Trial Weighs Trump’s Use of Troops in Los Angeles
California challenges legality under Posse Comitatus Act limits.
A federal trial began Monday to determine whether President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles violated the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits using the military as a domestic police force. The case, heard by Judge Charles Breyer, stems from a June lawsuit filed by California Governor Gavin Newsom after Trump federalized the state’s National Guard to quell protests over aggressive immigration raids.
Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, head of Task Force 51, testified that troops were permitted to support federal agents by securing perimeters around federal facilities, claiming such actions align with protecting federal property and personnel. However, California argues that the troops’ involvement in immigration raids, including accompanying ICE officers in Los Angeles and Ventura County, crossed legal boundaries. Ernesto Santacruz Jr., a DHS field director, defended the deployment, stating it was critical to protect federal assets from “violent mobs” during June 7 protests.
The Department of Defense deployed approximately 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles, with 250 Guard members still stationed at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos. Newsom seeks a court order to return control of these troops to the state and bar their use in civilian law enforcement. Breyer previously ruled that Trump’s actions violated the 10th Amendment, though an appeals court temporarily upheld federal control pending the trial.
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Trump justified federalizing the Guard under a law allowing such action during “rebellion” or when federal laws cannot be enforced. Breyer, however, found the Los Angeles protests “fall far short of rebellion.” The trial’s outcome could set a precedent for future military deployments in California and beyond, amid Trump’s broader push to militarize law enforcement, including a recent move to deploy the National Guard in Washington, D.C., despite declining crime rates.
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