California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed a temporary restraining order on Tuesday to block President Donald Trump from dispatching National Guardsmen and U.S. Marines to patrol Los Angeles amid the ongoing protests against heightened ICE raids.
The motion, obtained and reviewed by TheWrap after being filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seeks “to preserve (in part) the status quo by temporarily enjoining Defendants from ordering or deploying the active duty members of the military and federalized National Guard soldiers to patrol communities or otherwise engage in general law enforcement activities beyond the immediate vicinity of federal buildings or other federal real property.”
“The federal government is now turning the military against American citizens. Sending trained warfighters onto the streets is unprecedented and threatens the very core of our democracy,” Newsom said in a statement following the filing. “Donald Trump is behaving like a tyrant, not a president. We ask the court to immediately block these unlawful actions.”
The request claims Trump and Hegseth’s actions violate the U.S. Constitution and the president’s 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.”
The protests against the Trump administration’s arrests of undocumented individuals began Friday and continued through the weekend – rising in intensity after the president sent National Guardsmen to the city. Trump’s decision to deploy marked the first time a president sent the National Guard to a state without a request from that state’s governor since the 1960s. Protestors and officers clashed off and on all weekend.
Newsom’s motion slammed the “use of the military and the federalized National Guard” and said it “deprives the State of vital resources, escalates tensions and
promotes (rather than quells) civil unrest.”
Newsom also said that the ICE officers inflamed tensions with violent actions including arresting children, community advocates and people without a criminal record. The governor said ICE resorted to “military-style” operations which sparked a panic that led to opposition. Newsom also said this makes clear the president’s heavy-handed immigration agenda.
On Sunday, the California governor formally requested that Donald Trump recall the National Guard from Los Angeles and other areas where Californians are protesting the ongoing immigration raids, calling the federal deployment “a serious breach of state sovereignty.” The president took no action to remove troops instead sending an additional 2,000 troops on Monday.
“I was just informed Trump is deploying another 2,000 Guard troops to L.A.,” Newsom tweeted. “The first 2,000? Given no food or water. Only approx. 300 are deployed — the rest are sitting, unused, in federal buildings without orders. This isn’t about public safety. It’s about stroking a dangerous president’s ego. This is Reckless. Pointless. And Disrespectful to our troops.”
