Judge blocks national guard deployment to Oregon after legal...

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying any national guard units to Oregon a few hours after the California governor, Gavin Newsom, announced he would sue the president over the planned deployment of his state’s troops.

Both states sought the temporary restraining order after the president sent guard members from California to Oregon earlier in the day. On Saturday, the same judge temporarily blocked the administration from deploying Oregon’s national guard troops to Portland.

The ruling by US District Judge Karin Immergut said there was no evidence that recent protests necessitated the presence of national guard troops, no matter where they came from. Immergut asked a Trump administration lawyer during a hearing on Sunday night: “How could bringing in federalised national guard from California not be in direct contravention of the [decision] I issued yesterday?”

Immergut’s ruling on Sunday, which will remain in effect until at least 19 October, blocks the Trump administration from sending any national guard troops to Portland while Oregon and California seek a longer-term ruling in court.

Earlier on Sunday, Newsom had said national guard troops were already on their way to Oregon. “The Trump administration is unapologetically attacking the rule of law itself and putting into action their dangerous words – ignoring court orders and treating judges, even those appointed by the president himself, as political opponents.”

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced the deployment on 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 US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal personnel performing official duties, including the enforcement of federal law, and to protect federal property.”

Caroline Turco, Portland’s senior deputy attorney, said that there had been no violence against Ice officers for months and that recent Ice protests were “sedate”, sometimes featuring fewer than a dozen protesters, in the week before the president declared the city to be a war zone.

“This isn’t about public safety, it’s about power,” Newsom said. “We will take this fight to court, but the public cannot stay silent in the face of such reckless and authoritarian conduct by the president of the United States.”

In a statement on X, Oregon attorney general Dan Rayfield said the state is “quickly assessing our options and preparing to take legal action. The President is obviously hellbent on deploying the military in American cities, absent facts or authority to do so. It is up to us and the courts to hold him accountable. That’s what we intend to do.”

The California national guard referred questions to the defense department. A department spokesperson declined to comment.

A response from the White House deputy press secretary, Abigail Jackson, read: “President 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.”

The news from Oregon came a day after Trump authorised the deployment of national guard troops to Chicago, the latest in a string of similar interventions across several US states.

Trump had first announced the plan on 27 September, saying he was “authorizing full force, if necessary” despite pleas from Oregon officials and the state’s congressional delegation, who said there had been a single, uneventful protest outside one federal immigration enforcement office.

For years, Trump has amplified the narrative that Portland is a “war-ravaged” city with anarchists engaging in chaos and unlawful behavior.

During his first term in 2020, he deployed federal forces to the city amid the protests over the murder by police of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The protests spread across the US but were especially heightened in Portland. Despite protests against Ice being relatively small in the state this year, Trump has used them as a justification to deploy troops.

Speaking on X about the latest move from Trump, Newsom said: “It’s appalling. It’s un-American, and it must be stopped.”