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The National Guard, mobilized to help respond to Los Angeles immigration protests, was then sent over 100 miles away to protect federal agents enforcing immigration laws on marijuana farms in the Coachella Valley, according to court documents filed Monday by the Trump administration.
According to a DEA spokesperson, around 315 National Guard troops helped the Drug Enforcement Agency execute a federal search warrant on June 18 at the illegal marijuana farm in Thermal, a desert community about 25 miles southeast of Palm Springs.
During the operation, the immigration and customs enforcement agents arrested between 70 and 75 workers on suspicion of missing documents, a spokesman said. One US citizen has been arrested on suspicion of obstructing law enforcement.
Federal agents will flock to marijuana farms on June 18th near Thermal, California.
(Dea Los Angeles)
The use of the National Guard in this operation is a new fixture in the ongoing legal battle between Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Trump as to whether the president has the authority to order around 4,000 National Guard members to quell LA’s unrest.
The U.S. Ninth Circuit ruled that Los Angeles violence provided ample grounds for Trump’s June 7 decision to deploy troops to protect federal personnel and property, and overturned a temporary restraining order that would return the National Guard to Newsom’s control. The appeals court held that Trump could continue to control the troops in Los Angeles, but that Newsom’s objection to their deployment has been sued in federal court.
In federal court filings Monday, lawyers from the California Atty office. Gen. Rob Bonta challenged whether current conditions in Los Angeles would justify the continued use of national security guards, particularly in missions such as the raid of marijuana farms that have not been ignored to counter protections against the types of harm to federal officials and property, which concluded that the Ninth Circuit is likely to justify the initial federation.
The Trump administration has sent the National Guard to take part in the attack on marijuana farms. Approximately 75 people were detained.
(Dea Los Angeles)
A lawyer representing the Trump administration wrote that Coachella Valley’s operations were “just like other service members to provide immigration enforcement protection,” and that Bonta’s team “does not give the defendant any compelling facts or legal reasons to question them.” [the Trump administration’s] Continuous use of military service members. ”
Trump’s lawyers claim that protests and violence continue to challenge federal agents’ ability to enforce immigration laws, referring to the June 18th declaration by Ernesto Santa Cruz, director of the LA Field Office of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, regarding ongoing unrest in Los Angeles.
“The presence of the National Guard and other Department of Defense officials has allowed ICE to continue to carry out the mandated duties of Congress in the Los Angeles area,” Santa Cruz wrote. “Due to the current threat, we cannot carry out as many immigration enforcement activities as we have received security guard support.”
California lawmakers have questioned the use of security forces in operations such as the Pot Farm Raid on June 18th.
(Dea Los Angeles)
However, the declaration does not refer to the conditions of violence or anxiety in Riverside County.
The DEA’s Los Angeles division said it had requested assistance from multiple federal agencies in conducting search warrants at Coachella Valley Marijuana Farms due to the “terrain and size” of the operation, which ran at temperatures up to 112 degrees across 787 acres. A total of 500 staff members participated in the business, including Customs and Border Protection, ICE, National Guard, FBI, Alcohol Service, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosions, former U.S. S-Service and Internal Revenue Service members.
“Due to the magnitude of the operation, we needed a partner to protect, not just personnel,” a DEA spokesperson said, “We needed either individuals who worked at the facility or on-site.” According to the DEA, two men were padlocked in the trailer during the surgery.
On Monday, Bonta’s team called for additional discovery of information regarding the deployment of National Guard outside the Los Angeles area, and updated information on whether the Trump administration could not enforce immigration laws in LA or elsewhere to the extent that it requires the deployment of National Guard using regular federal agencies.
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