Judge Says Trump Must End Guard Deployment in Los Angeles

A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration had illegally kept troops in Los Angeles after emergency conditions had ended. The administration is expected to appeal.

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Wednesday to immediately end its current deployment of California National Guard troops in Los Angeles, ruling that the federal government had illegally kept them in the city long after intense street protests had ended in the summer.

The ruling by Judge Charles R. Breyer of the Federal District Court in San Francisco applies to about 100 National Guard soldiers who remain in Los Angeles six months after protests erupted over immigration raids.

Judge Breyer directed the federal government to return control of the troops to Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, but he stayed his order until Monday. The Trump administration is expected to appeal.

“The Founders designed our government to be a system of checks and balances,” Judge Breyer wrote in his decision. “Defendants, however, make clear that the only check they want is a blank one.”

The White House expressed confidence that the administration would ultimately prevail in court. “President Trump exercised his lawful authority to deploy National Guard troops to support federal officers and assets,” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement.

President Trump originally called up about 4,000 California National Guard troops in June, over the objections of state and local officials. At the time, he argued that they were responding to an emergency and were needed to protect federal property and personnel amid heated demonstrations.

The president began gradually drawing down the number of federalized troops in July. As of last month, roughly 300 California National Guard members remained under the president’s command. The administration was in the process of reducing the deployment to 100 troops, who were supposed to remain federalized until February.

Mr. Newsom sued over the initial deployment, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in June that conditions in Los Angeles were sufficient for Mr. Trump to take control of the state’s National Guard and direct troops to protect the enforcement of immigration laws.

The state filed a new request for an injunction in November, arguing that civil unrest in Los Angeles had declined significantly since the summer and that military forces were no longer justified. The president’s authority to command National Guard troops is specifically tied to “the existence of a present exigency,” Meghan Strong, a California deputy attorney general, argued in a hearing on Friday.

“Once that exigency has passed, the federalization has to end,” Strong said.

Lawyers for the Trump administration argued that threats to federal immigration agents had persisted in Los Angeles, even as the summer’s large street demonstrations subsided. They pointed to a man who was arrested last week after the authorities said he tried to firebomb a federal office building in Los Angeles.

The lawyers also asserted that the law requires an emergency only at the time the president decides to federalize National Guard troops, after which he can extend the deployment as long as he deems necessary.

“It falls to the president’s judgment to determine when that mission can end,” said Eric J. Hamilton, a deputy assistant attorney general at the federal Department of Justice.

During the hearing on Friday, Judge Breyer indicated that he agreed with California’s interpretation of the law.

“No crisis lasts forever,” he said.

In his ruling, the judge said the Trump administration had failed to provide evidence of any circumstances in Los Angeles that were now impeding the enforcement of federal laws, a legal requirement for using the troops in the way Mr. Trump has done.

Mr. Newsom’s lawyers had asked the court to block future attempts by Mr. Trump to federalize California National Guard troops. Judge Breyer denied that request on Wednesday and said that the state could return to the District Court to challenge any such attempts if they occur.

Still, California’s Democratic leaders celebrated the ruling. Mr. Newsom said he looked forward to the troops in Los Angeles returning to state service, after Mr. Trump had deployed them “against their own communities, removing them from essential public safety operations.”

Rob Bonta, the state’s attorney general, said the Trump administration had been playing “political games” with California’s troops.

“But the President is not king,” he said in a statement. “And he cannot federalize the National Guard whenever, wherever, and for however long he wants, without justification. This is a good day for our democracy and the strength of the rule of law.”

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