California Asks Court to Stop National Guard, Marines From Patrolling LA Streets

Updated at 3:15 p.m.

California is seeking an immediate federal court order to prevent the National Guard and U.S. Marines from assisting in immigration raids or protest response in Los Angeles while a lawsuit challenging the deployment moves forward.

Gov. Gavin Newsom asked a federal judge on Tuesday to issue a temporary restraining order that would bar the troops from patrolling streets or otherwise aiding in any law enforcement action other than protecting federal property and personnel.

Attorney General Rob Bonta said the state also wants the judge to return the National Guard to Newsom’s command so they can go back to their regular assignments including conducting fentanyl enforcement at the Mexican border and wildfire suppression work around the state.

“The military should not be policing civilian streets of the United States of America. It is a core principle and enshrined in law,” Bonta said, adding that local law enforcement has experience dealing with much larger civil unrest.

In an order issued a few hours after the state filed its request, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer gave the White House until Wednesday morning to respond. He scheduled a hearing for 1:30 p.m. Thursday on the state’s request for a temporary restraining order.

The filing warns that President Donald Trump intends to use the troops for federal immigration enforcement raids and that their presence has already “become the focus of protests and led to civil unrest” and that “further escalation of military force will create a significant and imminent risk of harm to Los Angeles by escalating tensions and increasing the risk of potential hostilities.”

Bonta said Trump has lied about what’s happening on the ground in L.A. and that the vast majority of protests have been peaceful. Trump, he said, “instead of creating peace, is inflaming tensions and making things worse.”

“The president has been disrespectful and manipulative and abusive of our hardworking service men and women in the military who are patriots,” he said, adding that those service members “deserve better than to be treated as political pawns, as part of President Trump’s escalation and provocation and inflammation.”

The state’s request comes one day after California filed suit against President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, claiming that the mobilization of the 2,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines is illegal because the state did not request or consent to the military deployment. Under ordinary circumstances, National Guard troops are under the command of state governors.

In a directive issued Saturday, following protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions in Los Angeles, Trump invoked a rarely used legal provision that allows a president to deploy federal service members if “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”

California’s lawsuit contends that the L.A. protests have been largely peaceful and that local police are equipped to respond.

“The federal government is now turning the military against American citizens,” Newsom said in a statement. “Sending trained warfighters onto the streets is unprecedented and threatens the very core of our democracy. Donald Trump is behaving like a tyrant, not a president. We ask the court to immediately block these unlawful actions.”

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly fired back.

“Gavin Newsom should march back to his Attorney General’s office to prosecute the anti-ICE rioters who burned property and looted businesses in Los Angeles,” she said in a statement. “It’s pathetic that Newsom is more focused on saving face than protecting law enforcement and holding criminals accountable. As the President said, Newsom should thank him for restoring law and order.”

The temporary restraining order proposed by California would prevent the federal troops from patrolling “communities or otherwise engage in general law enforcement activities beyond the immediate vicinity of federal buildings or other real property owned or leased by the federal government.”

The suit contends that the White House has overstated the reality of the protests, asserting that there has at no point been a “rebellion or insurrection” as the president has alleged.

“Nor have these protests risen to the level of protests or riots that Los Angeles and other major cities have seen at point in the past, including in recent years,” the lawsuit states, going on to assert that the Los Angeles Police Department and L.A. County Sheriff’s Department have “substantial training and experience responding to protests and large scale riots.”