September 3, 2025 - WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Monday, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), issued the following statement after a federal judge ruled that President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth violated federal law through their unprecedented deployment of active-duty U.S. Marines and California National Guard members to Los Angeles in response to overwhelmingly peaceful protests:

“Today, a federal judge confirmed what we knew all along: Trump broke the law in his effort to turn service members into his own national police force. The decision to deploy the military in Los Angeles was never about public safety — it was political theater to distract from his disastrous tariffs and refusal to release the Epstein files.

“The Administration must stop its efforts to militarize additional cities against its own citizens. Our service members don’t sign up to serve as political props. And those still deployed should be returned home or reassigned to their original missions immediately.”

In June, Padilla led the entire Senate Democratic Caucus in demanding that President Trump immediately withdraw all military forces from Los Angeles and cease all threats to deploy the National Guard or active-duty service members to American cities. He also placed a hold on Trump’s nominee to serve as vice chief of the National Guard Bureau, Lieutenant General Thomas Carden, until the Trump Administration releases all remaining U.S. military forces from their unjustified deployment to Los Angeles.

Source: Senator Alex Padilla