A US appeals court on Thursday handed President Donald Trump a victory in his efforts to keep National Guard forces in Washington, halting a lower court order that would have ended the deployment in the coming days. In a written order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia lifted the order that forces leave the capital by Dec. 11. The District of Columbia order, while not final, allows Trump to continue the deployment he began this summer and ramped up in response to the Nov. 26 shooting of two National Guardsmen near the White House.
More than 2,000 National Guard troops have been in Washington since Trump’s initial deployment in August, part of the president’s controversial anti-immigration and anti-crime policies aimed at Democratic-led cities.
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Guard forces in the city include contingents from the District of Columbia, as well as Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia and Alabama. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb ruled on November 20 that the troops’ presence was likely illegal. She temporarily blocked the deployment, but delayed her decision for three weeks to give the administration time to withdraw forces and to appeal her decision.
Rather than begin a withdrawal, Trump, a Republican, ordered an additional 500 troops to be sent to Washington after the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard members in what officials described as a “targeted” attack. One of the two Guardsmen has since died from her injuries. The Afghan national (29) is facing charges in connection with the shooting, which prompted Trump to further increase his anti-immigrant rhetoric and declare a halt to migration from what he called “Third World countries”.