Federal judge blocks Trump national guard deployment to Portland
A federal judge in Oregon issued a temporary restraining order blocking President Donald Trump's attempt to deploy National Guard troops to Portland amid ongoing protests at an ICE facility. The ruling, expanded on Sunday, October 5, 2025, prohibits the federalization or relocation of any state's National Guard to the city. The White House criticized the decision as an overreach, while the administration appeals the order.
Protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations have escalated in Portland, Oregon, since early October 2025, with demonstrators targeting a federal ICE facility. Incidents include protesters lighting fires to barricade gates, hurling rocks and M80 fireworks at Federal Protective Services officers, an assault on a federal officer with a machete and knife, shining high-powered flashlights at drivers, and doxxing ICE employees by posting their personal information online.
On September 27, 2025, President Trump posted on Truth Social directing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to provide troops to protect the 'war ravaged' city from 'Antifa and other domestic terrorists,' authorizing 'full force if necessary.' The next day, September 28, Hegseth issued a memorandum federalizing 200 Oregon National Guard members over the objection of Democratic Governor Tina Kotek.
U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, granted a temporary restraining order on Saturday, October 4, blocking the Oregon National Guard deployment following a lawsuit by the state and City of Portland. During a Sunday emergency hearing, she expanded the order to bar 'the relocation, federalization or deployment of members of the National Guard of any state or the District of Columbia in the state of Oregon,' hours after Trump approved mobilizing California National Guard troops as a workaround.
Immergut ruled that Trump lacked a 'colorable basis' under 10 U.S.C. § 12406 to federalize the Guard, stating the situation did not constitute an inability of federal officers to execute laws or a 'rebellion,' which requires organized, armed, avowed opposition to the government as a whole. She noted National Guard members lack training for local law enforcement tasks like de-escalation and argued the deployment would inflame unrest and injure state sovereignty, emphasizing 'this is a nation of constitutional law, not martial law.'
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller condemned the ruling in a Monday X post: 'A district court judge has no conceivable authority, whatsoever, to restrict the President and Commander-in-Chief from dispatching members of the US military to defend federal lives and property. Today’s judicial ruling is one of the most egregious and thunderous violations of constitutional order we have ever seen.' Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced an appeal, calling the opinion 'untethered in reality and in the law' and citing U.S. Code § 12406 granting the president authority as commander in chief. The administration argues the deployment protects ICE officers under siege by 'anarchists inciting violence.'
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem backed federal agents, stating: 'Our brave men and women of law enforcement are being targeted and attacked by violent anarchists who seek to tear down America. President Trump and I have your backs.' The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 limits military involvement in domestic law enforcement, adding controversy to the effort, part of Trump's broader plan to deploy troops to cities for crime and immigration enforcement.