California governor asks court to block Trump administration from using troops in immigration raids

LOS ANGELES -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed an emergency request in federal court Tuesday to block the Trump administration from using the National Guard and Marines to assist with immigration raids in Los Angeles.

Newsom's move comes after President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of roughly 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to Los Angles following four days of protests driven by anger over the president's stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws.

The governor's request said it was in response to a change in orders for the Guard.

The filing included a declaration from Paul Eck, deputy general counsel in the California Military Department. Eck said the department has been informed that the Pentagon plans to direct the California National Guard to start providing support for immigration operations. That support would include holding secure perimeters around areas where raids are taking place and securing streets for immigration agents.

The Guard members were originally deployed to protect federal buildings.

It was not clear if the change in mission had begun.

Newsom's office did not immediately say how the state was notified about the change.

Marines have not responded to protests yet

In other developments Tuesday, the Marine Corps commandant said the Marines that deployed to the Los Angeles area on Trump's orders have not yet been called to respond to the protests and are there only to protect federal officials and property,

The 700 Marines and another 2,000 National Guard troops were ordered to LA on Monday, escalating a military presence that local officials and Gov. Gavin Newsom do not want and that the police chief says makes it harder to handle the protests safely.

Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith told a budget hearing on Capitol Hill that the battalion has not yet been sent to any protests. The Marines were trained for crowd control but have no arrest authority and are there to protect government property and personnel, he said.

Trump left open the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, which authorizes the president to deploy military forces inside the U.S. to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations. It's one of the most extreme emergency powers available to a U.S. president.

"If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We'll see," he said Tuesday from the Oval Office. "But I can tell you last night was terrible, and the night before that was terrible."

Trump has described Los Angeles in dire terms that Mayor Karen Bass and Newsom say are nowhere close to the truth.

While protesters blocked a major freeway and set cars on fire over the weekend, the demonstrations in the city of 4 million people have largely been centered in several blocks of downtown. On Monday, they were far less raucous, with thousands of people peacefully attending a rally at City Hall and hundreds more protesting outside a federal complex that includes a detention center where some immigrants are being held following workplace raids across the city.

At daybreak Tuesday, guard troops were stationed outside the detention center, but there was no sign of the Marines.

Obscene slogans directed at Trump and federal law enforcement remained scrawled across several buildings. At the Walt Disney Concert Hall, workers were busy washing away graffiti Tuesday morning.

In nearby Santa Ana, armored guard vehicles blocked a road leading to federal immigration and government offices. Workers swept up plastic bottles and broken glass near buildings sprayed with graffiti.

Sending in the military is the latest step in the administration's immigration crackdown as Trump pursues the mass deportations he promised last year during the presidential campaign. The protests have been driven by anger over the stepped-up enforcement that critics say is breaking apart migrant families.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested Tuesday that the use of troops inside the U.S. will continue to expand.

"I think we're entering another phase, especially under President Trump with his focus on the homeland, where the National Guard and Reserves become a critical component of how we secure that homeland," he said on Capitol Hill.

Los Angeles officials say police don't need help

The mayor and the governor say Trump is putting public safety at risk by adding military personnel even though police say they don't need the help.

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said he was confident in the police department's ability to handle large-scale demonstrations and that the Marines' arrival without coordinating with the police department would present a "significant logistical and operational challenge."

Newsom called the deployments reckless on the social platform X. "This isn't about public safety," the governor said. "It's about stroking a dangerous President's ego."

Protests spread across the U.S.

The protests began Friday after federal immigration authorities arrested more than 40 people across Los Angeles and continued over the weekend as crowds blocked a major freeway and set self-driving cars on fire. Police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades.

Demonstrations spread Monday to other cities nationwide, including San Francisco and Santa Ana, California, as well as Dallas and Austin, Texas. Authorities in Austin said police used pepper spray balls and tear gas to disperse a crowd that threw rocks and bottles at officers, injuring four.

Los Angeles response takes stage on Capitol Hill

The Pentagon said deploying the National Guard and Marines costs $134 million. That figure came out Tuesday just after Hegseth engaged in a testy back-and-forth about the costs during a congressional hearing.

The defense secretary said the department has a budget increase and the money to cover the costs, and he defended Trump's decision to send the troops, saying they are needed to protect federal agents doing their jobs.

Meanwhile, Democratic members of California's congressional delegation on Tuesday accused the president of creating a "manufactured crisis" with his orders to send in troops.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi contrasted Trump's actions with his handling of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol when law enforcement officers were beaten. "We begged the president of the United States to send in the National Guard. He would not do it," Pelosi said.

California pushes back against sending troops

California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit over the use of National Guard troops following the first deployment, telling reporters that Trump had "trampled" the state's sovereignty. He sought an order declaring Trump's use of the Guard unlawful and asking for a restraining order to halt the deployment.

Trump said the city would have been "completely obliterated" if he had not deployed the Guard.

U.S. officials said the Marines were needed to protect federal buildings and personnel, including immigration agents. A convoy of buses with blacked-out windows and escorted by sheriff's vehicles arrived overnight at a Navy facility just south of LA.

Despite their presence, there has been limited engagement so far between the Guard and protesters while local law enforcement implements crowd control.

Protests were peaceful Monday

Thousands flooded the streets around City Hall for a union rally Monday before labor leader David Huerta was freed on a bond after he was arrested Friday while protesting the immigration raids.

As the crowd thinned, police began pushing protesters away, firing crowd-control munitions as people chanted, "Peaceful protest." At least a dozen people were surrounded by police and detained.

Several dozen people were arrested throughout the weekend. Authorities say one was detained Sunday for throwing a Molotov cocktail at police and another for ramming a motorcycle into a line of officers.

Guard deployment is a nearly unprecedented escalation

The deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state's National Guard was activated without a request from its governor, a significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the administration's mass deportation efforts.

The last time the National Guard was activated without a governor's permission was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

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Baldor and Copp reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles, Amy Taxin in Orange County, California, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, and Greg Bull in Seal Beach, California, contributed to this report.