Los Angeles.”
Experts say using military forces in LA tests dangerous boundaries. “It’s not normal at all to have U.S. troops policing the streets,” said Franklin Rosenblatt, president of National Institute of Military Justice, a retired army Lt. Colonel and law professor. “That’s something people are rightly responding to with great concern.”
Experts said the Los Angeles operation could be a playbook for military deployments in other cities including San Diego, which expanded its sanctuary city policies last year, and experienced high-profile ICE raids at Buona Forchetta restaurant in South Park last week.
The Department of Homeland Security requested 20,000 National Guard troops to help with immigration enforcement at sanctuary cities throughout the country. It issued a recent list of “sanctuary jurisdictions” that included San Diego County and the cities of San Diego, Vista, Chula Vista and Santee.
Some city leaders said Homeland Security got it wrong. Vista Mayor John Franklin and Chula Vista Mayor John McCann said their cities don’t have sanctuary policies. But preparations for aggressive ICE action coupled with military reinforcement should worry local leaders everywhere, critics said.
“The memo that the administration put out that claims to authorize the federalization of the guard, didn’t specify LA or California,” said Janessa Goldbeck, CEO of Vet Voice Foundation. “It makes it clear that the administration believes it has the authority to deploy troops anywhere, at any time, for any reason. That’s a big break in civil military norms.”
Why is there conflict over the National Guard? There are long-standing restrictions against invoking military force for domestic law enforcement, dating back 800 years to the Magna Carta.
In the U.S., this was codified in the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which bars federal troops from conducting civilian law enforcement. “One of the cornerstones of our Nation and our democracy is that our people are governed by civil, not military, rule,” Bonta stated in the lawsuit.
Local and state authorities are best equipped to respond to the Los Angeles protests, Newsom said, while deploying the National Guard “risks seriously escalating the situation.”
The National Guard fulfills both federal and state responsibilities, and troops can be deployed in either role, according to U.S. code governing their service. As a federal force they can fight invasion by a foreign nation; National Guard troops have been deployed in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
A governor can deploy them as state troops to help with disaster relief or drug interdiction, or to suppress a rebellion against the U.S. government.
The president can also call them up for domestic law enforcement with orders issued through a governor. Newsom made it clear he’s not on board with that. Without that consent, National Guard troops are not supposed to perform civilian law enforcement, but can support local police or sheriff’s deputies, and guard federal buildings.
Rosenblatt said the fluid situation in Los Angeles could cause mission creep for those troops. One day they may be handling logistics, the next they could be engaging directly with protestors.
In 2020 his organization launched The Orders Project, to help troops distinguish between legal and illegal orders, particularly during military action within the United States.
“One thing we’re really looking at is the situation that these well-meaning young military members are in,” he said. “They want to do the right thing. And it’s sometimes not easy to tell what is lawful or not lawful. “
What about the Marines? It has not been clear why the White House thinks they’re needed, or even where they’re coming from. And Breyer’s decision didn’t address their deployment.
Hegseth tweeted Monday that they would arrive from Camp Pendleton, but Levin said they came from Twenty-Nine Palms.
Levin said he contacted Hegseth, several generals, and the United States Northern Command, but hasn’t gotten answers about what legal authority the administration is relying on to deploy the Marines.
It’s highly unusual to use active-duty troops on U.S. soil, and Levin said it places the Marines and the public at risk.
“Obviously our Marines are the best lethal fighting force the world has ever known,” Levin said. “We want them to fight wars abroad. They are not typically ready for nonlethal operations, and the use of nonlethal weapons. They’re not trained in crowd control or how to handle civil disobedience.”
The escalation of military force has stoked concern that Trump might invoke the Insurrection Act, which authorizes the use of federal troops to quell civilian unrest. He has floated using it before, and said he might use it now. It’s unclear whether the court ruling Thursday could spur that action.
Newsom warned that Trump has crossed a red line and said local and state law enforcement have matters under control. “There’s no insurrection, no matter how many times Trump says the word out loud,” he stated.
More on Immigration Enforcement in San Diego: As the situation has heated up in Los Angeles, my colleagues at Voice of San Diego have written about ICE action here.
Education reporter Jakob McWhinney wrote about the effects of an immigration raid at Laurel Elementary in Oceanside, when a father was taken by ICE after dropping his child off at school.
Oceanside Unified, like San Diego Unified, has a policy that restricts ICE agents from entering campuses without a federal warrant. But agents wait outside the school grounds to make arrests, leaving students and their families fearful of going to school, McWhinney writes.
South county reporter Jim Hinch discussed how immigration has taken front stage in the District 1 Supervisor race. The Democratic candidate, Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, leaped to denounce aggressive immigration crackdowns. Her Republican opponent, Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, dodged the subject focused on nuts-and-bolts issues instead.
Senator Alex Padilla Handcuffed at Press Conference Adding fuel to the firefight between California and the White House, federal agents restrained and handcuffed Sen. Alex Padilla as he approached Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to ask a question at a press conference Thursday. Noem said Padilla didn’t identify himself, but video of the incident showed him stating his name and office as agents pushed him back. He said he was there “to provide oversight and accountability.”
The Sacramento Report runs every Friday. Do you have tips, ideas or questions? Send them to me at deborah@voiceofsandiego
Funny when it becomes states rights on guns, voting, and abortion and federal rights when your states militia is commandeered by the feds.
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What if the people of California wanted the National Guard?