Dive Brief:
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta on Friday filed a motion asking the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to block the Trump administration from taking control of the California National Guard and sending its troops out of state.
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The motion asks the court to lift a stay on proceedings in California’s lawsuit seeking to block Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles and return command of the troops to Newsom.
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“The continuing and unwarranted federalization of the State’s Guard harms California’s sovereign interests, intrudes on the State’s traditional law enforcement functions, and diverts members of the Guard from performing critical work for the State,” the motion states.
Dive Insight:
President Donald Trump federalized and deployed California Army National Guard soldiers and U.S. Marines in June purportedly to help protect federal personnel and federal property in Los Angeles during protests against U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raids. The Pentagon withdrew the Marines in July, but 101 Guard members remain in the city.
Newsom sued the Trump administration over the deployment in June. In September, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled the Trump administration had violated federal law. However, Breyer said he didn’t believe he had the authority to consider California’s request to block Trump’s use of troops because the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals was reviewing the case.
On Oct. 29, the Ninth Circuit confirmed that the district courts do have jurisdiction to hear California’s challenge, clearing the way for Friday’s motion. The motion argues that the Trump administration “can no longer credibly claim that federalizing California’s National Guard is necessary to avert acts of violence or property damage in Los Angeles.”
Trump has attempted to federalize National Guard troops in Oregon and Illinois in response to protests against federal immigration actions in Portland and Chicago. Both states have sued the Trump administration and secured temporary restraining orders limiting the deployments as the cases proceed.
In October, the Trump administration sent 200 California National Guard troops to Oregon. Of those, 14 were sent to train federalized Illinois and Texas National Guard troops in Chicago, according to Friday’s motion.
Newsom said in a press release that Trump’s federalization of the troops has taken them away from “critical missions, including wildfire preparedness and fire management, drug interdiction, and now supporting food banks across the state.”
