In 2nd ruling, judge stops Trump from deploying any National Guard troops to Portland

In the second such ruling in two days, a federal judge on Sunday temporarily stopped US President Donald Trump from deploying any National Guard troops to Oregon’s Portland city. But soldiers had already started arriving in the city.

In the first ruling, US District Judge Karin Immergut of Oregon temporarily stopped the deployment of federalised Oregon National Guard to Portland. After the ruling, Trump ordered the California National Guard to deploy to Portland. He had already federalised the California National Guard in June and deployed troops to state’s Los Angeles city.

In the second ruling, Immergut temporarily stopped the deployment of California National Guard —and any other’s state’s National Guard as well— from deployment to Portland.

In the second ruling, Immergut broadened her first restraining order to temporarily stop “the relocation, federalisation or deployment of members of the National Guard of any state or the District of Columbia in the state of Oregon” and told Trump’s Department of Justice that Trump’s orders were ”in direct contravention” of her order, according to The New York Times.

Even as Immergut stopped the deployment of any National Guard personnel to Portland, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sunday night Trump has already ordered as many as 400 Texas National Guard soldiers to deploy for “federal protection missions” to Portland, Chicago, and potentially other cities.

Previously, Immergut on Saturday ruled that the protests in Portland, which have been the basis for Trump’s orders, “were not significantly violent or disruptive” and that she expected a trial court to agree with Oregon’s democratic administration’s claim that the president had exceeded his constitutional authority with the deployment of National Guard.

While Democratic leaders of Oregon and California hailed these rulings as victories of the rule of law and vowed to continue their legal pushback, the Trump administration doubled down on soldiers’ deployments.

“What was unlawful with the Oregon National Guard is unlawful with the California National Guard. The judge’s order was not some minor procedural point for the president to work around like my 14-year-old does when he doesn’t like my answers,” said Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield before the ruling.

On its part, the White House told CNN that Trump “exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement”.

Using the abusive name that Trump often uses for California Governor Gavin Newsom, the White House further said, “For once, Gavin Newscum should stand on the side of law-abiding citizens instead of violent criminals destroying Portland and cities across the country.”