(Washington) An American federal judge on Thursday ordered the withdrawal of National Guard troops from the capital, Washington, a new setback for Donald Trump in his standoff with Democratic cities and states.
But Judge Jia Cobb immediately suspended her decision for 21 days, until December 11, to allow the government to appeal.
Since June, the Republican president has sent the National Guard successively to Los Angeles (west), Washington and Memphis (south), each time against the advice of local Democratic authorities, saying these reinforcements are necessary to fight crime and support the federal immigration police (ICE).
Following the deployment of the National Guard in the capital in August, the municipality took legal action, accusing the federal executive of exceeding its powers.
Some 2,175 National Guard troops are currently deployed in Washington, including 1,245 sent from other states across the country, according to the latest military statistics. The judge ruled in favor of the municipality on Thursday, considering that the federal government “acted contrary to the law by deploying the Washington National Guard for crime deterrence missions without request from the city’s civil authorities.”
It also concludes that the law does not authorize it to request the sending to Washington of National Guard personnel from other regions of the country.
The municipality of Washington, with its unique status, is not attached to any American state, and has limited autonomy since Congress has jurisdiction over its affairs.
Justice blocked similar deployments in Chicago (north) and Portland (west) in October until further notice.
The Trump administration urgently petitioned the conservative-majority Supreme Court more than a month ago to obtain authorization to deploy the National Guard in Chicago, but it has still not ruled.
Donald Trump has made the fight against illegal immigration a top priority, speaking of an “invasion” of the United States by “criminals from abroad” and communicating extensively on expulsions of immigrants.
