California Governor Gavin Newsom was rejected after urgently appealing to a federal judge on Tuesday for an immediate order barring the National Guard and Marines deployed in response to the Los Angeles protests from joining in immigration raids, claiming such operations could be slated to begin any moment.
In a filing in a California federal court, the state said the Trump administration intends “to use unlawfully federalized National Guard troops and Marines to accompany federal immigration enforcement officers on raids throughout Los Angeles.”
“Federal antagonization, through the presence of soldiers in the streets, has already caused real and irreparable damage to the City of Los Angeles, the people who live there, and the State of California,” the filing continued. “They must be stopped, immediately.”
California sought a temporary restraining order preventing the military outfits from participating in immigration operations in Los Angeles, though a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California decided to give the administration a day to respond to the claims, scheduling a court hearing on the motion for Thursday.
In a brief response, the Justice Department called California’s claims “legally meritless.”
“It seeks an extraordinary, unprecedented, and dangerous court order,” the administration argued, warning the restraining order would “jeopardize the safety of Department of Homeland Security personnel and interfere with the Federal Government’s ability to carry out operations.”
The judge did not grant Newsom’s request and has set a hearing on the matter for 1.30pm ET on Thursday.
Governor Newsom, the most public face of the Democratic opposition to Trump’s involvement in the Los Angeles crisis, had been hinting that the presidential administration was planning to step up enforcement.
“We’re on the other side of the red line,” Newsom previously warned in a podcast interview on Monday, describing the alleged attempt to “operationalize” the troops.
The White House said the National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles are “carrying out their mission.”
“President Trump deployed the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles to protect federal law enforcement, federal buildings, and the federal mission after Gavin Newsom enabled violent riots and attacks on law enforcement,” spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement to The Independent.
“Military troops are providing protection for federal law enforcement officers as they continue operations to remove the worst of the worst from Los Angeles,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a separate statement. “If any rioters attack ICE law enforcement officers, military personnel have the authority to temporarily detain them until law enforcement makes the arrest. The violence against ICE law enforcement must end.”
The Independent has contacted the Marine Corps and U.S. Northern Command, which is overseeing the Los Angeles operation, for comment.
Tuesday’s request from Newsom claimed that state officials learned between June 9 and 10 that the administration plans to use some of the 4,000 federalized National Guard members in Los Angeles to accompany immigration agents on operations throughout the community, fulfilling roles like “holding a secure perimeter” and “securing routes over public streets where immigration enforcement officers would travel.”
Elsewhere in the request, the state suggested contingents from the 700 Marines deployed to Los Angeles could join in the effort, with both forces having the potential to “physically interact with or detain civilians.”
If such operations begin to take place, they would represent a major development, given the high legal firewalls keeping the military from domestic law enforcement activity in all but the most emergency circumstances.
The dramatic request came as part of the lawsuit California filed on Monday against the administration for activating the state’s National Guard to respond to the protests against the wishes of the governor and mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass.
On Tuesday, President Trump said he was open to the even more dramatic possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, which would grant the military additional domestic power to respond to the protests.
As part of the Trump administration’s goal of rapidly deporting millions of people, the White House has reportedly explored ways to operationalize other parts of federal law enforcement, including drug and gun enforcement agents, to tackle illegal immigration.
