A federal judge on Sunday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from sending any National Guard troops to Portland – a ruling which came as the Trump administration stepped up attempts to send out-of-state National Guard troops to the city after the judge earlier denied mobilizing Oregon National Guard troops.
Shortly before the Sunday evening hearing, President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of hundreds of Texas National Guard members to Illinois, Oregon and “other locations” in the US, according to the states’ governors.
US District Judge Karin Immergut – a Trump appointee – voiced skepticism toward the administration’s arguments to deploy the National Guard from the start, expressing frustration over what she characterized as an apparent attempt to sidestep her original Saturday order.
Addressing Deputy Assistant Attorney General Eric Hamilton late Sunday, she said: “Mr. Hamilton, you are an officer of the court. Aren’t the defendants simply circumventing my order?”
The tense hearing, which lasted less than 30 minutes, saw Immergut press the Justice Department lawyer, occasionally interrupting him to insist he answer her questions directly.
“What was unlawful with the Oregon National Guard is unlawful with the California National Guard,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a news conference before the Sunday ruling. The judge’s ruling was not some minor procedural point for the president to work around like my 14-year-old does when he doesn’t like my answers.”
Immergut granted a temporary restraining order Saturday blocking Trump from sending the Oregon National Guard to Portland, the state’s largest city, ruling that city and state officials “are likely to succeed on their claim that the President exceeded his constitutional authority and violated the Tenth Amendment” in ordering the deployment.
The state had amended its original complaint against calling up the Oregon National Guard in federal district court and filed for a second temporary restraining order to pause the president’s actions.
In response to the amended complaint, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement, “The facts haven’t changed: President Trump exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement.”
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said the president’s move to send troops from California appeared to intentionally sidestep Immergut’s ruling, which the Trump administration said it would appeal.
About 100 California National Guard troops have already arrived in Oregon and more are on the way, Kotek said earlier Sunday.
“At the direction of the President, approximately 200 federalized members of the California National Guard are being reassigned from duty in the greater Los Angeles area to Portland, Oregon to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal personnel performing official duties, including the enforcement of federal law, and to protect federal property,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement before Sunday’s ruling.
Kotek also said Sunday that the Department of Defense has ordered the Texas Adjutant General to deploy 400 Texas National Guard members to a number of states, including Illinois and Oregon.
“I have received no direct explanation from President Trump or Secretary (Pete) Hegseth about the specific need for this action. It is unclear how many will go to what location and what mission they will carry out,” she said.
“There is no need for military intervention in Oregon. There is no insurrection in Portland. No threat to national security. Oregon is our home, not a military target,” Kotek said in a statement Sunday.
In recent weeks, Trump has ordered the deployment of federal troops in Democrat-led cities such as Chicago and Portland, arguing military deployments are necessary to protect federal immigration personnel and property amid “violent protests” carried out by “domestic terrorists.”
The anarchy described by the president is strongly disputed by locals who say they don’t want or need federal help.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is planning to sue over the deployment of National Guard troops from his state, he said in a statement.
“This is a breathtaking abuse of the law and power,” he said.
The White House defended the president’s orders in a statement earlier Sunday, saying Trump “exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement.”
“For once, Gavin Newscum should stand on the side of law-abiding citizens instead of violent criminals destroying Portland and cities across the country,” Jackson said in an earlier emailed statement to CNN, misspelling the governor’s name.
CNN has reached out to the California National Guard for comment.
The Saturday decision by Immergut to block the deployment of the Oregon National Guard said the president appeared to have federalized the Oregon National Guard “absent constitutional authority” and protests in Portland “did not pose a ‘danger of a rebellion.’” The judge said Oregon attorneys showed “substantial evidence that the protests at the Portland ICE facility were not significantly violent” leading up to the president’s directive.
While the judge noted that recent incidents cited by the Trump administration of protesters clashing with federal officers “are inexcusable,” she added “they are nowhere near the type of incidents that cannot be handled by regular law enforcement forces.”
Immergut warned some of the arguments offered by the Trump administration “risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power – to the detriment of this nation.”
Last month, a federal judge in California ruled the Trump administration broke the law when it deployed thousands of federalized National Guard soldiers and hundreds of Marines to suppress protests against ICE actions in Los Angeles.
The decision barred troops from carrying out law enforcement in the state, but the White House has appealed the decision.
Immergut, in her opinion, said incidents in Portland are “categorically different” from the violence seen in Los Angeles when the president federalized troops there.
“Neither outside the Portland ICE facility nor elsewhere in the City of Portland was there unlawful activity akin to what was occurring in Los Angeles leading up to June 7, 2025,” the judge wrote.
