National Guard troops under federal control entered a sprawling Southern California immigration raid with minimal notice and little guidance, according to an internal Army review shared with MS NOW. The U.S. Northern Command document describes an improvised mission marked by serious coordination failures between the Department of Homeland Security and Department of War.

Experts who reviewed the document said the troops may have performed duties that violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which largely prohibits military involvement in domestic law enforcement. The review suggests Guard members helped take custody of immigrant detainees and transport them, although Northern Command denies that account.

Ben Farley, special counsel at the National Immigration Law Center, said the document reveals the Trump administration’s willingness to discard longstanding limits on military activity inside the country. His organization obtained the review through the Freedom of Information Act.

“This is yet more evidence of the willingness of the Trump administration to blow the hinges off the constraints of what the military can do domestically,” Farley said. The document captures the Army’s concerns about placing armed troops in a volatile confrontation with civilians while providing scant direction about the boundaries of their authority.

The July 10, 2025, raid targeted a cannabis farm in Camarillo, about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Around 500 Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol personnel detained at least 361 people on immigration counts, while four U.S. citizens were charged with assaulting or resisting officers.

One immigrant died after falling from a roof while attempting to flee. Hundreds of protesters blocked government vehicles and threw rocks and other objects at federal agents, creating exactly the sort of combustible scene where vague instructions and rushed military involvement can become a dangerous mess.

More than 200 soldiers from the National Guard’s 49th Military Police Brigade responded. Border Patrol had requested Guard support, canceled that request two days before the operation, then sought military assistance again after the raid was already underway, according to the Army review.

That frantic reversal left units responding without an introduction or information about staging areas, routes, entry and exit paths, or nearby medical facilities. The document also states that federal agents either were not following a transportation plan or had no plan for moving detainees.

The lead federal agent told military personnel that the Department of War had approved using Guard personnel and military vehicles to transport detainees. “A mission of this scale should have been planned out with DoW for support to work through those potential issues and have a better plan in place for transporting detainees,” the review states.

The document says that information had to be resolved at the scene, delaying the removal of detainees. It also says vehicles became trapped because entry and exit routes had not been identified, while protesters’ vehicles hindered the troops’ movement and protesters climbed onto military vehicles and threw objects at soldiers.

Hundreds of detainees were eventually transported to Naval Base Ventura County, but the review does not explicitly identify who drove them or what vehicles were used. It says naval police lacked the capacity to receive the military personnel at the same time as federal agents, resulting in confusion and unnecessary movement.

Northern Command denied that its personnel arrested, searched, seized, detained, or transported anyone, and said federal law enforcement retained responsibility for custody functions. The command did not answer additional questions about the apparent conflict between that statement and its own internal review.

Chris Mirasola, an assistant professor at the University of Houston Law Center and former Department of War attorney, said detention and traffic management can qualify as executing the law under the Posse Comitatus Act. He described both activities as generally straightforward examples of violations.

The document alone does not establish that troops violated the law, experts said, partly because it does not clarify whether federal agents accompanied the transported detainees. Daniel Maurer, an associate professor of law at Ohio Northern University, said the crucial issue is whether federal agents or the military controlled that portion of the operation.

In September 2025, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act by deploying National Guard troops alongside immigration agents in Southern California. That decision addressed publicly known military involvement in security perimeters and traffic control, but not evidence suggesting troops physically controlled or transported detainees.

The administration appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but the case stalled after the troops returned to California’s control. With Trump continuing to threaten use of the Insurrection Act during domestic unrest, experts said Camarillo represents a troubling erosion of barriers against military participation in civilian law enforcement.

Farley called military custody of people inside the country “a shocking development.” Maurer offered an even simpler assessment of troops helping immigration agents round up people: “That’s not what the military does.”