LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Half of the California National Guard troops that were federalized and deployed to Los Angeles in response to unrest sparked by immigration-enforcement raids in the area will be returned to their normal duties, the Pentagon announced.
In June, President Donald Trump ordered that 2,000 California National Guard troops be brought under federal control and deployed to Los Angeles to protect federal facilities and personnel in light of protests that erupted mainly in the downtown area. Another 2,000 troops were later added to that deployment, along with 700 U.S. Marines.
On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell issued a statement saying 2,000 National Guard troops were being released from federal control.
“Thanks to our troops who stepped up to answer the call, the lawlessness in Los Angeles is subsiding,” Parnell said. “As such, the Secretary has ordered the release of 2,000 California National Guardsmen from the federal protection mission.”
The remaining 2,000 Guard troops and 700 Marines will remain on their deployment to protect federal assets in the area.
The federalization of Guard troops was repeatedly condemned by Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who decried a “militarization” of the immigration operations in the region. Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the Trump administration challenging the legality of its move federalizing the National Guard, but a judge ruled in favor of the federal government.
“This happened because the people of Los Angeles stood united and stood strong,” Bass said following the Pentagon’s announcement Tuesday. “We organized peaceful protests, we came together at rallies, we took the Trump administration to court — all of this led to today’s retreat. My message today to Angelenos is clear — I will never stop fighting for this city. We will not stop making our voices heard until this ends, not just here in LA, but throughout our country.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has filed court papers seeking a stay of a Los Angeles federal judge’s orders barring federal agents from detaining people without reasonable suspicion beyond their race, ethnicity or occupation.
Attorneys for the federal government on Sunday filed a formal notice of appeal, announcing its intention to challenge the Friday ruling by U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong. The government on Monday asked Frimpong to put the ruling on hold pending a review by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Federal attorneys also submitted paperwork to the 9th Circuit, also asking for a stay of the ruling.
In its emergency motion lodged with the appellate court for a stay pending appeal, government attorneys argued that the ruling places “coercive restraints on lawful immigration enforcement affecting every immigration stop and detention.”
The lawyers contend that the judge’s injunction is a “straight- jacket” inflicting “irreparable harm” by preventing President Donald Trump “from ensuring that immigration laws are enforced.” The ruling levels “systemic challenges to federal immigration enforcement in the Los Angeles area,” according to the appeal.
Frimpong’s ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed July 2 in Los Angeles federal court by Public Counsel, the American Civil Liberties Union and attorneys representing Southern California residents, workers and advocacy groups on behalf of people who allege they were unlawfully stopped or detained by federal agents targeting locations where immigrant workers are traditionally hired.
It accused immigration officials of carrying out “roving patrols” and detaining people without warrants and regardless of whether they have actual proof they are in the country legally.
It further alleged that federal agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, engaged in unconstitutional and unlawful immigration enforcement raids by targeting Angelenos based on their perceived race and ethnicity and denying detainees constitutionally mandated due process.
U.S. officials have strongly denied those claims.
“A district judge is undermining the will of the American people. America’s brave men and women are removing murderers, MS-13 gang members, pedophiles, rapists — truly the worst of the worst from Golden State communities. LAW AND ORDER WILL PREVAIL!” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.
White House border czar Tom Homan also criticized the order.
“Look, we’re going to litigate that order, because I think the order’s wrong. I mean, she’s (Frimpong) assuming that the officers don’t have reasonable suspicion. They don’t need probable cause to briefly detain and question somebody. They just need reasonable suspicion. And that’s based on many articulable facts,” Homan told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
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