Trump Federalizes 2,000 California National Guard Troops Over the Governor's Objection

On June 7, 2025, Trump signed a presidential memorandum invoking 10 U.S.C. 12406 to place up to 2,000 California National Guard members into federal service for 60 days, to protect federal personnel and property in Los Angeles following the previous day's immigration raids and protests. Governor Gavin Newsom did not request the deployment and objected to it. Roughly 300 Guard members were on the ground by June 8. The memorandum also authorized the Secretary of Defense to send additional forces, the authority later used to deploy Marines.

The order was the first federalization of a state's National Guard over the objection of its governor since 1965, and it rested on a statute that by its terms requires orders to be issued 'through the governor of the State.' Domestic deployment of federalized troops also runs against the Posse Comitatus Act's general bar on military involvement in civilian law enforcement, a limit the administration said it was observing by confining the mission to protection of federal assets.

California sued on June 9. A district judge found the federalization did not satisfy the statute on June 12, but the Ninth Circuit stayed that ruling and on June 19 held the President had likely acted within his statutory authority.