A federal judge ruled Thursday that PresidentDonald Trumpunlawfully deployed thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles and ordered the administration to return control of the troops to California. The ruling came amid risingtensions between Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsomover federal military intervention in the state. Newsom had filed a motion for a temporary restraining order that would limit the activities of 4,000 Guard members and 700 Marines to protecting federal buildings in a small area of downtown where most of the protests have taken place. Breyer issued the temporary restraining order and a stay on the injunction, which will allow the Trump administration to appeal the order by Friday. During Thursday's hearing on the matter, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer appeared skeptical of the Trump administration's assertion that the courts had no right to second-guess the president's determinations. Trump has insisted that the deployment of troops was necessary to enforce the law. "I try to distinguish in my mind, how is that any different than what a monarch does?" Breyer said at the hearing, according to Reuters. "This country was founded in response to a monarchy, and the Constitution is a document of limitations." Asprotests over intensifying federal immigration raidsspread nationwide, DemocraticU.S. Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removedfrom a news conference on Thursday held by Homeland Security SecretaryKristi Noemabout the raids. Noem pledged to "liberate" the city and was interrupted after federal agents forced Padilla to the ground and handcuffed him, videos showed. The senator from California had tried to ask Noem a question during the news conference in Los Angeles. Noem, whose agency oversees the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was in the city after days of demonstrations againstPresident Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. While protests have mostly been peaceful, some confrontations have turned violent and have resulted in hundreds of arrests in Los Angeles. Defense SecretaryPete Hegsethdeclined to say Thursday whether he would respect any court's ruling if it put major limitations on Guard troops and Marines deploying in Los Angeles. The military's mission in recent days has been expanded to include the protection of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers conducting the raids prompted by Trump's directive to find immigrants living in the United States without legal status. The sweeps prompted days of protests, and demonstrations and rallies have spread across the nation. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-California, asked Hegseth at a congressional hearing Thursday to "assure the American people" he would respect any ruling from the Supreme Court or district courts of sending the military to crack down on protests against Trump's immigration enforcement sweeps. "We should not have local judges determining foreign policy or national security policy for the country," Hegseth responded. "You're not willing to say you would respect those decisions?" Khanna asked. "What I'm saying is local district judges shouldn't make foreign policy for the United States," Hegseth shot back. Padilla was forcibly removedfrom a news conference put on by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles amid mass protests over the administration's immigration crackdown. As Padilla started asking Noem a question, he was grabbed by security guards. "I am Senator Alex Padilla, I have questions for the secretary," Padilla said as he was hauled from the room where Noem was speaking. After being dragged away, the senator was pushed to the ground and handcuffed. Noem said during the news conference that she doesn't know Padilla and that he hadn't requested a meeting with her. "So when I leave here I'll have a conversation with him and visit and find out really what his concerns were," she said. "I think everybody in America would agree that wasn't appropriate." - Riley Beggin WASHINGTON – Thefury radiating off of Congressional Democratsis palpable. Hours after Padilla, the senior U.S. senator in California, was forcibly removed from a press briefing with Homeland Security SecretaryKristi Noem, House Democrats roamed the Capitol seeking an audience with GOP leadership. Meanwhile, their Senate counterparts gave floor speech after floor speech, condemning the action as an "abuse of power" and "assault." House SpeakerMike Johnsoncalled Padilla's actions "wildly inappropriate" and alleged he rushed at the secretary. House Democrats shouted over him, saying, "That's a lie!" "Anybody that looks at that video will understand that this amounts to an assault, a felony," said Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-New York, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. "The White House is unhinged and out of control." On the other side of the Capitol, a string of Democratic senators delivered floor speeches hammering the indignity of the episode. "I saw this happen to my colleague, and I am shocked by how far we have descended in the first 140 days of this administration . . . What is the becoming of our democracy? Are there no limits to what this administration will do?" said New Jersey Democrat Sen. Andy Kim on the Senate floor. - Sudiksha Kochi and Riley Beggin The showdown between President Donald Trump and Newsom over Trump's use of the military was headed from social media to a courtroom Thursday. Newsom slammed Trump in an interview released Thursday with "The Daily," a New York Times podcast, saying Trump's decision to deploy the Guard is "theatre, it's madness, it's unconstitutional." Newsom said local police are protecting the