A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to cease its deployment of the California National Guard in Los Angeles and to return command of these troops to the state. This decision came on Wednesday from U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco, who granted a preliminary injunction requested by California authorities. These officials opposed President Donald Trump’s unusual decision to utilize state Guard troops for immigration enforcement without the state governor’s consent. However, the judge delayed the ruling’s implementation until the following Monday.

California officials argued that the situation in Los Angeles had evolved since President Trump initially assumed control of the troops and dispatched them in June. Originally, the administration mobilized over 4,000 California National Guard members, but by late October, that number dwindled to a few hundred. Currently, only about 100 troops remain stationed in the Los Angeles area.

The Trump administration had extended the troops’ deployment through February, while also attempting to mobilize California Guard members in Portland, Oregon. This was part of a broader strategy to deploy military forces in cities governed by Democrats, often clashing with local mayors and governors who disapprove of such actions.

Attorneys from the U.S. Justice Department argued that the presence of the Guard in Los Angeles is still necessary to ensure the protection of federal personnel and property.

U.S. Justice Department lawyers said the administration still needed Guard members in the Los Angeles area to help protect federal personnel and property.

An email to the White House seeking comment on Wednesday’s ruling was not immediately returned.

Trump took command of the California National Guard following protests over his stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws. The call up was the first time in decades that a state’s national guard was activated without a request from its governor and marked a significant escalation in the administration’s efforts to carry out its mass deportation policy. The troops were stationed outside a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles where protesters gathered and later sent on the streets to protect immigration officers as they made arrests.

California sued, and Breyer issued a temporary restraining order that required the administration to return control of the Guard members to California. An appeals court panel, however, put that decision on hold.

California argued that the president was using Guard members as his personal police force in violation of a law limiting the use of the military in domestic affairs.

The administration said courts could not second-guess the president’s decision that violence during the protests made it impossible for him to execute U.S. laws with regular forces and reflected a rebellion, or danger of rebellion.

In September, Breyer ruled after a trial that the deployment violated the law. Other judges have blocked the administration from deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, and Chicago.