As the resistance to ICE raids was growing in California earlier this summer, with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom getting residents stirred up, President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to provide cover for agents.
The move was immediately litigated by Newsom, and Trump, after losing the initial battle, won a stay from the appellate court.
Judge Charles Breyer has now echoed his previous ruling, stating that Trump broke the law by deploying the National Guard without the approval of the state’s governor.
With protests erupting all over the city and ICE agents being repeatedly attacked, the Trump administration had seen enough, and the Guard was sent in to protect agents.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated at the time, "The Trump Administration has a zero tolerance policy for criminal behavior and violence, especially when that violence is aimed at law enforcement officers trying to do their jobs.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth added, "They are on high alert. Under President Trump, violence & destruction against federal agents & federal facilities will NOT be tolerated. It’s COMMON SENSE.”
As we expected, lawsuits were immediately filed to fight the deployment.
Breyer, against whom Trump has squared off numerous times, ruled, "His actions were illegal... He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith.”
The judge stayed that order to allow Trump time to appeal the case, which the administration immediately did.
The appellate court then ruled that Trump’s "failure to issue the federalization order directly 'through' the Governor of California does not limit his otherwise lawful authority to call up the National Guard.”
Trump responded to the ruling, "This is much bigger than Gavin [Newsom], because all over the United States, if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done.”
On Tuesday, Breyer issued a ruling similar to what he stated in the first round, stating, "I go back to the thing that I'm really troubled by: What limiting factors are there to the use of this force?"
His ruling comes as roughly only 300 members of the Guard remain in California, as Trump has already pulled most of the troops that were sent there earlier in the year.
I am sure Trump will appeal this decision as well because it will have implications around the country, considering that the president is already considering sending in the Guard to Chicago in order to extend his crime crackdown beyond Washington, D.C.
If I am being honest, I just don’t like the idea of federalizing cities and sending in the Guard, and my disagreement centers mostly around optics. This is tough for me because I want to see this crackdown on violent crime, but I have to wonder how it will impact the upcoming election. Democrats will use such moves to paint Trump and Republicans as authoritarians, but at the same time, how much longer do we allow Democrats to ruin our major cities? I just wish voters in these cities would wake up and elect officials who will put their interests and the interests of the city over those of criminals, but they just keep electing Democrats to office who are more interested in a party line and power than they are in the welfare of their constituents.
