Oregon officials have asked a federal judge to temporarily prohibit President Donald Trump from mobilizing national guard troops in Portland while their lawsuit against the administration proceeds.
State leaders filed a lawsuit in federal court in Oregon on Sunday, challenging the president’s decision to deploy troops to quell protests outside of a Portland immigration facility. The lawsuit called the deployment an “unlawful federalization” of the National Guard.
“Military rule is incompatible with liberty and democracy,” lawyers for Oregon said in a Monday court filing seeking a temporary restraining order. “Citing nothing but a wildly hyperbolic pretext — the president says Portland is a ‘“War ravaged’ city ‘under siege’ — defendants have thus infringed on Oregon’s sovereign power to manage its own law enforcement activity and National Guard.”
Defense Secretary
Read More:
The administration said National Guard responsibilities would include protecting federal property where protests are occurring or likely to occur, according to Rayfield.
Governors control their states’ National Guard. Trump was able to deploy guard troops in Washington, DC, because of its status as a federal district. He also sent troops to Memphis with the governor’s approval. A federal judge in California said Trump
The Oregon lawsuit says the president lacks authority to deploy the guard. The law permits federal control of the National Guard only in cases of invasion, rebellion, or when federal laws cannot otherwise be enforced — conditions that Oregon says are not happening.
The state asked the court to “hold unlawful and enjoin defendants’ federalization and deployment of members of the Oregon National Guard.”
“Oregon communities are stable, and our local officials have been clear: we have the capacity to manage public safety without federal interference,” Rayfield wrote in the social media post. “What we’re seeing is not about public safety, it’s about the president flexing political muscle under the guise of law and order, chasing a media hit at the expense of our community.”
Deployments in Portland would mark the fourth US city where Trump has sent National Guard troops for duty, assigning them to assist immigration officers, clean up streets and help fight local crime. In Portland, he authorized the use of “full force,” if necessary.
The case is State of Oregon vs. Donald Trump,
(Updates with details from a Monday court filing seeking a temporary restraining order and additional context about prior legal fights.)
To contact the reporters on this story:
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Wendy Benjaminson, Steve Stroth
© 2025 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.