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President Donald Trump’s decision to activate the National Guard to quell protests and riots in California over the weekend was met with objections from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who called the move illegal and vowed to sue the president over it.
Trump said in a proclamation that mobilizing the National Guard troops was necessary to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, who he said were being hindered from arresting illegal immigrants.
Attorney Brad Moss, who specializes in national security, told Fox News Digital the law Trump relied on to deploy the National Guard, found under Title 10, is designed to address rebellions.
“The President invoked 10 U.S.C. 12406, which affords him the authority to federalize the National Guard in response to a state of rebellion within the United States,” Moss said.
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The National Guard is a military force based in each state and under the dual control of governors and presidents. Governors typically have authority over their respective National Guard units, but presidents can call them into federal service in certain situations.
Moss noted that Trump left his National Guard proclamation “sufficiently vague and nondescript,” including by not mentioning California or Los Angeles County in it.
Trump said he was moving 2,000 National Guard soldiers under his purview and delegating the remaining logistics to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
From there, U.S. Northern Command issued a statement saying 300 soldiers from the California Army National Guard were deployed to parts of Los Angeles County “to support the protection of federal personnel and federal property.”
While presidents have looked to the National Guard as a reinforcement to protect federal personnel and property before, Trump’s move was unusual because it lacked the support of the governor.
POSSE COMITATUS ACT AT CENTER OF TRUMP-NEWSOM NATIONAL GUARD DISPUTE IN LA
Moss said presidents can “technically” tap the National Guard without the governor’s consent but that there are limitations on what the National Guard can be used for. “It is unclear how the court would resolve legal challenges here,” he said.
All Democratic governors opposed Trump’s move, calling it an “alarming abuse of power” in a joint statement.
Newsom took matters a step further, blaming Trump for exacerbating riots. The Democratic governor said local and state police had conditions under control but that they worsened because Trump called in the military.
“He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard. The order he signed doesn’t just apply to CA. It will allow him to go into ANY STATE and do the same thing,” Newsom wrote on social media.
Over the weekend, Los Angeles police reported incidents of unlawful assembly outside an immigrant detention center and incidents of protesters throwing concrete bottles and other objects. Later, rioters set fire to and vandalized several self-driving cars and video showed shops being looted.
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