President Trump’s federalization and deployment of Marines and the National Guard to help arrest illegal immigrants in Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
Judge Charles Breyer, a Clinton appointee to the court in Northern California, also cautioned Mr. Trump over his recent rumination about sending troops into other cities such as Baltimore, Chicago and San Francisco. He said it sounded like “a national police force with the president as its chief.”
Judge Breyer, brother of former Justice Stephen G. Breyer, said the iconic 1878 Posse Comitatus Act limits military use for domestic law enforcement purposes and the administration strayed far beyond those boundaries.
He said the troops were assigned to unlawful duties and left untrained for what they faced.
“Defendants knew that they were ordering troops to execute domestic law beyond their usual authority,” he wrote. “Whether they believed that some constitutional or other exception applied does not matter; ‘ignorance of the law is no excuse.’”
He said the administration doesn’t need to withdraw the 300 remaining troops but must limit their duties. The order also applies elsewhere in California, which could hinder Mr. Trump from sending troops to San Francisco or Oakland.
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He stayed his order for 10 days to give the government a chance to appeal.
Mr. Trump deployed the troops in June after rioters fighting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tried to block the agency from carrying out his plans to step up arrests of illegal immigrants.
The president declared the resistance an emergency, demanding his intervention. He said the troops were necessary to help federal agents carry out their duties.
Judge Breyer previously ruled that Mr. Trump broke procedural laws by calling up the troops without Gov. Gavin Newsom’s consent. A federal appeals court blocked that ruling, allowing Mr. Trump to keep the troops in place.
A federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled the massive arrest ICE effort to be illegal because officers and agents are sweeping too broadly, targeting people who are speaking Spanish or hanging out at a car wash.
In his Tuesday ruling, Judge Breyer said the administration deployed the troops without the proper cause required by the Posse Comitatus Act.
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“There were indeed protests in Los Angeles, and some individuals engaged in violence. Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law,” he concluded.
At the peak, Mr. Trump had 700 Marines and 4,000 California National Guard troops in the city. They provided force protection for immigration officers and security for government buildings that anti-ICE mobs had targeted.
The National Guard troops were steadily withdrawn, and the Marines pulled out in late July, leaving just 300.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it had made more than 5,000 arrests since the L.A. operation began in early June.
Judge Breyer held a trial last month to examine the deployment. In his ruling Tuesday, he said troops erected security perimeters, traffic blockades and crowd control, all of which were law enforcement duties that go beyond the Posse Comitatus Act.
He also repeatedly cited Mr. Trump’s public statements about deploying troops to other cities to combat crime, comparing that to “a national police force.”
Judge Breyer’s order restricts the use of troops anywhere in California.
He said troops can continue to protect federal buildings.
Mr. Newsom, the chief plaintiff in the case, hailed Judge Breyer’s decision.
“Today, the court sided with democracy and the Constitution,” he said. “No president is a king — not even Trump — and no president can trample a state’s power to protect its people.”
He said there “is no rampant lawlessness in California” and that crime rates are higher in some Republican-led states than in his own.
The Democratic governor also complained that the Defense Department said the 300 troops would remain in November.
He filed a request Tuesday with Judge Breyer asking him to stop that extension of the deployment.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she expects Mr. Trump to appeal, but for now, the ruling stands as a rebuke to the president.
“The White House tried to invade the second-largest city in the country. That was illegal,” she said. “Los Angeles will not buckle, and we will not break.”
The Posse Comitatus Act was enacted in 1878, after the end of post-Civil War Reconstruction. It severely limited the ability to use the Army for what was traditionally considered civilian law enforcement.
It has been amended over the years to include other branches of the military and to allow for some exceptions, such as countering drug trafficking.
Military personnel, chiefly the National Guard, have also been used in border security by presidents of both parties, dating back to President Clinton. They were generally assigned support roles and were directed not to participate in actual law enforcement.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that the judge’s ruling allows current troops to remain, but they must follow limits on their activities.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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