Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump administration from sending
National Guard troops to Oregon
[October 06, 2025]
By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and JACK BROOK
A federal judge late Sunday temporarily blocked the Trump administration
from deploying any National Guard units to Oregon at all, after a legal
whirlwind that began hours earlier when the president mobilized
California troops for Portland after the same judge blocked him from
using Oregon's National Guard the day before.
During a hastily called evening telephone hearing, U.S. District Judge
Karin Immergut granted a temporary restraining order sought by
California and Oregon.
Immergut, who was appointed by Trump in his first term, seemed
incredulous that the president moved to send National Guard troops to
Oregon from neighboring California and then from Texas on Sunday, just
hours after she had ruled the first time.
“How could bringing in federalized National Guard from California not be
in direct contravention to the temporary restraining order I issued
yesterday?” she questioned the federal government's attorney, cutting
him off.
“Aren’t defendants simply circumventing my order?” she said later. “Why
is this appropriate?”
The White House did not immediately comment on the judge’s decision.
Trump focuses on Oregon after Portland protests
Oregon is fighting to prevent federalized National Guard troops from
coming to Oregon's largest city to address ongoing protests at an
immigration processing facility there.
Small protests have been going on outside the Immigration and Customs
Enforcement facility since Trump’s second term began in January. There
have been occasional flare-ups, including in June, but for weeks nightly
demonstrations attracted only a few dozen people.
Trump, however, has turned his attention to the city, calling Portland
“war ravaged,” and a “war zone” that is “burning down” and like “living
in hell.”
Local officials have point out that the protest occupies one city block
far from the downtown in a city that covers 145 square miles. They also
say many of his claims and social media posts appear to rely on images
from 2020, when unrest that grew out of the Black Lives Matter protests
roiled the city for several months. Trump sent federal law enforcement
to the city then, as well.
Under a new mayor and police chief, the city has reduced crime, and the
downtown has seen a decrease in homeless encampments and increased foot
traffic.
On Sept. 28, when the Trump administration mobilized the Oregon National
Guard over Gov. Tina Kotek's wishes, the protests increased in size. On
Saturday about 400 people gathered outside the ICE facility before
federal agents shot tear-gas canisters into the crowd.
Trump also authorized the deployment of 300 Illinois National Guard
troops to protect federal officers and assets in Chicago on Saturday.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s office said the situation in Chicago “does
not require the use of the military and, as a result, the Governor
opposes the deployment of the national guard under any status.”
Sending in the National Guard from other states
This weekend, about 200 federalized members of the California National
Guard who had been on duty around Los Angeles were reassigned to
Portland, a Pentagon spokesperson said.
Approximately 100 California National Guard troops landed in Portland
after midnight Sunday and around 100 more arrived by early evening, Alan
Gronewold, commander of Oregon’s National Guard, said in a court filing
before the emergency hearing late Sunday.
The state of Oregon also included in its filing a memo written by
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that ordered up to 400 Texas National
Guard personnel activated for deployment to Oregon, Illinois and
possibly elsewhere.
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Police and federal officers throw gas canisters to disperse
protesters near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility
in Portland, Ore. on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
A hasty court hearing
At the emergency hearing late Sunday, Immergut grilled the attorney
for the federal government and accused them of seeking an end run
around her order from the day before that temporarily blocked the
deployment of National Guard troops in Oregon.
Scott Kennedy, the attorney representing Oregon, said he learned of
the Texas National Guard mobilization just 24 minutes before the
emergency hearing on Sunday night.
“It feels a little bit like we’re playing a game of rhetorical
whack-a-mole here,” he told Immergut.
Lawyers for the federal government tried to argue that Oregon and
Portland did not have standing and that California could show no
harm by having some of its National Guard dispatched to another
state.
Immergut issued a temporary order that expires in 14 days unless it
is extended at a hearing set for Oct. 17. Arguments for a
preliminary injunction — a more permanent block on sending
federalized National Guard troops to Oregon — are set for Oct. 29.
In a related court filing, an attorney in the California Military
Department said the U.S. Army Northern Command advised the
department on Sunday that an order will be issued keeping the 300
guard personnel federalized through the end of January.
Oregon and California react to Sunday's ruling
Kotek, the governor of Oregon, applauded Immergut's ruling and said
Trump can “expect Oregon to stand up to him at every turn.”
“President Trump’s actions are an effort to occupy and incite cities
and states that don’t share his politics, and I believe that we
should expect him to continue to push the limits of his authority,"
she said in a statement late Sunday.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Trump's move to deploy
the National Guard of one state to another “is well outside of the
norms or practices” of any president.
“But this President is determined to take as much power as the
courts will give him. This fight isn’t over, but today’s rebuke of
the President’s illegal actions is a step in the right direction,”
Bonta said in a statement after Sunday night's ruling.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said Sunday that he saw federal agents
engaged in what he described as unjustified use of force and
indiscriminately spraying 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,” Wilson said, adding that he has
alerted the civil rights division of the Department of Justice to
the agents’ actions.
___
Weber reported from Los Angeles and Brook from New Orleans.
Associated Press journalists Ethan Swope in Portland, Oregon;
Jennifer McDermott in Providence, Rhode Island; and Josh Boak in
Washington contributed to this report.
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