A federal judge appointed by Trump has blocked the president’s attempt to send the National Guard into Portland, Oregon. The judge ruled that Trump’s claim that the city was under siege was “untethered to facts.” That line alone says a lot.
U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, who Trump himself nominated back in his first term, said the deployment risked crossing a constitutional line. “This is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law,” she wrote in her decision.
It is rare to see one of Trump’s own picks go against him so sharply. But Immergut made it clear that the president’s plan had no legal ground. She said Trump’s reasoning relied on false claims that immigration officers were facing nightly violence.
Trump had described Portland as “war ravaged” when he announced the move. “At the request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists,” he said.
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But Immergut saw no evidence to back that up. “Whatever the factual basis the President may have for these allegations, nothing in the record suggests that anything of this sort was occurring ‘every night’ outside the Portland ICE building or in the City of Portland in the days or weeks leading up to his September 27 directive,” she wrote.
She added that Trump’s argument blurred the lines between civilian and military power. “Defendants have made a range of arguments that, if accepted, risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power — to the detriment of this nation,” Immergut said.
The ruling hit the Trump team hard. Oregon’s Democratic Governor Tina Kotek quickly welcomed the court’s decision. “The federal court ruled in Oregon’s favor to block a military intervention in Portland. I believe the truth has prevailed. While this ruling is only the first step, it’s a step in the right direction,” she wrote on social media.
Kotek went even further, calling on Trump to stop trying to use the military as a political weapon. “We would hope that President Trump respects the court decision and the rule of law; we would hope that he reverses course. There is no insurrection in Portland, no threat to national security. The only threat we face is to our democracy, and that threat is being led by President Trump,” she said.
This is not the first time Trump’s attempts to send troops into Democrat-led cities have been blocked. Just last month, another federal judge ruled that his order to deploy the National Guard in Los Angeles was unlawful.
Washington D.C.’s attorney general has also taken Trump to court, accusing him of a “hostile takeover” of the city’s police force.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
