A landmark trial kicks off on Monday over the administration of US President Donald Trump's use of national guard troops to support its deportation efforts and quell protests in Los Angeles in a legal challenge highlighting his break from long-standing norms against deploying soldiers on US streets.
The three-day non-jury trial before US district judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco will determine if the government violated a 19th-century law that bars the military from civil law enforcement when it deployed troops to LA in June.
The city suffered days of unrest and protests sparked by mass immigration raids at places where people gather to find work, including Home Depot stores, a garment factory and a warehouse.
The administration denied troops were used in civil law enforcement and plans to show they were protecting federal property and US immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) agents.
Many of the troops have been withdrawn, but California said in recent court papers 2,000 national guard members are continuing immigration raids and restricting civilian movements in the state. A ruling against the government could restrict the troops' activities and constrain Trump if he tries to deploy troops to police US cities in future.
Trump said on Wednesday he might send the national guard, a reserve force that answers to state governors and the president, to patrol Washington, DC, a city he said was “very unsafe”.
California and its governor Gavin Newsom have asked Breyer to prohibit the troops from directly participating in domestic law enforcement activities. California and Newsom said the national guard is accompanying ICE agents on raids and assisting in arrests in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 and other laws that forbid the US military from taking part in civilian law enforcement.
Trump ordered 700 marines and 4,000 national guard troops to Los Angeles in June against Newsom's wishes. His decision to send troops into the city prompted a national debate about the use of the military on US soil and inflamed political tension in the country's second most populous city.
California sued the Trump administration over the troop deployment, arguing it violates federal law and state sovereignty. A US appeals court has allowed Trump to retain control of California's national guard during the legal challenge.
California’s lawsuit ultimately seeks a ruling that would return its national guard troops to state control and a declaration that Trump’s action was illegal.
Reuters
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