Judge halts National Guard deployment to Portland

A federal judge temporarily blocked the deployment of 200 federalized National Guard soldiers to Portland for at least two weeks.

U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut issued the ruling late Saturday, following a hearing after Oregon filed suit against the Trump administration. The temporary block prevents the White House from deploying federalized Oregon Army National Guard troops to the city, where protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been ongoing, until at least Oct. 18. In the 30-page opinion, the judge said that the protests do not constitute a “rebellion.”

The Trump administration says it plans to appeal.

Trump initially announced the deployment on Sept. 26, saying he was directing the Department of Defense to provide troops to go to the city, which he called “war ravaged” and said was under siege by anti-fascists and “other domestic terrorists.” He also authorized the use of “full force” by the military. Two days later the Department of Defense confirmed it was ordering 200 soldiers, federalized under Title 10 of the U.S. Code. 

The 200 soldiers, drawn from 3d Battalion,116 Cavalry Squadron and the 821st Troop Command, were being sent to the “greater Portland area.” According to U.S. Northern Command last week, after staging the soldiers were to conduct “refresher training” on crowd control, deescalation, rules on the use of force and other civil disturbance operations. 

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It’s the first time this year that a judge has blocked the deployment of U.S. troops into cities before they arrived. A federal district judge ruled last month that the federalization and deployment of thousands of National Guard troops in California violated the Posse Comitatus Act, but that came three months after they arrived in Los Angeles and after the majority had been released back to the state. That ruling was appealed by the Trump administration.

Judge Immergut’s ruling came the same day that the Trump administration authorized the mobilization of 300 National Guard soldiers to head to Chicago. That move came after weeks of threatening to send in the military and over the objections of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. It’s not immediately clear where they are being drawn from or when they are expected to arrive in the city. The Department of Homeland Security already has a large presence of armed agents and equipment in the Chicago area, send as part of its ongoing Operation Midway Blitz.