Appeals court blocks ruling directing Trump return control of National Guard to California
Editor's note: This page reflects news on the growing protests against ICE raids and President Donald Trump's immigration policies from Thursday, June 12. For the latest news on the immigration protests and court rulings, follow Paste BN's live updates for Friday, June 13.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday temporarily halted a federal judge's order that blocked President Donald Trump's mobilization of thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles and required him to return control of troops to California.
The ruling came just hours after U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer issued a temporary restraining order finding that Trump's deployment of 4,000 Guard members was unlawful. The court said it would hold a remote hearing on the matter on June 17.
The decision does not mean that the court will ultimately agree with Trump, but it means he will maintain command of the National Guard for now.
The ruling came amid rising tensions between Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom over federal military intervention in the state. Newsom had filed a motion for a temporary restraining order that would limit the activities of Guard members and 700 Marines to protecting federal buildings in a small area of downtown where most protests against federal immigration raids have taken place.
Breyer's order, which was to take effect at noon PT on Friday, did not include a ruling on the deployment of the Marines. Breyer wrote in the ruling that the presence of Guard troops "seemed to only inflame" and worsen tensions with protesters.
"His actions were illegal – both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith," Breyer wrote in his 36-page ruling.
In a news conference following the ruling, Newsom said he was "gratified by the order." The governor added that troops would be redeployed to their previous duties, such as border security, drug enforcement, and vegetation and forest management.
“Today was really about a test of democracy and today we passed the test — we the people passed the test,” Newsom said.
California AG says federal judge's ruling is an 'early success'
During a virtual news conference on Thursday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the temporary restraining order an "early success," but noted that "it’s far from the end of the road."
The Trump administration has filed a notice of appeal and requested the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to block Breyer’s ruling.
The next hearing with Breyer in the case is scheduled for 10 a.m. PT on June 20. According to the ruling, the Trump administration must "show cause" for why Breyer should not issue a preliminary injunction.
Newsom: Judge waiting for evidence of Marines’ deployment
Newsom said he believed Breyer is waiting for evidence that the Marines have "actually been deployed" to Los Angeles.
"They appear not to be," Newsom said at Thursday’s news conference. "They’re not coordinating with anybody on this, so he’s just waiting for that evidence."
The governor added that the Marines have been moved to another location for training exercises and have not been deployed to the city. The military previously said about 700 Marines will be on the streets of Los Angeles by Thursday or Friday.
Newsom also criticized the Trump administration's actions, including intensifying immigration raids and the forceful removal of Democratic U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla at a news conference in Los Angeles earlier on Thursday.
“The notion that the United States active duty Marines, these heroes, would be used to militarize the streets of an American city is an abomination,” Newsom said. "The Founding Fathers did not live and die to see that happen in this country for no reason whatsoever other than vanity theater to instill fear, to incite a response."
Hegseth won't say he'll respect ruling on LA deployment
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declined 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.
Sen. Padilla removed from Homeland Security Secretary’s news conference
Padilla was forcibly removed from 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
'Unhinged': Democrats furious Padilla was hauled out of Noem briefing
WASHINGTON – The fury radiating off of Congressional Democrats is palpable.
Hours after Padilla, the senior U.S. senator in California, was forcibly removed from a press briefing with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi 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 Speaker Mike Johnson called 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
Trump, Newsom joust ahead of crucial court hearing
In an interview released Thursday with "The Daily," a New York Times podcast, Newsom slammed President Donald Trump and called the decision to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles "theatre" and "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 a Truth Social post Thursday, 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, mocking the governor. "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."
Marine share photos of training on Instagram
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 page 2ndbn7thmarhistory show Marines training with riot shields and wearing what appear to be baseball catcher’s leg guards.
“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 conducting mission orientation and familiarization today."
Trump vows to protect farm, hotel workers in raids
Trump said he plans to make changes to his administration's aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration to protect migrant farmers, hotel workers and others in the leisure industry who have been among those deported. Trump promised the changes in a Truth Social post that acknowledged ICE officers have not 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
Unrest is spreading in pockets across the country
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.
Tucson protest sees multiple arrests, tear gas
In Tucson, Arizona, a group of about 300 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 Paste BN Network. “That is contrary to everything our nation was founded upon, the right of assembly.”
– Sarah Lapidus, Arizona Republic
Protesters in Detroit rally against immigration enforcement
A small but vocal group of demonstrators rallied Wednesday, June 11, outside the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office in Detroit to 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 Paste BN 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
Spokane mayor declared state of emergency amid anti-ICE protest
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 curfew for 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.
Anti-ICE protesters rally outside NBA Finals game
The roar of cheers and chants could be heard outside Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis just before 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 Paste BN Network. “We’re being noticed today.”
– Jade Jackson, Noe Padilla, and Matthew Cupelli, Indianapolis Star
Newsom takes shot at defense secretary on social media
Newsom posted a photo on X of 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 quickly responded 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."
Some former military leaders siding with Newsom
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."
Police say protesters throw fireworks, rocks at officers
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.
The protests broke out on June 6 in 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.
Hundreds of protests planned for June 14
Protests are planned for 1,800 communities across the country on June 14, the same day Trump holds 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, dwarfing the Hands Off protests in early April that 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 the U.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: Paste BN Network; Reuters
(This story was updated to add new information and video.)