Aug 11, 2025, 10:48 PM GMT
Los Angeles ICE field office director takes the stand
The next witness called to take the stand is Ernesto Santacruz, the Los Angeles field office director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
UPDATES: San Francisco federal trial over Trump's National Guard deployment to LA
Last updated: Thursday, August 14, 2025 2:34PM GMT
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A federal judge heard arguments in San Francisco on whether the Trump administration violated federal law when it deployed National Guard soldiers and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles following June protests over immigration raids.
RELATED: Trial begins on whether deployment of National Guard to Los Angeles violated federal law
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom sued, saying the President's move violated federal law -- and he requested that the courts order the president to return control of the troops to the state.
An 1878 law, known as the Posse Comitatus Act, prevents the president from using the military as a domestic police force.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer is presiding over the case. Since it is a bench trial, there is no jury and he alone will make the ruling. Breyer is the brother of retired Supreme Court Justice Steven Breyer.
On Monday and Tuesday, state and federal lawyers presented evidence and questioned witnesses, including a two-star Army general and a top Immigrations and Customs Enforcement official.
About 250 national guard troops still remain in the LA area.
The trial in San Francisco could set precedent for how Trump can deploy the guard in the future in California or other states.
State and federal attorney submitted more than 19,000 pages of discovery including 3,400 documents. The third and final day of the trail will resume at 9 a.m. on Wednesday.
ABC7 News reporter Monica Madden was in the courtroom. See her updates on the hearing below.
Aug 11, 2025, 9:31 PM GMT
CA lawyers call Deputy Commanding General for the National Guard US Army North to stand
California lawyers called Major General Scott Sherman to the stand. He is currently the Deputy Commanding General for the National Guard U.S. Army North (5th Army).
Sherman deployed to LA on June 9.
California lawyers asked Sherman about his primary responsibilities, which he said included preparing and training the troops that Trump and Hegseth sent to LA. Sherman says that also included ensuring troops were compliant with the law, including Posse Comitatus Act.
The lawyer asked Maj. Gen. Sherman about the deployment and communications with the Dept. of Defense about the protests.
California: Did you ever hear there was a rebellion?
Sherman: Not a rebellion, but that there were people preventing federal officials and law enforcement from doing their job and threatening federal buildings.
California: But no one from the Department of Defense ever used the term rebellion, correct?
Sherman: Yes, correct.
The lawyer then showed Sherman several photos and videos from marijuana farm raids. One video shows protesters in Camarillo and a group of soldiers, which Sherman identified as the LA Guard troops. He said they appear to be performing "traffic control." Sherman was not in command of nor present in this particular operation.
During the DOJ cross-examination of Sherman, photos were shown of Guard troops behind LA County Sheriff LEOs. At the direction of DOJ questioning, Sherman said sheriff deputies established the traffic control "blocking position and our soldiers were strictly behind them in case of threat," and that the Guard wasn't inherently leading the traffic control.
There was an interesting Q&A about when troops can legally act if they feel threatened. Judge Breyer asked Sherman if troops can operate on hypothetical but nonexistent threats. Sherman said yes, based on risk assessment.
Breyer tried to get at the political nature of these protests, asking Sherman if the Guard would have same response to an IRS protest, for example, just because a threat could pop up.
Sherman explained military leaders thought certain threats would arise due to the nature of these protests, and that was a factor in decision making for deploying troops to Southern California.
Sherman was excused, but it sounds like he might be called to the witness stand again Tuesday.
Aug 11, 2025, 6:17 PM GMT
1st witness called, questioned on troops' actions in LA related to traffic, crowd control
The first witness for the state of California is William Harrington, a deputy chief of staff for the U.S. Army North's Contingency Command Post.
The first exhibit includes a U.S. Army training slide, which outlines specific prohibitions of the Posse Comitatus Act. Reads: pursuits, arrests, apprehension, search, seizure, security patrols, traffic controls, crowd control, riot control, evidence collection, interrogation.
A California Department of Justice lawyer is questioning Harrington about whether some of the troops actions in LA might have been related to traffic and crowd control.
The lawyer is gathering details about all of the Guard's operations during Southern California deployment, including two marijuana farm raids in Mecca and Camarillo.
Harrington confirms Sec. Hegseth directly approved the Guard's role in the MacArthur Park mission.
Harrington says he has no involvement in President Trump's current federalization of the National Guard in D.C.
Harrington says his LA deployment ended last Friday. He will return to Houston after this three-day trial.
At the end of the DOJ's cross-exam of Harrington, he said he doesn't believe troops engaged in civilian law enforcement activities during their SoCal operations.
This of course is a key question in this entire lawsuit.
Aug 11, 2025, 6:13 PM GMT
Day 1 of trial over Pres. Trump's deployment of National Guard to LA during immigration protests
It's Day One of a trial in federal court in San Francisco over President Trump's National Guard deployment to Los Angeles during the June immigration protests.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said the central question is whether POTUS violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally prohibits using federal troops as civilian law enforcement.
