A federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump moved late Sunday to block the White House from sending 300 out-of-state National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, as protests continued on the city’s streets.
U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, appointed by Trump himself in his first term, had ruled earlier in the day that the president could not mobilize California troops for deployment to Portland, having already said Oregon’s own National Guard could not be used on Saturday.
During a hastily arranged evening telephone hearing, Judge Immergut granted a temporary restraining order sought by California and Oregon and expressed incredulity about the Trump administration’s persistence in the face of her earlier rulings, objecting to Guardsmen being brought in from Texas too.
She told federal government attorney Eric Hamilton on the call that the administration’s efforts were in “direct contravention” to her earlier restraining order and asked: “Aren’t [the] defendants simply circumventing my order? Why is this appropriate?”
The disagreement erupted late last week after Trump officials said that Oregon National Guard troops would be federalized to protect government buildings in what Trump declared a “war-ravaged” city, prompting state and city officials to sue to stop the deployment.
On Saturday, about 400 people gathered outside Portland’s ICE facility, which has been a focal point for relatively small protests since January, before federal agents shot tear-gas canisters into the crowd.
Those demonstrations continued Sunday, with Portland Mayor Keith Wilson saying that he saw federal agents engaged in what he described as unjustified use of force and indiscriminate use of pepper spray and impact munitions during a protest outside the ICE facility.
“This is an aggressive approach trying to inflame the situation that has otherwise been peaceful,” he said, adding that he has alerted the civil rights division of the Department of Justice to the agents’ actions.
Trump had lashed out at to Judge Immergut’s earlier rulings, telling members of the media gathered at the White House: “I wasn’t served well by the people who pick judges.”
“I appointed the judge, and it goes like that. If [she] made that decision, Portland is burning to the ground… all you have to do is look at the TV and read your newspapers. That judge ought to be ashamed,” he added.
By contrast, California Gov. Gavin Newsom applauded the judge’s actions, commenting: “We just won in court – again. A federal judge blocked Trump’s unlawful attempt to deploy 300 of our National Guard troops to Portland.
“The court granted our request for a temporary restraining order, halting any federalization, relocation, or deployment of any guard members to Oregon from any state. Trump’s abuse of power won’t stand.”
Despite Trump’s efforts targeting Democrat-led cities, notably sending the National Guard to Los Angeles to quell anti-ICE protesters in June and into Washington, D.C., in August to crack down on crime, Judge Immergut noted that the president’s rhetoric did not match the situation in Portland.
“The president’s determination was simply untethered to the facts,” she wrote.
“This country has a longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs,” the judge added.
“This historical tradition boils down to a simple proposition: this is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law.”
Unmoved, Trump is preparing to send another 300 Guards personnel into Illinois, which likewise saw heated protests explode in Chicago over the weekend.
