Judge blocks Trump National Guard deployment to Portland, citing lack of justification
In a significant legal development, U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut has temporarily extended an order preventing the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon. This decision comes after a thorough review of three days of testimony and over 750 exhibits, culminating in the judge’s determination that the federal government’s justification for the deployment was insufficient. The injunction will remain in effect until a final opinion is issued by November 7, 2025, ensuring that the National Guard remains federalized but not actively deployed in the city.
Judge Immergut’s ruling is rooted in her assessment of the evidence presented during the trial, which indicated that the protests in Portland did not escalate to the level of a rebellion or significant violence, as claimed by the administration. She highlighted the testimony from local law enforcement, particularly from the Portland Police Bureau, which suggested that the demonstrations were largely peaceful and did not pose a serious threat to federal personnel. Immergut pointed out that the administration likely lacked a “colorable basis” to invoke federal authority under specific statutory provisions to justify the National Guard’s deployment. Furthermore, she emphasized that this federalization infringed upon Oregon’s state sovereignty and violated constitutional protections, reinforcing the principle that states should retain authority over their own law enforcement matters.
The ruling comes amidst ongoing tensions surrounding protests in Portland, particularly those related to federal immigration enforcement and social justice issues. The judge’s decision underscores the delicate balance between federal authority and state rights, particularly in times of civil unrest. As the situation develops, the court’s final ruling will be pivotal in determining the future of federal involvement in local law enforcement and the extent of the government’s power to deploy military resources in response to domestic protests.
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U.S. District Court Judge
Karin Immergut
on Sunday temporarily extended an order blocking the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, saying the government failed to justify the move.
In an order issued Sunday evening, Immergut “preliminarily enjoins Defendant Secretary of Defense Hegseth from implementing” memorandums that authorized the federalization and deployment of National Guard members from Oregon, Texas and California into Portland.
The injunction will remain in effect “until this Court issues its final opinion on the merits by Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, no later than 5 p.m.”
Immergut said that the court witnessed “three days of testimony and argument in a trial that ended 48 hours ago,” reviewing more than 750 exhibits, many of them voluminous. She wrote that “the interest of justice requires that this Court complete a thorough review of the exhibits and trial transcripts before issuing a final decision on the merits.”
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Ultimately, she assessed the Trump administration’s actions and found the government’s justification lacking.
“Based on the trial testimony, this Court finds no credible evidence that during the approximately two months before the President’s federalization order, protests grew out of control or involved more than isolated and sporadic instances of violent conduct that resulted in no serious injuries to federal personnel,” she wrote.
The judge further concluded that the president “likely did not have a colorable basis” to invoke either Section 12406(3) or Section 12406(2) to federalize and deploy the National Guard to Portland’s ICE facility.
Immergut pointed to testimony from
local law enforcement
– officials who had firsthand knowledge of demonstrations – as key to her conclusion that the protests did not amount to a rebellion.
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“Based on trial testimony that this Court found credible, particularly the testimony of
Portland Police Bureau command staff
, who work in Portland and have first-hand knowledge of the crowds at the ICE building from June to the present, the protests in Portland at the time of the National Guard call outs are likely not a ‘rebellion,’ and likely do not pose a danger of rebellion,” she wrote.
Immergut also concluded that the administration’s actions likely violate statutory limits and
constitutional protections
.
The judge wrote that “Defendants’ federalization and deployment of the National Guard in response to protests outside a single federal building in
Portland, Oregon
, extended beyond delegated statutory authority under 10 U.S.C. § 12406 and violated the Tenth Amendment.”
She added that sending in troops from one state into another infringes on state sovereignty, describing it as “an injury to Oregon’s sovereignty under the Constitution, and Oregon’s equal sovereignty among the States.”
The judge said she expects to issue her final opinion on the merits by Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, by 5 p.m. PT. Until then, “the Oregon National Guard may remain federalized, but not deployed.”
Eric
Eric is a seasoned journalist covering US Politics news.
