Defying court order, Trump sends California National Guard troops to Oregon

Lia Russell, The Sacramento Bee on Oct 5, 2025

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President Donald Trump sent 300 California National Guard troops to Oregon on Sunday, defying a court order blocking him from deploying Oregon’s own National Guard to patrol Portland in an ongoing White House campaign targeting Democratic cities.

On Saturday, U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut in Portland temporarily blocked the Pentagon from sending 200 Oregon National Guard members to protect an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland from protests.

She rejected the Pentagon’s claims that Portland faced a “danger of rebellion,” and said “the president’s determination was simply untethered to the facts,” a week after Trump told military leaders that he planned to punish “dangerous” cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York by using them as military training grounds to combat “a war within.”

Overnight, the White House told Gov. Gavin Newsom that they were sending 300 California National Guard members to Portland, which he called “a breathtaking abuse of the law and power.”

“The Trump administration is unapologetically attacking the rule of law itself and putting into action their dangerous words — ignoring court orders and treating judges, even those appointed by the president himself, as political opponents,” Newsom said in a statement, vowing to sue.

“This isn’t about public safety, it’s about power. The commander-in-chief is using the U.S. military as a political weapon against American citizens.”

When asked for comment, the White House press email account responded with an automatic message blaming slow response times on the ongoing government shutdown: “As you await a response, please remember this could have been avoided if the Democrats voted for the clean Continuing Resolution to keep the government open.”

Last month, California won a court victory barring the Pentagon from using the California National Guard to crack down on anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles.

U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco found that the White House had violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which prevents the military from being used for domestic policing on U.S. soil.

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