US Federal Judge Blocks Deployment of National Guard to Portland

A United States federal judge has blocked Trump's deployment of the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, calling the move unconstitutional.

The district court judge – Karin Immergut – who made the call decided that the protests around Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in Portland were not severe enough to justify the deployment of the military, making Trump's actions unconstitutional.

Trump claimed that demonstrations at ICE facilities in Portland had gotten extremely out of control, warranting the need for the National Guard to arrive on the scene. More specifically, Trump utilized Title 10 of the federal code, which states that the president is authorized to deploy the military domestically if they see a rebellion or the impending danger of a rebellion. However, the judge found that most conflicts at protest scenes were between people of different political stances, rarely involving federal agents.

The decision comes as Trump attempts to deploy the national guard to various cities across the country– he has successfully sent them to Memphis, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C. Meanwhile, Chicago and Portland were under consideration by judges, but Immergut's ruling could pave the way for the blocking of military deployment in Chicago as well.

Of these cities, Trump has placed significant emphasis on Chicago, calling the city a mess of protests and violence. Locals have disputed this fact, though, accusing Trump of attempting to exert his influence as a Republican president onto what remains an extremely Democratic city. Others suspect that he could be trying to do the same thing with Portland, which is also heavily democratic.

Nevertheless, Immergut's decision will prevent the National Guard from being deployed to Portland, which is a huge victory for Democrats and other anti-Trump and anti-ICE groups.

The Trump administration is expected to appeal, though, which could send the case to the Supreme Court. Due to the fact that Trump appointed three of the nine current Supreme Court justices, there are still persisting allegations that the court is biased towards Trump and his Republican policies.

Trump and the Supreme Court have strongly denied these accusations, of course, but the path forward for the deployment of the military into domestic cities is still relatively unclear.

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