The Trump administration has decided not to further oppose an order returning control of California National Guard troops deployed in Los Angeles to Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to a court filing Tuesday by U.S. Department of Justice attorneys.
The DOJ’s two-sentence filing with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said government lawyers no longer oppose lifting a partial administrative stay, and they withdrew a request that the troops remain under federal control while the appeal proceeds.
Earlier this month a federal judge ordered President Donald Trump to return control of about 300 California National Guard troops to the state, possibly ending their six-month deployment that has mostly been in downtown LA. Trump deployed the soldiers to to protect federal facilities and personnel involved with the administration’s now nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration.
According to Tuesday’s supplemental brief, the Justice Department does not “oppose lifting of the partial administrative stay and hereby respectfully withdraw their motion for a stay pending appeal.” That statement effectively returns control of the troops to Newsom.
Trump ordered 2,000 California National Guard troops to the Los Angeles area on June 7. A day earlier federal immigration agents began raids to address illegal immigration that sparked large-scale protests, with some becoming violent. Trump argued that local law enforcement agencies were unable to adequately maintain a safe environment for immigration agents, their vehicles and federal buildings in the area.
The deployment reduced to about 300 troops, and California sued the federal government, claiming the deployment violated the Constitution.
Trump repeatedly defended the deployment, claiming that it quelled massive riots that threatened a large portion of the city. The protests, however, were largely restricted to a several-block area near the federal building in downtown LA. The president also said without providing supporting evidence that Los Angeles would have lost the 2028 Olympic Games and next year’s World Cup without his actions to restore order.
Local and state officials opposed to the deployment said the National Guard troops played no role in actually breaking up protests or civil disturbances, with their deployment primarily restricted to standing guard outside the downtown federal building to prevent unauthorized access. The LAPD and California Highway Patrol dealt with protests.
“For six months, California National Guard troops have been used as political pawns by a President desperate to be king,” state Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement Wednesday. “From the political display in MacArthur Park to their unlawful participation in indiscriminate immigration raids, the militaristic deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles streets has left lasting scars in Angeleno communities. There is a reason our founders decided military and civilian affairs must be kept separate; a reason that our military is, by design, apolitical.
“Now, in the face of a stinging rebuke by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Trump Administration is backing away from its efforts to federalize and deploy California National Guard troops,” Bonta said.
He referred to the Supreme Court’s Dec. 23 decision to reject the administration’s request to stay an order blocking the federalization of National Guard troops deployed to Chicago.
On his Truth Social platform Wednesday, Trump posted that the Guard soldiers are leaving LA and elsewhere because crime “has been greatly reduced by having these great Patriots in those cities, and ONLY by that fact.”
He hinted that troops could return “perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again — Only a question of time! It is hard to believe that these Democrat Mayors and Governors, all of whom are greatly incompetent, would want us to leave, especially considering the great progress that has been made???”
Updated Dec. 31, 2025, 2:28 p.m.
