(PORTLAND, Ore.) — A federal judge ruled on Friday that Donald Trump “exceeded the President’s authority” when he sent federalized National Guard troops into Portland.
In a 106-decision, Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut made permanent an order she issued last month blocking the deployment into the city.
“The evidence demonstrates that these deployments, which were objected to by Oregon’s governor and not requested by the federal officials in charge of protection of the ICE building, exceeded the president’s authority,” the judge wrote.
After a three-day trial, Immergut rejected the Trump administration’s argument that immigration-related protests amounted to rebellion or danger of a rebellion — the standard needed to justify a federal takeover of the National Guard.
“When considering these conditions that persisted for months before the President’s federalization of the National Guard, this Court concludes that even giving great deference to the President’s determination, the President did not have a lawful basis to federalize the National Guard” she wrote.
With Trump threatening to send the National Guard into Democratic-run cities across the country, Immergut acknowledged the magnitude of the issue in her order, writing the legal issue was bound for a higher court.
“The ‘precise standard’ to demarcate the line past which conditions would satisfy the statutory standard to deploy the military in the streets of American cities is ultimately a question for a higher court to decide,” she wrote.
In late September, Trump issued an order federalizing 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to protect federal property amid ongoing protests at a Portland ICE facility, despite objections from local officials.
The city of Portland and state of Oregon sued.
Around the same time, Trump sought to deploy Guard troops to Chicago — a move that was similarly opposed by local officials and blocked by the courts.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
