| Houston, Texas – Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee announced that he has joined a coalition of local government leaders from across the country in the legal fight against the Trump administration's unlawful deployment of federal military forces to police domestic protests. The amicus brief, filed in Newsom v. Trump in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, supports California's challenge to President Trump's order federalizing the California National Guard and deploying U.S. Marines into Los Angeles without the state's request or consent. This represents part of a troubling pattern by the Trump administration to override local authority in cities across America. "Houston, like other major cities across the country, is fully capable of handling our public safety needs without federal troops patrolling our streets," Menefee said. "This dangerous overreach by the Trump administration is not just about Los Angeles - it's a test case to see how far this president can go in federalizing local law enforcement. First it was DC, now it's Los Angeles, and tomorrow it could be Houston or any other city that stands up to this administration." The coalition argues that the president's actions violate federal law, which strictly limits the use of military forces for domestic law enforcement, and the U.S. Constitution, which grants Congress, not the president, the authority to determine when the National Guard may be federalized. Local law enforcement agencies have specialized training, community expertise, and established protocols for managing protests while protecting constitutional rights. Military deployment without local coordination undermines these capabilities and inflames tensions rather than resolving them. "Federalizing the National Guard or deploying military troops domestically should be a last resort, reserved for extreme emergencies like catastrophic disasters," Menefee said. "What we're seeing now is not leadership, it's an authoritarian power grab. Local governments must stand together to defend our communities and our constitutional system of government." The brief asks the court to maintain the lower court's order blocking the military deployment, allowing Los Angeles and other cities to protect their residents through proper local and state channels, free from unlawful federal interference. |