Judge blocks Trump’s National Guard deployment to Los Angeles, calls bid for unchecked power ‘a blank one’

A federal judge has halted the Trump administration’s attempt to keep National Guard troops deployed in Los Angeles, ruling that control over those forces must return to California’s governor.

In a stinging decision on Wednesday, US District Judge Charles Breyer rejected the administration’s claim that the deployment was necessary to manage protests over aggressive immigration raids.

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

Trump’s use of the National Guard in US cities has frequently come without the consent of state leaders and in the absence of any genuine emergency, sparking accusations of political theatre and federal overreach.

Roughly 4,000 California Guard members were sent to Los Angeles in June despite Governor Gavin Newsom’s refusal to approve the move. Only about 100 remain. The administration had planned to keep them there through February, arguing they were needed to protect federal property.

Breyer’s ruling grants California’s request for a preliminary injunction, though the order is temporarily on hold until Monday.
The decision adds to a widening confrontation between the administration and Democratic-led states, particularly over attempts to redirect Guard forces to Portland, Oregon, during immigration-related protests.

Newsom and other Democrats have condemned the deployments as an authoritarian effort to silence dissent in cities that have openly pushed back against Trump’s immigration agenda.