By Brad Brooks and Luc Cohen
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday temporarily barred President Donald Trump from deploying National Guard troops in Los Angeles amid protests over stepped-up immigration enforcement, finding that the Guard was unlawfully mobilized by Trump.
In a major blow to the Trump administration, San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ordered the National Guard to return to the control of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who sued to restrict its activity. Breyer's order will take effect at noon on Friday. Breyer said the protests in Los Angeles fall far short of “rebellion.” Trump justified the deployment of troops by characterizing the protests as a rebellion.
"The Court is troubled by the implication inherent in Defendants' argument that protest against the federal government, a core civil liberty protected by the First Amendment, can justify a finding of rebellion," Breyer wrote.
The Trump administration immediately appealed the judge's order. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.
Trump summoned military troops to Los Angeles to support a civilian police operation over the objection of Newsom, an extraordinary and rarely used measure.
The ruling came hours after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged to "liberate" Los Angeles at a press conference that was dramatically interrupted when federal agents dragged Democratic U.S. Senator Alex Padilla out of the room, forced him to the ground and handcuffed him.
The court battle and press conference scuffle underscored the political polarization generated by Trump's approach to immigration enforcement and use of presidential power.
Trump summoned first the National Guard, then the Marines, to help federal police forces guard federal buildings from protesters and to protect federal immigration agents as they pick up suspected violators.
Trump has defended his decision, saying if he had not done so, the city would be in flames. The protests so far have been mostly peaceful, punctuated by incidents of violence and restricted to a few city blocks.
California also requested that Breyer bar troops from participating in arrests or patrolling communities, as well as limit the military to protecting federal buildings and personnel.
But the judge said it was too soon to rule on that question because it was not clear whether the military was actually engaging in law enforcement activities. The Trump administration denied that the National Guard was participating in law enforcement.
Some 700 U.S. Marines will be on the streets of the city by Thursday or Friday, the military has said, to support up to 4,000 National Guard troops.
Breyer did not order any immediate change to Trump's deployment of U.S. Marines, over whom Trump has more direct authority as commander-in-chief. But Breyer wrote that the Trump administration's "use of the National Guard and the Marines comes into conflict with California’s police power" and that "restraining the President’s use of military force in Los Angeles is in the public interest."
In his ruling, Breyer wrote that the presence of the troops in the city was itself inflaming tensions with protesters and depriving the state of California of the ability to use the Guard for other purposes, such as fighting fires and drug smuggling.
Breyer noted that Trump's deployment threatened other states as well by upsetting the balance of power between federal and state governments.
Newsom said at a press conference he expected the ruling to stand on appeal.
Trump, Newsom said, "is not a monarch, he is not a king and he should stop acting like one."
(Reporting by Brad Brooks, Sandra Stojanovic, Omar Younis, Jane Ross and Arafat Barbakh in Los Angeles, Luc Cohen and Dietrich Knauth in New York, and Idrees Ali in Washington; Additional reporting by Costas Pitas, Christian Martinez, Ryan Jones, Ted Hesson, Abhirup Roy and Alexia Garamfalvi; Writing by Daniel Trotta and James Oliphant; Editing by Saad Sayeed, Ross Colvin, Mary Milliken, Nick Zieminski, Diane Craft and Edwina Gibbs)
