(Washington) A US federal appeals court on Thursday suspended indefinitely a trial decision ordering the Trump administration to withdraw National Guard troops from the capital, Washington, which was to take effect on December 11.
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Since June, Republican President Donald Trump has sent the National Guard successively to Los Angeles, Washington and Memphis, each time against the advice of local Democratic authorities, saying these reinforcements are necessary to fight crime and support the federal immigration police (ICE).
But on November 20, a judge ruled in favor of the municipality of the capital which accused the federal executive of exceeding its powers.
She considered that the law did not authorize her to enlist the Washington National Guard in “crime deterrence missions without a request from the civil authorities of the city” nor to request the sending to the capital of National Guard personnel from other regions of the country.
But Judge Jia Cobb immediately suspended her decision for 21 days, until December 11, to allow the government to appeal.
Urgently seized by the Trump administration, an appeals court granted it a stay until further notice, emphasizing that it was in no way “a decision on the merits of the case”. The December 11 deadline is therefore postponed indefinitely.
The courts blocked similar deployments in Chicago and Portland in October until further notice.
The Trump administration urgently appealed to the conservative-majority Supreme Court 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.
