Washington — A federal judge in California blocked the Trump administration from deploying members of the California National Guard in Los Angeles and directed it to return control of the Guard to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The decision from U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer is the second in which he has ruled against the Trump administration in its efforts to federalize the California National Guard, under a law known as Title 10, and send troops to the streets of Los Angeles to protect federal personnel and property during immigration enforcement operations. Newsom, a Democrat, opposed President Trump’s move to call the state’s National Guard into federal service in support of the president’s immigration crackdown.
Sought by California officials, the preliminary injunction granted by Breyer arose out of orders issued by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in August and October that kept 300 California National Guard troops under federal control to temporarily protect federal immigration agents and other government entities. The October order from Hegseth called for 200 of the California National Guard personnel to deploy to Oregon, with the remaining 100 troops sent to various locations throughout Los Angeles.
The California National Guard members are set to remain in federal service through Feb. 2.
Breyer criticized the Trump administration in his 35-page order for continuing to retain control of roughly 300 Guardsmen, even though he said there is no evidence that federal officials have been hindered in their execution of federal law.
“The Founders designed our government to be a system of checks and balances. Defendants, however, make clear that the only check they want is a blank one,” he wrote.
Breyer also accused the Trump administration of “effectively creating a national police force made up of state troops” by sending California Guardsmen to other states, including Oregon and Illinois, and said the government has adopted an “expansive view” of Mr. Trump’s powers under Title 10.
The judge put his order on hold until Monday, likely to give the Justice Department time to appeal.
Mr. Trump first invoked Title 10 to federalize members of the California National Guard in June in response to protests against immigration raids in the Los Angeles-area. The law allows the president to call into federal service members of a state’s Guard when he cannot execute U.S. laws with the “regular forces” or when there is a “rebellion or danger of a rebellion” against the government.
Hegeth initially federalized roughly 4,000 California Guardsmen. But Newsom, California’s Democratic governor, sued to block the federalization and deployment, and Breyer issued a temporary restraining order on June 12 finding that Mr. Trump’s initial federalization did not satisfy the conditions laid out in Title 10.
But a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit temporarily lifted Breyer’s order, allowing the federalization and deployment to continue. The 9th Circuit held a hearing on the Justice Department’s appeal of the district court’s decision, but has not yet issued a ruling.
Since those proceedings, the Trump administration has released most of the federalized members of California’s National Guard, but kept roughly 300 troops under federal control.
Mr. Trump has also sought to federalize the Oregon and Illinois National Guards to assist with immigration enforcement operations over the objections of their Democratic governors. In Oregon, a federal judge ruled Mr. Trump did not have a lawful basis to federalize the state’s National Guard under Title 10 and permanently blocked the administration from deploying the troops to Portland.
In Illinois, a federal appeals court blocked the Trump administration from deploying Illinois Guardsmen to the Chicago-area but allowed them to remain under federal control. The Supreme Court is now weighing whether to allow their deployment.
Mr. Trump has also sent National Guard members to the streets of Washington, D.C., and Memphis. Two West Virginia National Guard members who were sent to Washington, D.C., were shot in an ambush-style attack near the White House last month. One of the victims died and the other remains hospitalized.
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