A federal judge in California has found that Donald Trump and administration officials violated the law by deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles in response to protests against his anti-immigration agenda.
The president’s troop deployment violated the Posse Comitatus Act, passed by Congress in 1878, which prohibits “the use of the U.S. military to execute domestic law,” according to Tuesday’s ruling from District Judge Charles Breyer.
“Nearly 140 years later, Defendants — President Trump, Secretary of Defense Hegseth, and the Department of Defense — deployed the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles, ostensibly to quell a rebellion and ensure that federal immigration law was enforced,” Breyer wrote. “There were indeed protests in Los Angeles, and some individuals engaged in violence. Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law.”
Following a brief bench trial, the judge determined that the administration “systematically used armed soldiers (whose identity was often obscured by protective armor) and military vehicles to set up protective perimeters and traffic blockades, engage in crowd control, and otherwise demonstrate a military presence in and around Los Angeles.”
“In short, Defendants violated the Posse Comitatus Act,” he wrote.
His order — in the face of Trump’s plans for “creating a national police force with the President as its chief” — further blocks the administration from sending troops into the state.
This is a developing story
