A federal judge ruled Tuesday that President Trump’s use of the National Guard during Los Angeles’ immigration raids and subsequent protests violated federal law.
As California leadership like Gov. Gavin Newsom celebrated the ruling, the Trump administration has yet to respond to how the decision will affect future National Guard deployments to cities like Chicago and Baltimore.
San Francisco Judge Charles Breyer did not require the remaining troops in L.A. to be withdrawn, but his order will go into effect on Friday. The order comes after the state of California sued, claiming that the federal troops’ arrival violated the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 that prohibits military enforcement of domestic laws, which the Trump administration has since rejected.
Breyer’s decision comes as the president has made repeated calls to send the National Guard to other cities, creating a national police force with Trump serving as chief.
Tuesday morning the president posted several posts to his platform Truth Social, calling for crime reform in Chicago. Trump wrote that “Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the World” and that he will solve “every crime problem fast.” Later posting “CHICAGO IS THE MURDER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!”
Though the military action has been deemed illegal by the federal courts, MSNBC’s Senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez said it was unlikely the administration would back down on plans to patrol Chicago or Baltimore.
Gov. Newsom celebrated the court’s Tuesday decision, writing “DONALD TRUMP LOSES AGAIN.”
“The courts agree — his militarization of our streets and use of the military against U.S. citizens is ILLEGAL,” he wrote in a post to X.
The federal decision is a win for the California governor who has positioned himself as vehemently anti-Trump in recent months.
On a national scale Trump’s threats to crack down on crime in Chicago are different than his presence in Los Angeles. The Trump administration claimed they were responding to unrest in L.A., whereas in Chicago the administration is responding to existing crime alone.
“That’s really going a step further than what they did in Los Angeles, where they said it was to respond to unrest,” NBC News’ Senior Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ainsley said. “Chicago, to call them in preemptively, already raises legal questions, so after a judge is saying they weren’t used correctly in California it’s unclear how the White House might pivot or if they will change their course with the actions they have planned for Chicago.”
Immigration attorney Allen Orr added that as corporations across the nation are capitulating to the president, this ruling was a firm stance against Trump and a defense of democracy.
“It isn’t so much that the president was pushed back,” Orr said, “But that the constitution and the way our government has always been run is being upheld.”
Watch the full exchange here:
