A federal judge on Saturday temporarily blocked U.S. President Donald Trump from deploying 200 Oregon National Guard troops to the city of Portland while a lawsuit challenging the move plays out.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut in Portland is the latest setback for Trump, a Republican, as he seeks to dispatch the military to cities he describes as lawless over the objections of their Democratic leaders.
Democratic Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield’s office filed the lawsuit on September 28, a day after Trump said he would send troops to Portland to protect federal immigration facilities from “domestic terrorists.”
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“This is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law,” Immergut, a Trump appointee, wrote.
Immergut denied the Trump administration’s request to pause her order while the administration appeals. Her order is set to expire in 14 days but could be extended, and she set a trial for Oct. 29.
Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyer Eric Hamilton said that “vicious and cruel radicals” had “laid siege” on Portland’s ICE facility in recent months, forcing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to close it for three weeks during the summer.
The judge at one point questioned if there isn’t still a “sovereign interest in play,” referencing the state’s leadership, but Hamilton insisted that the National Guard’s mission is a federal operation.
In her Saturday ruling, Immergut agreed that the president is “certainly entitled” to a great level of deference but said that is not equivalent to “ignoring the facts on the ground.”
“The President’s determination was simply untethered to the facts,” the judge wrote.
The Hill, NewsNation’s sister website, contributed to this report.
