In a trial that opened on Monday, a high-ranking California National Guard officer stated he was called out and accused of disloyalty by a Customs official for balking at deploying his troops to the streets of Los Angeles due to ICE protests.
According to a report from Politico, the lawsuit brought by Governor Gavin Newsom against the Donald Trump administration claiming it violated the Posse Comitatus Act and the 10th Amendment when the streets were militarized to prevent anti-immigrant abduction protests.
As Politico's Kyle Cheney reported, what is playing out in trial testimony has so far exposed a "rift" between military leaders and the Department of Homeland Security as they butted heads over how to deal with the protests.
According to the report, Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, who was responsible for the Guard troops in LA, expressed "reservations" prior to the controversial deployment which led to a senior Customs and Border Patrol official to criticize him and question his “loyalty” to the nation.
Cheney wrote, "It was a remarkable split screen. In L.A., the testimony from Sherman came as part of a three-day trial in which a judge will decide whether the administration’s use of the National Guard in that city broke the law," occurring on the same day that the president announced he was using emergency powers to take control of the Washington, D.C. police department .
The report adds that the testimony is exposing "tension" among varying factions as the deployment was suggested and then became reality.
"Intelligence, Sherman recalled, showed a minimal threat to federal immigration agents, and the proposed operation would have sent military vehicles through the center of the park. But when he expressed misgivings, Gregory Bovino, the chief patrol agent of the Customs and Border Patrol’s El Centro sector — who has taken on a leading role in the Los Angeles immigration crackdown — pushed back strongly, Sherman recalled," Politico is reporting, adding, "Asked by a lawyer for California if Bovino questioned Sherman’s loyalty to the U.S. over the issue, Sherman answered simply 'yes' and did not elaborate."
The report adds, "A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, declined to comment, calling questions about the exchange a 'pathetic attempt to divide our law enforcement and our National Guard.'"
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