About 100 California National Guard troops reached Oregon, the governor said on Sunday, hours after a judge blocked President’s deployment of the Oregon National Guard to Portland.
“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,” Governor Tina Kotek said in a statement Sunday.
On Saturday, US District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, granted a temporary restraining order blocking Trump’s order sending the Oregon National Guard to the state’s largest city.
She said the President appeared to have federalised 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.
She pointed out that recent incidents cited by the Trump administration of protesters clashing with federal officers “are inexcusable” and “they are nowhere near the type of incidents that cannot be handled by regular law enforcement forces”.
The judge added the incidents in Portland are “categorically different” from the violence seen in Los Angeles when the President federalised troops there.
According to CNN, Donald 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.”
Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced his plan to sue over the deployment.
The President’s order was defended by the White House, 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,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement to CNN.
Last month, a federal judge in California ruled that the Trump administration broke the law when it deployed thousands of federalised National Guard soldiers and Marines to suppress protests against ICE actions in Los Angeles. The decision barred troops from carrying out law enforcement in the state.
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