WAHINGTON, Sep 2: Amidst his legal battles in the US federal courts, President Donald Trump suffered yet another legal defeat with a court in California ruling against his deployment of the National Guard and Marine Corps in Los Angeles, calling it a violation of federal law, reports CBS News.
The presidential move – part of the Trump administration s sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration has been heavily criticised, and met with fierce opposition, with a case filed by protesters against the decision.
In a 52-page ruling, District Judge Charles Breyer found the Trump administration s move to be violative of the country s Posse Comitatus Act, a 1878 law that prohibits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement.
Breyer blocked the Trump administration from deploying or using the National Guard currently deployed in California, and any military troops in the state, for civilian law enforcement.
The evidence at trial established that defendants systematically used armed soldiers (whose identity was often obscured by protective armour) and military vehicles to set up protective perimeters and traffic blockades, engage in crowd control, and otherwise demonstrate a military presence in and around Los Angeles,” Breyer wrote.
“In short, defendants violated the Posse Comitatus Act.”
The verdict greatly restricts the president s ability to use federal services for carrying out searches, detentions, deportations, crowd control, and other actions which come under the ambit of police operations.
Breyer’s ruling came after he held a three-day trial in the case brought by California Governor Gavin Newsom in June, who sued Trump post his announcement that he would be deploying the California National Guard to quell protests against his anti-immigration practices in Los Angeles.
As of now, President Trump has deployed military personnel in cities such as Oakland, Baltimore, San Franciso, New York, Oregon, and Chicago, while having placed Washington DC s law enforcement under direct federal control, for battling rampant crime which he attributes to the high level of immigrants. (UNI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
