A federal judge on Sunday quickly blocked the Trump administration from sending any National Guard troops to Portland. The ruling comes after the Trump administration moved to ship the California National Guard to Portland after the judge earlier denied sending Oregon National Guard troops.
“What was unlawful with the Oregon National Guard is unlawful with the California National Guard,” Attorney General Dan Rayfield mentioned in a information convention earlier than the ruling. “The judge’s order was not some minor procedural point for the president to work around like my 14-year-old does when he doesn’t like my answers.”
The state amended its authentic grievance towards calling up the Oregon National Guard in federal district courtroom and filed for a second short-term restraining order to pause the president’s actions.
In response to the amended grievance, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson mentioned in an announcement, “The facts haven’t changed: President Trump exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement.”
US District Judge Karin Immergut granted a temporary restraining order Saturday blocking President Donald Trump from sending the Oregon National Guard to Portland, the state’s largest metropolis, ruling that metropolis and state officers “are likely to succeed on their claim that the President exceeded his constitutional authority and violated the Tenth Amendment” in ordering the deployment.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek mentioned the president’s transfer to ship troops from California seems to deliberately sidestep Immergut’s ruling, which the Trump administration mentioned it will enchantment.
About 100 California National Guard troops have already arrived in Oregon and extra are on the best way, Kotek mentioned earlier Sunday.
“At the direction of the President, approximately 200 federalized members of the California National Guard are being reassigned from duty in the greater Los Angeles area to Portland, Oregon to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal personnel performing official duties, including the enforcement of federal law, and to protect federal property,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell mentioned in an announcement.
Kotek mentioned Sunday night that the Department of Defense has ordered the Texas Adjutant General to deploy 400 Texas National Guard members to a quantity of states, together with Illinois and Oregon.
“I have received no direct explanation from President Trump or Secretary (Pete) Hegseth about the specific need for this action. It is unclear how many will go to what location and what mission they will carry out,” she mentioned.
“There is no need for military intervention in Oregon. There is no insurrection in Portland. No threat to national security. Oregon is our home, not a military target,” Kotek mentioned in a statement Sunday.
In latest weeks, Trump has ordered the deployment of federal troops in Democrat-led cities resembling Chicago and Portland, arguing navy deployments are obligatory to shield federal immigration personnel and property amid “violent protests” carried out by “domestic terrorists.”
The anarchy described by the president is strongly disputed by locals who say they don’t need or want federal assist.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is planning to sue over the deployment of National Guard troops from his state, he said in a statement.
“This is a breathtaking abuse of the law and power,” he mentioned.
The White House defended the president’s orders in an announcement earlier Sunday, saying Trump “exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement.”
“For once, Gavin Newscum should stand on the side of law-abiding citizens instead of violent criminals destroying Portland and cities across the country,” Jackson mentioned in an earlier emailed assertion to NCS, misspelling the governor’s identify.
NCS has reached out to the California National Guard for remark.
While the deployment of California’s National Guard just isn’t technically a violation of Immergut’s resolution – as a result of the order itself mentions solely the Oregon National Guard – it’s nonetheless illegal, in accordance to Elizabeth Goitein, a senior director of the liberal-leaning Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program.
“The reasoning in the judge’s opinion leaves no doubt that what Trump is doing now is illegal,” Goitein mentioned. “No litigant acting in good faith would have thought they were free to do something that so clearly violates the law under the court’s ruling.”
The resolution by Immergut – a Trump appointee – mentioned the president appeared to have federalized the Oregon National Guard “absent constitutional authority” and protests in Portland “did not pose a ‘danger of a rebellion.’” The judge mentioned Oregon attorneys confirmed “substantial evidence that the protests at the Portland ICE facility were not significantly violent” main up to the president’s directive.
While the judge noted that latest incidents cited by the Trump administration of protesters clashing with federal officers “are inexcusable,” she added “they are nowhere near the type of incidents that cannot be handled by regular law enforcement forces.”
Immergut warned some of the arguments supplied by the Trump administration “risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power – to the detriment of this nation.”
Last month, a federal judge in California ruled the Trump administration broke the legislation when it deployed 1000’s of federalized National Guard troopers and hundreds of Marines to suppress protests towards ICE actions in Los Angeles.
The resolution barred troops from finishing up legislation enforcement within the state, however the White House has appealed the choice.
Immergut, in her opinion, mentioned incidents in Portland are “categorically different” from the violence seen in Los Angeles when the president federalized troops there.
“Neither outside the Portland ICE facility nor elsewhere in the City of Portland was there unlawful activity akin to what was occurring in Los Angeles leading up to June 7, 2025,” the judge wrote.
This story has been up to date with extra data.