Judge stops Trump’s National Guard Use in Portland

A federal judge in the US state of Oregon blocked the relocation of 200 California national guards to Portland on Sunday evening (local time).

The judge Karin Immergut appointed by Trump during his first term stopped an attempt by the government to avoid her decision on Saturday against the use of the National Guard Oregon. “How could the posting of the National Guard from California not stand in direct contradiction to the decision I have issued yesterday?” Alsogged a government lawyer during a hearing on Sunday evening (local time).

According to US President Donald Trump’s announcement, the US Department of Defense ordered around 200 members of the California National Guard from Los Angeles to Portland to the US state of Oregon. The soldiers would support the US immigration authority ICE and other federal authorities in the enforcement of federal laws and protect federal property, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said on Sunday evening (local time) in a statement.

California’s governor Gavin Newsom said before the judicial decision that the troops were already on the way to Portland. On X he wrote about an “incredible abuse of law and power”. Oregon and California had complained against the relocation of troops.

The judge had justified her first injunction on Saturday by the fact that Trump’s decision “simply lacks any factual basis”. There is no evidence that the latest protests reached the extent of a rebellion. The assumption of government arguments would mean that the president could “send military to the military practically everywhere and at any time”, warned. This risked a blurring of the border between civil and military federal power “to the damage of this nation”. Both dispositions initially apply until October 18. The Trump government announced that it would make an appeal.

Trump had previously referred to the city of Portland as “devastated by the war” and announced the troop shipment after the broadcaster Fox News had shown video recordings of significantly larger protests from 2020.

On Sunday he repeated his representation in the White House and spoke of “agitators and insurgents” in the city. Trump said about Immergut without grasping her gender correctly: “This judge should be ashamed.”

The Attorney General of Oregon, Dan Rayfield, accuses Trump of exaggerating the threat of protests against his immigration policy in order to take control of the national guard of the state. Portland’s mayor Keith Wilson said his city was peaceful and added that this presentation was out of air.

The use in Oregon is the latest example of Trump’s expanded use of the National Guard in its second term. The president has already sent troops to Los Angeles and Washington. Governor JB Pritzker from Illinois said on Sunday that Trump also ordered the laying of 400 Texas National Gardists to Illinois, Oregon and other cities. Pritzker asked the governor of Texas to refuse to cooperate with the government.

In California and Washington, similar complaints against Trump’s military missions are also underway. On September 2, a Federal Supreme Court blocked the National Guard’s commitment to fight against crime in California. However, the decision was suspended during the appeal procedure.