A federal judge ruled that Donald Trump acted illegally when he commandeered the California national guard and ordered thousands of troops to Los Angeles amid protests over immigration raids. The troops return to the control of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, at noon on Friday.
President Donald Trump warned Tuesday that anyone who protests at the U.S. military parade here on Saturday will be met with “very heavy force.”
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that they’re going to be “celebrating big on Saturday,” referring to the parade that will wind its way through downtown Washington, D.C.
“If there’s any protester that wants to come out, they will be met with very big force,” Trump said. “I haven’t even heard about a protest, but you know, this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force.”
Pentagon budget official estimated LA troop deployment to cost $134 million.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers Tuesday that he and President Donald Trump have the power to send National Guard and active-duty troops anywhere in the country to ensure Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents can enforce the law, an assertion that — if carried out — would open the door to a historic clash between Trump and Democratic governors.
“We believe that ICE, which is a federal law enforcement agency, has the right to safely conduct operations in any state, in any jurisdiction in the country,” Hegseth told the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee.
“ICE ought be able to do its job, whether it’s Minneapolis or Los Angeles,” he added.
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President Donald Trump also opened the door for possible military deployments elsewhere, telling reporters on Tuesday that if protests break out in other states “they will be met with equal or greater force.”
President Trump took extraordinary action on Saturday by calling up 2,000 National Guard troops to quell immigration protests in California, making rare use of federal powers and bypassing the authority of the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom.
It is the first time since 1965 that a president has activated a state’s National Guard force without a request from that state’s governor, according to Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, an independent law and policy organization. The last time was when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators in 1965, she said.
Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, immediately rebuked the president’s action. “That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions,” Mr. Newsom said, adding that “this is the wrong mission and will erode public trust.”
Governors almost always control the deployment of National Guard troops in their states. But the directive signed by Mr. Trump cites “10 U.S.C. 12406,” referring to a specific provision within Title 10 of the U.S. Code on Armed Services. Part of that provision allows the federal deployment of National Guard forces if “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”
It also states that the president may call into federal service “members and units of the National Guard of any State in such numbers as he considers necessary to repel the invasion, suppress the rebellion, or execute those laws.”
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Although some demonstrations have been unruly, local authorities in Los Angeles County did not indicate during the day that they needed federal assistance.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/us/trump-national-guard-deploy-rare.html
Conservative commentator and longtime political strategist Bill Kristol blasted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for wearing masks during recent operations, calling the practice a tool of fear—not protection.
Appearing on CNN’s NewsNight on Monday, Kristol—best known for serving as chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle under President George H. W. Bush—dismissed ICE’s justification for the coverings, dismissing the practice as “ridiculous” and “pathetic.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is taking aim at Minnesota and its Twin Cities, alleging the deliberate obstruction of the enforcement of federal immigration laws, and protecting “dangerous criminal aliens from facing consequences.”
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Minnesota is designated on the list as having “self-identification as a state sanctuary jurisdiction,” naming Minneapolis, St. Paul and 20 counties: Carver, Cottonwood, Goodhue, Hennepin, Le Sueur, Lincoln, Lyon, Martin, Nicollet, Nobles, Otter Tail, Pipestone, Ramsey, Scott, Steele, Todd, Watonwan and Wright counties.
In response to the executive order, Mayor Jacob Frey said he won’t comply, calling it illegal.
“I don’t want our police officers tracking down undocumented immigrants when we need to prevent homicides from taking place and car jackings,” Frey said. “[Trump] can’t require local law enforcement to do certain and specified federal work. That would be against the state law because federal immigration policy is not one of the enumerated policies under state law that police can conduct that business in.”
Minneapolis has an ordinance in place barring law enforcement and public officials from enforcing federal immigration laws.
Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz compared the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel executing the Trump administration’s immigration agenda to the Gestapo in a Saturday commencement address at the University of Minnesota law school.
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Walz, the failed Democratic nominee for vice president in 2024, suggested during the speech that Trump is using ICE to implement his immigration agenda in similar fashion to how Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler used the Gestapo secret police to target opponents, according to RealClearPolitics.
“Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets,” Walz claimed. “They’re in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons—no chance to mount a defense, not even a chance to kiss a loved one goodbye, just grabbed up by masked agents, shoved into those vans, and disappeared.”
“To be clear, there’s no way for us to know whether they were actually criminals or not, because they refused to give them a trial,” Walz continued. “We’re supposed to just take their word for it.”
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill could lead to at least 8.6 million Americans losing health coverage, with the majority expected to lose Medicaid. Most affected would be low-income adults without dependents, earning a bit more than a poverty income of $15,650 for a single person.
A coalition of attorneys general across 15 states is suing the Trump administration over declaring a “national emergency” on the first day of Donald Trump‘s presidency.
On January 20, President Trump declared a “national energy emergency” via executive order, over what he claimed to be “our Nation’s inadequate energy supply.”
The attorneys general from Washington and California say this is not true, and that US energy production is actually at “an all time high.”
“Washington state filed suit today alongside 14 other states to challenge the president’s fake “energy emergency,” declared to line the pockets of Big Oil by handing out free passes to pollute our environment,” said Washington Attorney General Nick Brown on May 9.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-administration-fake-energy-emergency-15-states-2070864
- Judge William Orrick’s order follows new executive order from Trump
- Judge has blocked Trump administration from cutting off funding
- Dispute is over federal immigration law enforcement
A federal judge warned on Friday that a new executive order from President Donald Trump that calls for cutting off funding to so-called sanctuary jurisdictions that do not cooperate with his immigration agenda cannot be used to evade a court order barring his administration from doing just that.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco issued Friday’s order, opens new tab at the urging of 16 cities and counties nationally that had already secured an injunction barring the administration from withholding all federal funding to them.
