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9 hours ago
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A US judge will not allow President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard members to the city of Portland, Oregon.
The ruling is the latest in a weeks-long court battle over whether the president violated federal law when he sent troops to a US city despite objections from local officials.
Troops had been blocked from deploying to the city due a temporary court order. Now, that order is permanent.
The Portland deployment is part of a series of efforts by Trump administration to subdue protests against federal immigration raids in primarily Democrat-led cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington DC.
The decision by US District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, is the first time the Trump administration was permanently blocked from deploying troops to a city.
The administration is widely expected to appeal the decision, though, and the issue could end up before the Supreme Court.
When she ruled against the Trump administration earlier this month, Judge Immergut issued two temporary restraining orders. One blocked Trump from mobilising the Oregon National Guard to Portland, while another, broader order stopped him from sending in any troops from any state to Oregon. Trump had tried to send forces from California and Texas.
In the 106-page ruling, Judge Immergut said that she was not blocking the president from ever using National Guard troops, but said that in Portland "the President did not have a lawful basis to federalize the National Guard".
She wrote that there was neither a rebellion or danger of a rebellion where the president needed to deploy troops.
She also said Trump had violated the 10th amendment of the US Constitution, which gives states any powers not explicitly granted to the federal government.
The judge added that she would leave it to a higher court to set a standard for when a president can "deploy the military in the streets of American cities", but that "wherever this line precisely is, defendants have failed to clear it. "
In Oregon, there have been competing narratives between state and local officials and the Trump administration on what exactly is happening on the ground.
The Department of Justice has described the city as "war-ravaged" and said there has been a violent siege at a Portland immigration detention facility.
"As we have always maintained, President Trump is exercising his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel following violent riots that local leaders have refused to address," the White House previously said.
But local officials and many city residents have said the violence is not widespread and is contained by Portland police.
"This case is about whether we are a nation of constitutional law or martial law," Portland's attorney Caroline Turco said.
English (US) ·