A United States appeals court on Thursday (Dec 4) handed a victory to President Donald Trump in his effort to keep National Guard troops in Washington, pausing a lower court order that would have ended the deployment in the coming days.
In a written order, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lifted an injunction that said the troops needed to leave the nation’s capital by Dec 11.
The DC Circuit’s order, which is temporary and does not address the merits of the case, allows Trump to continue a deployment he began this summer and has ramped up in response to a Nov 26 shooting of two National Guard members near the White House.
The order came in a lawsuit filed by District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb, a Democrat and the capital city’s top legal officer. Representatives for the White House and Schwalb’s office did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on Thursday.
More than 2,000 National Guard soldiers have been in Washington since Trump’s initial deployment in August, part of the president’s contentious immigration and crime crackdown targeting Democratic-led cities.
The guard troops in the city include contingents from the District of Columbia, as well as Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia and Alabama.
US District Judge Jia Cobb ruled on Nov 20 that the troop presence was likely unlawful. She temporarily blocked the deployment, but paused her ruling for three weeks to allow time for the administration to remove the troops, as well as to appeal her decision.
Rather than begin a winddown, Trump, a Republican, ordered 500 more troops to Washington after the shooting of two members of the West Virginia National Guard, which officials described as a “targeted” attack.
One of the two guard members has since died from her injuries. A 29-year-old Afghan national is facing charges for the shooting, prompting Trump to escalate his anti-immigrant rhetoric and declare a halt to migration from what he called “third-world countries”.
