Trump’s deployment of National Guard in Los Angeles heads to court
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NEWSOM V TRUMP
via Lia Russell...
Attorneys for Gov. Gavin Newsom headed back to court Monday over President Donald Trump’s use of the California National Guard to subdue protests in Los Angeles, a tactic the White House is now repeating in the nation’s capital in what’s it’s calling a crime crackdown.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is considering whether the Trump administration violated a federal law, the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the military from enforcing domestic law after the Pentagon took control of Cal Guard and sent 700 Marines to protect federal immigration officials in the South State. It was the first time in 50 years a president had done so over the objections of a state governor.
As Judge Charles Breyer considered arguments from lawyers from the California Department of Justice and federal Department of Justice, Trump said he would send 800 National Guard troops and local police to Washington, D.C. He said the city was overrun by “violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals,” even as reports show violent crime levels have been dropping for years.
Washington does not control its National Guard because of its status as a federal district.
At issue is what role the National Guard played in policing the Los Angeles protests, and whether it was significant enough to warrant a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. Trump can invoke another law, the Insurrection Act, to allow military personnel to act as law enforcement, but he has not done so.
During the hearing, witnesses like Maj. Gen. Scott M. Sherman and ICE Enforcement and Removal Los Angeles acting Field Office Director Ernesto Santacruz said troops were there to protect immigration officials carrying out arrests of undocumented residents.
“The mere presence of the federalized National Guard could be a deterrent to members of the public considering hindering an arrest,” Santacruz said during the hearing. California DOJ lawyers argued that ordinary citizens would not be able to differentiate between troops and federal immigration officials because the latter did not publicly identify themselves, the subject of ongoing legislation.
Even as most of the 4,000 Guard members have left Los Angeles, Newsom warned that Trump would target other cities that the president falsely said were “so far gone” with crime, like Oakland, New York and Baltimore – all cities that opposed his election.
“He was just getting warmed up in Los Angeles,” Newsom said on X. “He will gaslight his way into militarizing any city he wants in America. This is what dictators do.”
BOXER JOINS VILLARAIGOSA
via Amelia Wu...
California gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa announced a new co-chair for his campaign— Eleni Kounalakis’ top California endorser and former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer.
The move comes just days after Kounalakis withdrew from the race.
Boxer, a longtime national leader on environmental protection and an advocate for women’s rights, is lending her full support to the former mayor of Los Angeles. She joins statewide endorsers District Council of Iron Workers of California and the California-Nevada Conference of Operating Engineers.
“I’m honored to have the support of Barbara Boxer, who was a relentless fighter for California in Washington for 24 years and continues to do so today,” said Villaraigosa.
Before joining Villaraigosa’s campaign, Boxer worked at Actum, a lobbying firm that Villaraigosa also spent some time at before his governor campaign.
Boxer also highlighted Villaraigosa’s history in her statement as an Assembly leader and former mayor of Los Angeles.
“Antonio Villaraigosa is the right leader at the right time to lead our state as governor, and would make history as the first Latino to be elected Governor of California,” Boxer said in a statement. “With such unprecedented threats to California’s future… we need bold, proven leadership that Antonio Villaraigosa will deliver, safeguarding a future that leaves no Californian behind.”
PADILLA FOR A DHS INVESTIGATION
via David Lightman...
Sen. Alex Padilla and dozens of congressional Democrats Monday demanded that the Department of Homeland Security investigate the agency’s controversial policies on arrests, detentions and deportations.
In a letter to department officials, they cited the Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy saying that it “cannot assert its civil immigration enforcement authority to arrest and/or detain a U.S. citizen.”
But, the Democrats said, ICE “has arrested U.S. citizens, even appearing to use violent physical force. ICE has also detained citizens in immigration detention facilities, sometimes for over a week.”
The actions, they said, “threaten the safety, due process, and civil liberties of Americans around the country.
“When immigration agents arrest Americans without sufficient cause or simply because they are near an enforcement action, detain them without access to counsel, or ignore proof of citizenship, DHS fails in its core duty to protect the public and undermines trust in its operations,” they wrote.
Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment by deadline. Officials have consistently defended ICE agents, saying they were doing their job properly.
Padilla, D-Calif., is the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Citizenship and Border Security subcommittee.
The Democrats are seeking an answer to their request by Sept. 5. They’re looking for what they said is “clarity on its policies and guidelines related to the arrests or detentions of U.S. citizens, along with: data on stops, arrests, detentions, and deportations of citizens this year; information about how agents are trained to verify citizenship status; and any ongoing reviews or investigations of wrongful detentions of citizens.”
Also signing the letter was Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and California Democratic Reps. Judy Chu , Laura Friedman, Jared Huffman, Ro Khanna, Dave Min, Lateefah Simon and Eric Swalwell.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“He’s coming for UCLA & no doubt other UCs. It’s part of the authoritarian playbook — go after academics, scientists, students, freedom of thought.”
— Sen. Scott Wiener on Trump’s defunding of UCLA research in an X post
Best of The Bee:
- Newsom brushed off the price of a special election. Experts say it’ll cost $200M, via Kate Wolffe
- Why California’s wealthiest taxpayers could get less of a Trump tax break, via David Lightman
- What’s next for historic Riverside prison and the state workers who staff it? via William Melhado
