In a ruling the White House called ‘untethered in reality and in the law,” an Oregon federal judge on Sunday blocked President Donald Trump’s deployment of California and Texas National Guard troops to Portland.
In her late night decision, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut ruled that the move was unlawful and unconstitutional, Fox News reported. She issued an emergency temporary restraining order to halt the deployment, and barred the use of troops from any other state in Oregon.
“It appears to violate both 10 U.S.C. §12406 and the Tenth Amendment,” Immergut reportedly said during the proceeding.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to the ruling Monday, telling reporters: “With all due respect to that judge, I think her opinion is untethered in reality and in the law.”
“The president is using his authority as Commander-in-Chief U.S. Code 12406 which clearly states that the president has the right to call up the National Guard in cases where he deems its appropriate,” she added.
On X Sunday night, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller argued: “a district court judge has no conceivable authority, whatsoever, to restrict the President and Commander-in-Chief from dispatching members of the US military to defend federal lives and property.”
Immergut, according to Fox, questioned why the DOJ continued to pursue troop movements after her first ruling on Saturday afternoon had blocked the effort.
The Trump administration had responded to that order by trying to send in National Guard troops from California and Texas, prompting Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, both Democrats, to go back to court on Sunday. Immergut granted their request, blocking any National Guard troops from any state being sent to Oregon for 14 days.
“How could bringing in federalized National Guard from California not be in direct contravention of the TRO that I issued yesterday?” she asked Justice Department attorney Eric Hamilton. “You’re an officer of the court. Aren’t defendants circumventing my order?”
The judge also rejected the argument that conditions on the ground in Portland, where antifa domestic terrorists have laid a violent siege against the ICE office since June, warranted a federal response.
“You have to have a colorable claim that Oregon conditions warrant deploying the National Guard — you don’t,” she said. “This is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law,” Immergut wrote.
The judge added, “this country has a longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs.”
President Trump has authorized the National Guard to assist in lawless, Democrat-controlled areas like Portland and Chicago, where local authorities allow violent street agitators and criminals to assault federal officers and local residents.
Federal agents, including members of the Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol, have also been deployed to protect the ICE facility, where local law enforcement has failed keep the peace.
Until the federal reinforcements arrived, left-wing insurgents were allowed to block and attack federal officers every time they entered or left the Portland ICE facility.
The Justice Department requested a stay, but Immergut denied requests for both a stay and an administrative delay, saying her order was a response to an “emergency.”
“I’m handling this on an emergency basis with limited briefing,” she said. “No new information has been provided about any new issues in Portland.”
The Justice Department is appealing the ruling, and will argue that the president “retains authority under federal law to deploy National Guard forces in cases of ‘domestic unrest,'” according to Fox News.
Stephen Miller decried judge’s decision on X, calling it “one of the most egregious and thunderous violations of constitutional order we have ever seen.”
The President has undisputed authority under both statute and the Constitution to deploy troops, stationed in any state, to defend a federal facility from domestic terrorism or violent assault. (Just as he has the authority to dispatch any federal protective asset from and to any state),” Miller wrote.
The Portland Police have refused to render aid and assistance to ICE officers. The intention and purpose of the attacks on ICE is to prevent ICE from performing its duties and to force as many ICE officers as possible out of the field and into a defensive posture.
It is a violent armed resistance designed to incapacitate the essential operations of the duly-elected federal government, by force.
A district court judge has no conceivable authority, whatsoever, to restrict the President and Commander-in-Chief from dispatching members of the US military to defend federal lives and property.
Today’s judicial ruling is one of the most egregious and thunderous violations of constitutional order we have ever seen — and is yet the latest example of unceasing efforts to nullify the 2024 election by fiat.
Remember: all of this is about preventing the removal of illegal alien trespassers from the United States at any cost.
Following the ruling, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) immediately took to X to mock the president and crow about his likely short-lived victory in court.
“BREAKING: We just won in court — again. 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. Trump’s abuse of power won’t stand,” the post stated.
Like the vast majority of other anti-Trump rulings, this one will probably be overturned, independent journalist Megyn Kelly argued on X, Monday.
“In Jan 2024 the Biden admin wanted to stop Texas from putting up razor wire along the border. It argued before the Supreme Court – successfully – that the Feds are responsible for enforcing immigration law & that any other finding ‘would leave the US at the mercy of the States’ which should not be able to dictate how the feds go about it,” Kelly explained.
“NOW the feds, under Trump, are enforcing immigration laws in Portland and LA and Chicago. As their agents come under attack, Trump is sending Nat Guard troops to protect them, making sure they can safely enforce the law,” she continued.
“Democrat politicians in these states now not only refuse to help, but are suing to STOP Trump from “interfering” in their localities by sending the Nat Guard.(!) And some insane judges are going along with it. They’re going to lose this argument and the smack-down from SCOTUS should be brutal. Let’s just hope we don’t see more ICE agents endangered or killed before it happens,” Kelly wrote.
Stephen Miller pointed out on X that Trump’s pledge to “halt the border invasion” and deport illegals was at the heart of his 2024 campaign and that the president won in a landslide.
“Since then, there has been a nonstop campaign of criminal obstruction, threats, harassment, doxing and grave physical attacks and riots against ICE agents—stoked endlessly by Democrats—to reverse the election result by violence,” he wrote. “This large-scale political violence is domestic terrorism.”
In a follow-up post, Miller pointed out the gravity of the situation.
“The core purpose of the organized terrorist attack on DHS is to reverse, through assault and assassination, the 2024 election mandate to expel the millions of illegal aliens the Biden Administration criminally imported into our cities,” he explained. “They seek to overturn votes with violence. It’s an organized campaign of domestic terrorism targeting the core operations of the federal government.”
Leavitt said Monday that the administration is confident that the President’s deployment of troops to Portland will be upheld by the higher court.
“If you look at what has happened in Portland, Oregon, for more than 100 days, night after night after night, the ICE facility [in Portland] has been really under siege by these anarchists outside. They’ve been disrespecting law enforcement, they’ve been inciting violence … a guillotine rolled out in front of this federal building and so our president wants to make sure that out federal buildings and our assets are protected,” she told reporters.
“So we are appealing this decision,” the press secretary added. “We expect a hearing on it pretty quickly and we’re very confident in the president’s legal authority to do this and we’re very confident that we will win on the merits of the law.”