SAN ANTONIO – A recent move by President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard troops and the Marines to assist with immigration raids in Los Angeles without formal requests from the California governor is raising legal and constitutional concerns.
University of Texas at San Antonio political science professor Jon Taylor said the decision is testing the limits of presidential authority under federal law.
“He is skirting the edges of something called the Posse Comitatus Act,” Taylor said. “That allows the use of the military — particularly the National Guard — for police purposes, but only when police or state officials request it.”
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The Posse Comitatus Act traditionally restricts the use of federal military personnel in domestic law enforcement. Some legal scholars argue that deploying troops without a state’s request runs counter to the spirit, if not the letter, of that law.
“There’s not a straightforward answer,” Taylor said. “You can’t really say, ‘Yes, this is legal’ or ‘This is not legal.’ It’s kind of skirting around the edges.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has filed a lawsuit against the president and the secretary of defense, claiming the troop deployment is an unconstitutional overreach of executive power.
“That’s why right now we’re in federal courts,” Taylor said. “Newsom is arguing this is a gross overreach of their authority.”
The key legal threshold is whether this rises to the level of an insurrection.
“You start invoking the Insurrection Act, you’ve got some serious things going on,” Taylor said. “And there’s no reason, based on that law, that this rises to that level.”
Even when the National Guard is deployed under federal authority, Taylor said their role remains limited.
“They could be used for the purposes of apprehending people,” Taylor said, “but they’re not the ones booking them, reading their rights or sending them to jail.”
The legal battle over military deployment is expected to continue in federal court, with potential implications for future presidential authority and state sovereignty.
For now, the president said Tuesday that the National Guard will stay in California.
“When there’s no danger, they’ll leave,” Trump said.
Here in San Antonio, protests are planned for Wednesday and Saturday.
KSAT 12 News asked San Antonio police how the department is getting ready for those protests. SAPD sent the following statement:
“The San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) remains steadfast in its commitment to safeguarding the constitutional rights of individuals and groups to hold peaceful and lawful demonstrations. On Sunday, SAPD monitored a peaceful protest at City Hall, and we will continue to do so at future demonstrations to ensure public safety and uphold the rights of all participants.”
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