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.
