Judge permanently blocks Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Portland

A federal judge on Friday issued a ruling “permanently” blocking the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon.

In late September, President Trump announced he would be deploying federal troops to Portland in response to downtown protests outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility over the administration’s immigration crackdown. The Trump administration later placed 200 Oregon National Guard troops under federal control, and attempted to deploy another 200 federalized California National Guard troops in Portland as well.

Mr. Trump invoked Title 10 of the federal code in his deployment efforts, which allows for its use if the president deems that “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States.” 

The moves prompted a lawsuit from city and state officials in Portland, Oregon and California.   

In her 106-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut wrote that “this Court arrives at the necessary conclusion that there was neither ‘a rebellion or danger of a rebellion’ nor was the President ‘unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States’ in Oregon when he ordered the federalization and deployment of the National Guard.”

The ruling, however, will allow the National Guard troops to remain under federal control for a period of at least 14 days.   

“President Trump is using his lawful authority to direct the National Guard to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following months of violent riots where officers have been assaulted and doxxed by left-wing rioters,” Assistant Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Friday night in response to the ruling. “The President’s lawful actions will make Portland safer.” 

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Friday night in a statement: “The facts haven’t changed. Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has exercised his lawful authority to protect federal officers and assets. President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities and we expect to be vindicated by a higher court.”

In her own statement, Democratic Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said, “This ruling, now the fourth of its kind, validates the facts on the ground. Oregon does not want or need military intervention, and President Trump’s attempts to federalize the guard is a gross abuse of power. Oregon National Guard members have been away from their jobs and families for 38 days. The California National Guard has been here for just over one month. Based on this ruling, I am renewing my call to the Trump Administration to send all troops home now.”  

Under Title 10, the “president may call into federal service members and units of the National Guard of any State in such numbers as he considers necessary to repel the invasion, suppress the rebellion, or execute those laws,” in the event that “the United States, or any of the commonwealths or possessions, is invaded or is in danger of invasion by a foreign nation; there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States; or the president is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”  

The latest decision comes after Immergut, an appointee of Mr. Trump, issued a 16-page ruling Sunday temporarily barring the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard in Portland following a three-day trial in which she “found no credible evidence” that protests in the city grew out of control. 

Immergut had said she would issue a final order on Friday due to the voluminous evidence presented at trial, including more than 750 exhibits.

“After a three-day trial that included the testimony of federal, state, and local law enforcement officials and hundreds of exhibits describing protest activity outside the Portland ICE building, the evidence demonstrates that these deployments, which were objected to by Oregon’s governor and not requested by the federal officials in charge of protection of the ICE building, exceeded the President’s authority,” Immergut wrote Friday.

The Trump administration on Monday appealed the ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Immergut issued two orders in early October that blocked the deployment of the troops leading up to the trial. She previously found that Mr. Trump had failed to show that he met the legal requirements for mobilizing the National Guard. She described his assessment of Portland, which Mr. Trump has called “war-ravaged” with “fires all over the place,” as “simply untethered to the facts.”

One of Immergut’s orders was paused Oct. 20 by the 9th Circuit court. But late Tuesday, the appeals court vacated that decision and said it would rehear the matter before an 11-judge panel. Until the larger panel rehears the case, the appeals court’s initial order from early October — under which the National Guard is federalized but not deployed — remains in effect.

During the Portland trial, witnesses including local police and federal officials were questioned about the law enforcement response to the nightly protests at the city’s ICE building. The demonstrations peaked in June, when Portland police declared one a riot. The demonstrations typically drew a couple dozen people in the weeks leading up to Mr. Trump’s National Guard announcement.