U.S. Military Likely Violated Posse Comitatus Act During 2025 Immigration Raids in California, New Document Shows

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 7, 2026

CONTACT
Email: [email protected]
Rocio Ortega, 213-789-6820
Adrian Escarate, 202-609-9976

U.S. Military Likely Violated Posse Comitatus Act During 2025 Immigration Raids in California, New Document Shows

WASHINGTON — A U.S. military document newly obtained by the National Immigration Law Center seems to reveal a previously unknown Trump administration violation of the Posse Comitatus Act during its deployment of federalized National Guard troops in California last summer.

As reported on MS NOW, the document (PDF)appears to show that federalized National Guard troops directly participated in civilian law enforcement during the ICE-led Camarillo raid on July 10, 2025, by taking custody of and transporting 270 detainees to a U.S. naval base. This is a likely and particularly worrying violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits federal military forces from directly participating in civilian law enforcement.

Previous reporting and court records had already revealed that troops deployed to Camarillo helped with crowd control—a Posse Comitatus Act violation in itself.

“The Trump administration’s disregard for federal law—including the law that upholds a crucial separation between the U.S. armed forces and domestic policing—should alarm everyone,” says Benjamin R. Farley, supervisory counsel for democracy defense at NILC. “Immigrants and our communities continue to bear the burden of the administration’s willingness to break federal law to advance its authoritarian agenda. We demand full transparency and accountability for how these decisions were made, communicated, and whether additional federal laws were violated in this and other raids involving the federalized National Guard last summer.”

NILC obtained the document as part of a Freedom of Information Act request made last year.

###