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A federal judge in San Francisco has denied California's request to immediately block the US President Donald Trump administration from using Marines and National Guard troops to assist federal officials with immigration enforcement, CNN reported.
Instead, Senior US District Judge Charles R Breyer has scheduled a hearing for 1:30 pm Thursday to consider the state's request for a temporary restraining order that would bar officials from directing the service members to assist with certain law enforcement activities. The state had asked the judge to swiftly issue the order without waiting for a response from the Trump administration. However, Judge Breyer has decided to allow both sides to submit additional written arguments before deciding, as per CNN. In a brief filing to the court Tuesday afternoon, the Justice Department called the state's request "legally meritless" and argued that if granted, it "would jeopardise the safety of Department of Homeland Security personnel and interfere with the Federal Government's ability to carry out operations." According to CNN, the Trump administration deployed thousands of National Guard troops to California, casting it as a necessary move to quell protests in Los Angeles that erupted in a section of the city over ICE enforcement actions. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said today that the military will remain in Los Angeles "until there's peace," amid criticism of his mobilisation of the California National Guard and 700 Marines to the city. "I just want to see peace. If there's peace, we get out. If there's even a chance of no peace, we stay there until there's peace, and a lot of people are being arrested. The rioters or whatever you want to call them. They better know that a lot of people are being arrested. They're going to be in jail for a long time," the president told reporters at Joint Base Andrews. Speaking at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Trump also called the protests in Los Angeles "a full-blown assault on peace, on public order, and national sovereignty," "Within the span of a few decades, Los Angeles has gone from being one of the cleanest, safest and most beautiful cities on earth, to being a trash heap with entire neighbourhoods under the control of transnational gangs and criminal networks. As the entire world can now see, uncontrolled migration leads to chaos, dysfunction, and disorder... Very simply, we will liberate Los Angeles and make it free, clean, and safe again," he added. The US President is speaking at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, marking the 250th anniversary of the US Army. "These guys are professionals. These are not amateurs," he said, adding he was working with US Senators to pass legislation to imprison people who burn the American flag for "one year." According to Al Jazeera, Trump then took aim at California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, calling them "incompetent" and accusing them of paying "troublemakers, agitators, and insurrectionists" to participate in the protests. Immigration and Customs Enforcement posted images on X today of officers detaining individuals in Los Angeles while surrounded by National Guard troops, in what appears to be the first photos marking the Guard involved in ICE operations. Following the intense protests, Mayor Karen Bass said that a curfew for downtown Los Angeles could be announced within the next hour. She said she is about to meet with the police chief, and an announcement would be coming "before nightfall, and it would go into effect." (ANI)
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