What to know about Trump’s national guard deployment, from r...

A federal judge on Sunday evening blocked the Trump administration from deploying any national guard units to Oregon, a day after she had blocked the administration from sending Oregon’s own national guard into the state’s capital, Portland.

The rulings concluded a weekend of whirlwind legal decisions, in which Oregon and California sought to block Donald Trump’s use of national guard troops to assist in a crackdown in Democratic-led cities.

Here’s what to know about the fight over Trump’s deployment of the national guard.

The rulings

US district judge Karin Immergut on Sunday evening granted a temporary restraining order sought by California and Oregon, banning the administration from sending any national guard troops to Portland, where protesters have gathered in the block surrounding a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building (Ice).

Immergut’s ruling came after she had already barred the administration on Saturday from mobilizing 200 Oregon national guard troops to protect federal buildings.

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, described the ruling as an important win. “The rule of law has prevailed – and California’s national guard will soon be heading home,” Newsom said in a statement on Sunday. “This ruling is more than a legal victory, it’s a victory for American democracy itself. Donald Trump tried to turn our soldiers into instruments of his political will, and while our fight continues, tonight the rule of law said ‘hell no.’”

The deployments

Immergut’s ruling came hours after Trump’s administration announced plans to send hundreds of national guard members from California and Texas to the state.

Speaking during a hastily assembled evening telephone hearing, Immergut, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, seemed incredulous that the president moved to call in national guard troops to Oregon from California and Texas, just hours after she had ruled the first time.

“How could bringing in federalized national guard from California not be in direct contravention to the temporary restraining order I issued yesterday?” she questioned the federal government’s attorney, cutting him off.

“Aren’t defendants simply circumventing my order?” she said later. “Why is this appropriate?”

The Pentagon said on Sunday that 200 guard members were sent from California to Oregon.

Oregon’s governor, Tina Kotek, said 101 California national guard members had arrived in her state on Saturday night by plane and more were on the way. Kotek said there had been no formal communication with the federal government about the deployment, and that she could not verify the location of the guard members.

The protests

Small protests have been going on outside the Ice facility since Trump’s second term began in January. There have been occasional flare-ups but for weeks nightly demonstrations attracted only a few dozen people.

Far from being “under siege” by militants, there were at times fewer than 10 protesters on the sidewalk on an afternoon this week week. Portland police made three arrests on Thursday night after fistfights broke out between demonstrators and a pro-Trump influencer from Washington DC. On Saturday, about 400 people gathered outside the Ice facility before federal agents shot teargas canisters into the crowd.

Trump, however, has turned his attention to the city, calling Portland a “war-ravaged” city that is “burning down” and like “living in hell”.

Local officials have pointed out that the protest occupies one city block far from the downtown in a city that covers 145 sq miles (375 sq km). They also say many of his claims and social media posts appear to rely on images from 2020, when unrest that grew out of the Black Lives Matter protests roiled the city for several months. Trump sent federal law enforcement to the city then, as well.

Deployments elsewhere

In addition to Portland, Trump authorized the deployment of 300 Illinois national guard troops to protect federal officers and assets in Chicago on Saturday.

A White House spokesperson, Abigail Jackson, confirmed that the president authorized using the Illinois national guard members, citing what she called “ongoing violent riots and lawlessness” that local leaders had not quelled.

Illinois on Monday sued the Trump administration on behalf of the state and the city of Chicago in an effort to stop the deployment of the state’s national guard or troops from other states “immediately and permanently”.

Trump has characterized both Portland and Chicago as cities rife with crime and unrest, in addition to calling the former a “war zone” he has suggested apocalyptic force was needed to quell problems in the latter. Since the start of his second term, he has sent or talked about sending troops to 10 cities, including Baltimore, Maryland; Memphis, Tennessee; the District of Columbia; New Orleans, Louisiana; and the California cities of Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

But the governors of Illinois and Oregon see the deployments differently.

“This morning, the Trump administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Illinois governor JB Pritzker said in a statement on Saturday. “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”

Pritzker on Sunday shot back at Kristi Noem, Trump’s homeland security secretary, who reiterated the “war zone” rhetoric. Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper, the Illinois governor, accused the administration of fueling the crisis rather than resolving it. “They are the ones who are making it a war zone,” he said.

“They need to get out of Chicago. If they’re not going to focus on the worst of the worst, which is what the president said they are going to do, they need to get the heck out.”