A federal judge again blocked President Donald Trump from deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, in a ruling late on Sunday. It marked the second time in two days that the same judge prohibited Trump from deploying the troops.
Karin Immergut, a U.S. district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, considered that Trump’s latest attempt to deploy the National Guard to Portland on Sunday was “in direct contravention” of her ruling on Saturday, which denied the president’s request to deploy 200 troops of Oregon’s National Guard, according to All Rise News.
“Not content with this Court’s or the Ninth Circuit’s judgment, Defendants are now in the process of circumventing this Court’s Order. After this Court ruled that 10 U.S.C. § 12406 could not justify federalizing the Oregon National Guard to deploy them to Portland, Defendants have deployed members of the California National Guard to Portland — service members who were federalized under that very same Title 10 authority for deployment in Los Angeles,” read official court documents. “That redeployment is illegal…”
Immergut questioned a Trump administration official about the attempt to circumvent the court’s orders.
“How could bringing in federalized National Guard from California not be in direct contravention of the TRO that I issued yesterday?” Immergut asked Eric Hamilton, deputy assistant attorney general for the federal programs branch of the civil division of the Department of Justice.
Hamilton denied it was a circumvention.
Immergut also cited violations of the Tenth Amendment and other federal statutes as reasons for her ruling.
“It appears to violate both [10 U.S.C. §] 12406 and the Tenth Amendment,” she said.
Additionally, Immergut specified to Hamilton that for the president to lawfully deploy National Guard troops to Portland, the administration had to “have a colorable claim” that Oregon’s condition required deployment.
“You don’t,” she emphasized to Hamilton. “We went over it.”
After Immergut denied the request to deploy Oregon’s National Guard on Saturday, the Trump administration sought to send troops from California. The Trump administration also agreed with Texas to send its National Guard to Portland and other cities. However, Immergut’s order on Sunday also prohibited Trump from sending the National Guard from any other state to Portland.
“I am certainly troubled by now hearing that both California and Texas National Guard are being sent into Oregon, which does appear to be in direct contravention of my order,” said Immergut of the president’s attempt to ignore her ruling on Saturday and deploy National Guard troops from a different state on Sunday.
Hamilton requested that Immergut hold her new order so the Trump administration could file an appeal. However, she refused.
Meanwhile, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who announced he was suing Trump earlier on Sunday for attempting to deploy California’s National Guard troops to Oregon, celebrated Immergut’s ruling in a social media post.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION REQUESTS EMERGENCY STAY ON ORDER BLOCKING PORTLAND NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT
“BREAKING: We just won in court — again,” Newsom bragged. “A federal judge BLOCKED Donald Trump’s unlawful attempt to DEPLOY 300 OF OUR NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS TO PORTLAND.”
“The court granted our request for a Temporary Restraining Order — HALTING ANY FEDERALIZATION, RELOCATION, OR DEPLOYMENT of ANY GUARD MEMBERS TO OREGON FROM ANY STATE,” read Newsom’s post. “Trump’s abuse of power won’t stand.”
