US Federal Judge Blocks Trump Administration From Deploying California National Guard In LA

LOS ANGELES, Dec 11 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- A US federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration cannot deploy members of the California National Guard in Los Angeles and must return control of the troops to the state, reported Xinhua.

According to the ruling by US District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco, the Trump administration still retains control of approximately 300 California National Guard members six months after protests erupted in Southern California over an immigration crackdown.

The court stays the order until noon on next Monday, and the Trump administration is expected to appeal.

In June, Breyer issued a temporary restraining order saying US President Donald Trump overstepped his bounds in ordering the deployment of roughly 4,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals issued an emergency stay just hours after Breyer's decision.

The dramatic legal reversal capped a day of courtroom confrontation between the Trump administration and California over the unprecedented federal takeover of state military forces.

Breyer also ruled in September that the Trump administration violated a 19th-century law barring the use of soldiers for civilian law enforcement when it deployed National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles in June.

By late October, the Trump administration had withdrawn most of the troops, reducing the number of federalised National Guard members in Los Angeles to only several hundred.

As of now, 100 federalised California National Guard members remain "at various locations throughout Los Angeles providing rapid response protection to federal facilities, functions, and personnel," Breyer's ruling stated.  

--BERNAMA-XINHUA