Posse Comitatus Act at center of Trump-Newsom National Guard dispute in LA

President Donald Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom appear on the Deployment of the National Guard In the midst of the current riots of Los Angeles with different interpretations of the law of 1878 which governed the use of the military to enforce the law at the national level.

THE Could be accompanied by an act was promulgated by President Rutherford B. Hayes, as regards the military that the military influenced civil affairs too much during the reconstruction. It generally prohibits the use of the US army for civilian police inside the country, but there are key exceptions. Trump deployed the National Guard early on Sunday, but so far, these troops have not participated in any application of direct law.

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Trump sent the National Guard after immigration and customs enforcement agents would have been attacked in the streets of Because they made raids to catch and expel illegal immigrants. Seeing that neither Newsom nor the mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass moved sufficiently aggressively to stop the attacks, Trump signed a presidential memorandum to deploy 2,000 troops of the National Guard to “attack the anarchy which was authorized to crazy,” said the White House in a statement.

The demonstrators block the road while the police officers confronted them during a protest against federal immigration scans in Los Angeles on June 8, 2025. (Reuters / Mike Blake)

Newsom immediately opposed the spiral riots.

“I officially asked the Trump administration to cancel their illegal troop deployment in the County of Los Angeles and return them to my command,” Newsom wrote on Sunday in parallel to his letter to President Trump. “We had no problem as long as Trump was involved. This is a serious violation of state sovereignty – ignite tensions while drawing resources from where they are really necessary.”

In addition to the guard, the Pentagon said on Sunday evening that it was ready to send 500 navies to active service.

If the army must play an active role in the abolition of riots, the 147 -year law will occupy the front of the stage. Exceptions to posse comitatus act which allow soldiers to enforce the law against American citizens include the decree of the congress, if an insurrection has been declared under the Insurrection actOr when the governments of the States are incapable or do not want to impose the law and the order.