California urged a federal appeals court to leave in place for now a lower court’s order that would limit the Trump administration’s use of National Guard troops in Los Angeles to respond to protests over the president’s immigration raids.

GOP Sen. Tom Cotton defended the language he used in his WSJ op-ed calling for President Trump to send in the troops to Los Angeles to help with the anti-ICE riots.

Trump ordered California National Guard troops to Los Angeles in response to violent demonstrations against immigration enforcement.

The appeals court issued its pause just hours after Judge Charles Breyer wrote that Trump’s “actions were illegal." The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the case on June 17.

About 500 of the National Guard troops deployed to the Los Angeles protests have been trained to accompany agents on immigration operations, the commander in charge said Wednesday.

A U.S. appeals court on Thursday allowed President Donald Trump to maintain his deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles amid protests over stepped-up immigration enforcement, temporarily pausing a lower court's ruling blocking the mobilization.

Judge Charles Breyer ordered the administration to return control of the National Guard to the California governor, but an appeals court stayed the extraordinary decision Thursday night.

Los Angeles residents and experts say the National Guard's presence in Los Angeles in response to immigration protests is reminiscent of a long-standing dynamic in the state and around the country.