Federal Judge Issues Temporary Block To Trump’s National Guard Deployments To Portland
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order late on Sunday blocking the Trump administration’s attempts to federalize and deploy National Guard units from any state to Portland, after the administration attempted to federalize Californian and Texan National Guard units in response to the same judge’s block on deployment of Oregon’s National Guard on Saturday.
In a telephone hearing on Sunday evening, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut granted a temporary restraining order blocking the deployment of any state’s National Guard to Oregon for 14 days, in response to a request by the state governments of Oregon and California.
“How could bringing in federalized National Guard from California not be in direct contravention to the temporary restraining order I issued yesterday?” said Judge Immergut during the hearing. “Aren’t defendants simply circumventing my order?”
In her opinion on the initial temporary restraining order against deployment of the Oregon National Guard issued on Saturday, Judge Immergut, who was appointed during the first Trump administration, said the Oregon state government had provided “substantial evidence that the protests at the Portland ICE facility were not significantly violent or disruptive in the days—or even weeks—leading up to the President’s directive on September 27, 2025”, and found that the Trump administration’s federalization of the Oregon National Guard had violated the Tenth Amendment.
The Oregon state government has sought to block the Trump administration’s attempts to federalize and deploy National Guard troops in response to protests against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the city. Trump has described the city as “war ravaged” and under “lawless mayhem” in repeated comments since September 27.
Earlier on Sunday, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the state would be suing the federal government over the attempt to federalize and deploy 300 California National Guard troops to Portland, while Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he had “fully authorized” the government’s request to federalize 400 Texas National Guard soldiers to “ensure safety for federal officials”, with Oregon’s legal representative saying during the hearing that the federalized Texan National Guard soldiers were planned for deployment to Portland.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said after the issuance of the second temporary restraining order that he expected the Trump administration would attempt to appeal the ruling. In a separate statement, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said “This fight isn’t over, but today’s rebuke of the President’s illegal actions is a step in the right direction”.