On Sunday, a federal judge of Oregon temporarily prevented the administration of Donald Trump from sending some 200 federal troops of the National Guard of California to Portland, Oregon, a setback for the president as he seeks to send the military to the cities on the objections of their Democratic leaders.
The decision of the American district judge Karin Immergut followed a joint trial of California and Oregon seeking to block the extraordinary decision which aroused vehement criticisms of the governors of the two states. One day earlier, Immergut temporarily prevented Trump from deploying 200 troops from the Oregon National Guard in Portland, citing a lack of evidence that recent protests required this decision.
“How could the Federalized National Guard of California come directly to be directly in violation of the (decision) that I published yesterday?” Asked a lawyer for the Trump administration during a hearing on Sunday evening.
On Sunday, the decision of Immergut means that the Trump administration would be prevented from sending California troops to Portland while the trial takes place.
There was no immediate comments from the White House or Pentagon on the judge’s order.
The Pentagon said earlier that he sent 200 California National Guard troops to Oregon to “support immigration forces and American customs and other federal employees exercising official functions, including the application of federal law and to protect federal goods”.
The national guard troops are militia forces based on the state that responds to their governors, except when they are called in a federal service. Trump said their deployment in Portland was necessary to respond to demonstrations in an immigration establishment in the city.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said before the judge’s ordinance that the troops were already on the way to Portland.
“This is a breathless abuse of the law and power. The Trump administration shamelessly attacks the rule of law itself,” said Newsom in an article on X.
A federal judge prevented the Trump administration from using American troops in California to fight crime on September 2, but this decision is pending while the administration calls. Consequently, the guard troops went to Oregon remain federalized and under the command of Trump.
Local objections
The deployment of Oregon is the latest example of the use of Trump of the American army in its second mandate, which included the deployment of troops along the American border and ordering them to kill alleged drug traffickers on boats off Venezuela.
The national guard troops were deployed to the Los Angeles and Washington, DC police, and Trump said that he would send troops in several other cities, whatever the objections of local government officials.
On Sunday, the governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, a democrat, said that Trump ordered 400 members of the Texas National Guard to Illinois, Oregon and other cities. Pritzker called on the Governor of Texas to refuse to coordinate with the order.
Oregon and Portland have challenged Trump’s efforts to unite his national guard, saying Trump exaggerated the threat of protests against his immigration policies to justify the illegal takeover of state units.
They argued that the deployment of Trump had violated several federal laws and the sovereign law of the State to control its own citizens.
Addressing journalists at the White House earlier on Sunday, Trump repeated its characterization of Portland as a city invaded by anarchy. “You have agitators, insurrectionists,” he said.
Immergut, who was appointed by Trump in his first mandate, said on Saturday in his decision that the president had to have “a great level of deference” in military decisions, he cannot ignore the facts on the ground.
Accepting Trump’s legal arguments would mean that he could “send military troops practically anywhere at any time” and “risk blurring the line between civil and military power-to the detriment of this nation,” she added.
Trump said on Sunday that he did not know what judge had issued the decision on Saturday, but that he was not “well served” by those who advised him to make an appointment during his first mandate. “This judge should be ashamed of himself,” said Trump about Immergut, confusing his sex.
On Sunday, the Trump administration appealed the decision of Immergut on the troops of Oregon, arguing that the Supreme Court decided 200 years ago that the Congress gave the decision to call the troops of the National Guard to the President.
