Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged Thursday to carry on with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown despite waves of unrest across the U.S. Hours later a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order directing President Donald Trump to return control of the Guard to California.
The judge's order, which takes effect at noon Friday, said the deployment of the Guard was illegal and both violated the Tenth Amendment and exceeded his statutory authority.
The White House had no immediate comment on the ruling, but the federal government immediately filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit court.
It was not immediately clear how the decision would change the situation on the ground.
Gov. Gavin Newsom had asked the judge to put an emergency stop to troops helping to carry out immigration raids.
The developments unfolded as cities nationwide braced for major demonstrations against Trump over the weekend, and their leaders pleaded with residents to protest peacefully.
Noem said the immigration raids that fueled the protests would move forward, saying agents have thousands of targets.
“This is only going to continue until we have peace on the streets of Los Angeles,” she said during a news conference that was interrupted by shouting from U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat who was forcibly removed from the event.
Newsom has warned that the military intervention is part of a broader effort by Trump to overturn norms at the heart of the nation’s democracy. He also said that sending National Guard troops on the raids has further inflamed tensions in Los Angeles, where large and sometimes volatile protests have broken out since the crackdown began nearly a week ago.