Governor Newsom announced Sunday that Trump deployed California National Guard members to assist law enforcement in Portland. The move was later blocked by a Trump-appointed federal judge who had previously blocked the president from federalizing Oregon troops.
Update: The Associated Press is reporting that Karin Immergut, the federal judge who blocked Trump’s deployment of Oregon troops to Portland has also blocked his order to send California troops. The outlet also reports that 100 federalized California National Guard members arrived in Portland Saturday, and 100 were due Sunday. California Governor Gavin Newsom and Oregon Governor Tina Kotek are both filing lawsuits.
“The facts on the ground in Oregon haven’t changed,” Kotek said during a news conference, via AP. “There’s no need for military intervention in Oregon. There’s no insurrection in Portland, there’s no threat to national security.”
“What was unlawful yesterday is unlawful today,” said Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield per AP. “The judge’s order 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.”
As the Associated Press reports, while there’s been no announcement from the White House, California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a press release that 300 members of the California National Guard were en route to Portland Sunday on Trump’s orders to “protect federal property” during nightly protests at the city’s ICE facility, which Newsom calls “a breathtaking abuse of the law and power.”
Per CalMatters, Newsom plans to sue Trump for federalizing the California National Guard against citizens again. “The commander-in-chief is using the U.S. military as a political weapon against American citizens. We will take this fight to court, but the public cannot stay silent in the face of such reckless and authoritarian conduct by the President of the United States,” Newsom said in the statement.
CalMatters reports that Karin Immergut, an Oregon federal judge who was appointed during Trump’s first term (per the AP), temporarily blocked Trump from deploying the Oregon National Guard to Portland, saying the protests were “not significantly violent or disruptive” to justify sending troops.
Regarding protestors allegedly utilizing intimidation tactics against officers, such as flashing bright lights into their eyes while driving or constructing makeshift guillotines, Immergut said, via CalMatters, “These incidents are inexcusable, but they are nowhere near the type of incidents that cannot be handled by regular law enforcement forces.”
“This historical tradition boils down to a simple proposition: this is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law,” Immergut wrote in the order, per Newsom’s press release. “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.”
Per SFist, California sued Trump in June for federalizing 4,000 state National Guard members during ICE protests in Los Angeles County, but Trump ultimately regained control through the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, per CalMatters.
Previously: Gov. Gavin Newsom Says California Will Sue Trump Over Unauthorized National Guard Deployment In LA
Image: Federal agents, including members of the Department of Homeland Security, the Border Patrol, and police, clash with protesters outside a downtown U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility on October 04, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