deployed National Guard troops while also handling the protests − "just think about how perverse that is." Trump, in aTruth Social postThursday, said the city was "safe and sound" thanks in part to the Guard. "Our great National Guard, with a little help from the Marines, put the L.A. Police in a position to effectively do their job," Trump wrote Thursday. "They all worked well together, but without the Military, Los Angeles would be a crime scene like we haven't seen in years." The LAPD did report incidents of unrest the last two nights, and arrests were made. Demonstrators late Wednesday threw "commercial-grade fireworks and rocks" at officers, police said. Newsom, who has repeatedly decried the military intervention as an illegal waste of resources that provoked unrest, ultimately wants the National Guard returned to state control and Trump's actions declared illegal. "Governor Gaven NewScum had totally lost control of the situation," Trump wrote Thursday. "He should be saying THANK YOU for saving his ass, instead of trying to justify his mistakes and incompetence!!!" Newsom shrugged off the recurring "NewScum" reference, telling "The Daily" it was "what I think a seventh grader used to call me." Hundreds arrested in LA protestsas Hegseth hints at more deployments: Updates The U.S. Marines deploying to Los Angeles are sharing photos of their training on Instagram. Photos shared on the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment's page2ndbn7thmarhistoryshow Marines training with riot shields and wearing what appear to be baseball catcher's leg guards. View this post on Instagram A post shared by 2nd Battalion 7th Marines (@2ndbn7thmarhistory) "U.S. Marines with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, attached to Task Force 51, rehearse non-lethal tactics in Los Angeles, June 11, 2025," the caption reads. "U.S. Northern Command is supporting federal agencies by providing military forces to protect federal functions, personnel, and property in the greater Los Angeles area." Northern Command which directs the Marines said in an update Thursday that the troops "are conductingmission orientation and familiarization today." See photos here. President Donald Trumpsaid heplans to make changesto his administration'saggressive crackdown on illegal immigrationto protect migrant farmers, hotel workers and others in the leisure industry who have been among those deported. Trump promised the changesin a Truth Social postthat acknowledged ICE officers havenot only targeted violent criminals, who Trump officials have said are the primary focus of raids and deportations. "Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace," Trump wrote on the social media platform he owns.Read more here. −Joey Garrison Trump vows changes to crackdownto protect migrant farmers, hotel workers On June 11, protesters in communities large and small took to the streets to rally against immigration enforcement and show support for demonstrators in Los Angeles. The events ranged in size and scope from hundreds of people chanting outside the Indianapolis stadium hosting the NBA Finals to a small group rallying peacefully outside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection office in Detroit. Some of the protests erupted into arrests and clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement. In Spokane, Washington, police arrested at least 30 protesters, and the mayor declared a state of emergency. A similar situation unfolded in Tucson, Arizona, where law enforcement deployed tear gas and took several protesters into custody. This week, hundreds of people have been arrested during protests across the country, including in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Las Vegas, New York, Chicago, and Austin, Texas. In Tucson, Arizona, a group of about300 protesters marched to the city's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office, where the rally grew tense and erupted into clashes and arrests on June 11. Some of the protesters threw paint balls and water bottles at the office's security guards, who responded with flash bangs and pepper spray. Soon after, protesters blocked a nearby road, onlookers said. Police in riot gear arrived to disperse them and three people were taken into custody. Christina Benitez, a local teacher and Mexican American, was at the protest with her friend. They held signs reading "ICE out of our city" and "Defend the Constitution." "There is no excuse to quash the public with ICE and the Marines and the National Guard," she told the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network. "That is contrary to everything our nation was founded upon, the right of assembly." – Sarah Lapidus, Arizona Republic A small but vocal group of demonstrators rallied Wednesday, June 11, outside theU.S. Customs and Border Protection office in Detroitto oppose ongoing immigration raids and deportations. According to activists, five or six individuals – most of them believed to be Venezuelan – were detained after their immigration cases were dismissed in court. "That's happening more and more. Regardless of the outcome, people have been snatched up straight out of court – and we've known people that this has happened to," Kate Stenvig, a local organizer, told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network. Nicole Conaway, a Detroit resident and local activist, believes what's at stake goes beyond immigration policy. "If Trump can win this battle, then we're further down the road to fascism and him being a dictator," she said. –Nour Rahal, Detroit Free Press Police in Spokane, Washington, arrested more than 30 people and the mayor issued a state of emergency after a protest against immigration enforcement on June 11 escalated. The protest formed after organizers heard two Venezuelan men were detained at a local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office, where one of them was slated to a check-in after he had applied for asylum, reported KREM2. Protesters tried to block the truck that was supposedly meant to take the men to an ICE facility in Tacoma, local outlets reported. The crowd outside the ICE field office began to swell and local law enforcement declared it an unlawful assembly. Officers deployed tear gas and fired pepper balls into the crowd before it dispersed. Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown declared a state of emergency and issued a curfewfor a section of the downtown area from 9:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. At a news conference, Kevin Hall, chief of the Spokane Police Department, said over 30 protesters were arrested. The roar of cheers and chants could be heard outside Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis justbefore Game 3 of the NBA Finals, but it wasn't the sound of basketball fans. It was people gathered to protest ICE raids in Indiana. The crowd swelled to more than a thousand people before it broke up, organizers said, although Indianapolis police put the count at around 500. The protest was prompted by rumors online that ICE raids had taken place in the nearby city of Lawrence. Local police said it wasn't aware of any U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions there. The demonstration remained nonviolent, and one speaker reminded demonstrators not to antagonize the police. Protesters held signs reading "ICE out of Indy now" and "Power to the workers not the billionaires." Some basketball fans on their way to the game responded to the protesters with chants of "USA." Resident Jaqueline Montez, 30, said it was important to her to protest now rather than wait for planned "No Kings Day" protests downtown and nationwide on June 14. "We're being seen by the rest of the world," Montez told the Indianapolis Star, part of the USA TODAY Network. "We're being noticed today." – Jade Jackson, Noe Padilla, and Matthew Cupelli, Indianapolis Star Newsom posted aphoto on Xof National Guard troops sleeping on the floor and another image, posted by the official Defense Department's Rapid Response account, of a baseball game. "Pete sent 4,700 troops here (when they weren't needed) without adequate fuel, food, water or a place to sleep. But don't worry, he's at a baseball game," Newsom wrote. Rapid Response quicklyresponded on X, posting a photo of a protester waving a Mexican flag as a fire burns. The post says: "Weren't needed." The military's Northern Command said in a statement Wednesday that the military has contracted for billeting, latrines, showers, food and laundry services and other items and services for the troops. The statement added that "while awaiting fulfillment of the contract, soldiers and Marines have adequate shelter, food, and water." Former secretaries of the Army and Navy, three retired admirals and two retired generals banded together to file an amicus brief in the Trump-Newsom litigation citing what they describe as "critical national security risks" inherent in Trump's deployment of military forces in Los Angeles. Amicus briefs are filed by people or organizations not directly involved in litigation but who take a position in the case. The group includes former Army Secretary Louis Caldera, a Democrat, and former Navy Secretary Sean O'Keefe, a Republican. The brief says deploying the military for domestic law enforcement diverts them from their primary mission of national security and disaster response, that National Guard personnel and active duty Marines are not properly trained for such law enforcement operations, and that such a use of the military should be a "last resort to avoid the politicization of the military, which inevitably erodes public trust, impacts recruitment, and undermines troop morale." 'He's lost it': Newsom slams Trump'smental acuity, echoing president's criticism of Biden A one-square-mile of downtown Los Angeles remained under a curfew Thursday after days of demonstrations led to hundreds of arrests. The unrest continued Wednesday night, when police said demonstrators at one location threw "commercial-grade fireworks and rocks" at officers, resulting in a number of arrests. Theprotests broke out on June 6in response to ongoing ICE raids that have sparked fear among immigrant communities. While many protests have been relatively peaceful, some have turned into scenes of chaos as police fired "less lethal" munitions such as tear gas and flash-bangs to disperse crowds. Walz, Hochul, Pritzker to criticizeimmigration enforcement in House hearing Protests areplanned for 1,800 communitiesacross the country on June 14, the same dayTrumpholds a military parade in Washington, D.C. For decades, the GOP has claimed most of the symbols of patriotism, including the American flag, but the people protesting Trump, a Republican, say they are the true patriots now. The rallies, named "No Kings Day" to oppose what they see as Trump's power grab, are expected to be the largest and most numerous protests since Trump's second term began, dwarfingthe Hands Off protests in early Aprilthat drew as many as 1 million Americans to the streets at more than 1,000 rallies. No Kings Day was organized by grassroots groups in cities and towns of all sizes to coincide with theU.S. Army's 250th anniversary celebration, which is also Trump's 79th birthday and Flag Day. Administration officials insist it is a coincidence that the parade falls on Trump's birthday.Read more here. Contributing: Reuters This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:LA protests: Judge blocks Trump from deploying National Guard troops
