California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he has requested the Trump administration remove what he called its “unlawful deployment of troops” in Los Angeles, calling it a “serious breach of state sovereignty.”
“I have formally requested the Trump Administration rescind their unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles county and return them to my command,” Newsom wrote in a post on X. “We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed. Rescind the order. Return control to California.”
Along with the post, Newsom shared a copy of the letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in which Newsom raised issues with Trump’s actions.
Particularly, Newsom refers to a memorandum to Hegseth’s office from Trump on Saturday to “call into Federal service members and units of the National Guard…to temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law, and to protect Federal property.”
“The memorandum further directs ‘actions as necessary for the Secretary of Defense to coordinate with the Governors of the States and the National Guard Bureau in identifying and ordering into Federal service the appropriate members and units of the National Guard under this authority,” Newsom wrote.
He also said law permits the president to call into federal service members and units of the National Guard of any state in numbers the president considers necessary to fend off an invasion of the U.S. by a foreign nation; suppress a rebellion against the federal government’s authority; and to execute laws of the U.S. when the president is unable to do so with regular forces.
“Last night, the Adjutant General of California received a memorandum from your office with the subject line ‘Calling Members of the California National Guard into Federal Service,’ which states that ‘[t]wo thousand members of the California National Guard will be called into Federal service effective immediately for a period of 60 days,’” Newsom said, noting that the directive did not go through the governor as required.
Newsom told Hegseth local law enforcement are “safeguarding” public safety and protecting federal facilities, adding local law enforcement resources are sufficient to maintain order.
“There is currently no need for the National Guard to be deployed in Los Angeles, and to do so in this unlawful manner and for such a lengthy period is a serious breach of state sovereignty that seems intentionally designed to inflame the situation, while simultaneously depriving the State from deploying these personnel and resources where they are truly required,” Newsom wrote. “Accordingly, we ask that you immediately rescind your order and return the National Guard to its rightful control by the State of California, to be deployed as appropriate when necessary.”
Source: Fox News