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A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s attempt to deploy Oregon National Guard troops to Portland, fueling political tensions over federal intervention, CNN reports.
The Trump administration had ordered 200 Oregon National Guard troops to Portland under Title 10, a statute allowing federal activation of state forces. Trump officials cited the need to protect federal property, particularly an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility, from what it called escalating protest threats.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, and Portland Mayor Carmen Rubio pushed back against the move, filing a lawsuit to block the deployment, calling it unconstitutional and politically motivated.
“This is not a third-world country. Oregon has not requested federal troops, and we do not consent to this occupation,” Rosenblum said. “The federal government cannot hijack our National Guard and use it as a political weapon.”
On Saturday (October 4), U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, issued a temporary injunction, ruling that the administration failed to meet the legal threshold for such a deployment.
“There is no active insurrection in Portland,” Immergut wrote. “The use of federal military force under these circumstances poses a serious threat to civil liberties… Unchecked militarization of civil governance is incompatible with a democratic society.”
Despite the court ruling blocking Oregon’s Guard deployment, federal agents have continued to operate in Portland, using tear gas and making arrests during protests outside the ICE facility over the past several nights.
Rubio condemned the federal presence in Portland.
“There is no emergency. This is a political stunt, plain and simple,” Rubio said. “Our city does not need soldiers in the streets. We need the federal government to stay in its lane.”
The Trump administration has indicated it will appeal the judge’s ruling and explore alternative options, including the deployment of National Guard troops from other states like Texas and Florida. Trump is also reportedly considering invoking the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to deploy the U.S. military domestically without a state’s consent.
“This is a dangerous test of executive overreach,” Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law, said in a statement. “Unless there’s a genuine breakdown of civil order, using the military in this way is a constitutional red flag.”
The legal battle in Portland is expected to move to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and could ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“We do not need federal troops,” Kotek said. “We need respect for the rule of law and for the will of the people of Oregon.”
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