WASHINGTON (AP) — The District of Columbia on Thursday sued to stop President Donald Trump's deployment of National Guard during law enforcement intervention in Washington.

The city's attorney general, Brian Schwalb, said the hundreds of troops are essentially an “involuntary military occupation.” He argued in the federal lawsuit that the deployment is an illegal use of the military for domestic law enforcement.

A federal judge in California recently ruled that Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles after days of protests over immigration raids in June was illegal. The Republican administration is appealing that decision and Trump has said he is ready to order federal intervention in Chicago and Baltimore, despite staunch opposition in those Democrat-led cities.

That ruling, however, does not directly apply to Washington, where the president has more control over the Guard than in states.

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A new Plane Train car is seen at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Maintenance Facility in Atlanta on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com