Judge extends order blocking Trump National Guard deployment to Portland

U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut on Sunday temporarily extended an order blocking the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, saying the government failed to justify the move.

In an order issued Sunday evening, Immergut “preliminarily enjoins accused Defense Secretary Hegseth from implementing” memorandums authorizing federalization and the deployment of National Guard members from Oregon, Texas and California to Portland.

The injunction will remain in effect “until this Court issues its final opinion on the merits by Friday, November 7, 2025, no later than 5 p.m..”

Immergut said the court witnessed “three days of testimony and argument in a trial that ended 48 hours ago,” reviewing more than 750 exhibits, many of them voluminous. She wrote that “the interests of justice require that this Court conduct a thorough review of the exhibits and trial transcripts before rendering a final decision on the merits.”

Karin J. Immergut (L) and Richard A. Hertling (R), nominated as U.S. District Judge for the District of Oregon and Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims, respectively, take the oath of office during a judicial nomination hearing held by the Senate Judiciary Committee October 24, 2018, in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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Ultimately, she assessed the Trump administration’s actions and found the government’s justification to be insufficient.

“Based on the testimony heard at trial, this Court finds no credible evidence that during the approximately two months preceding the President’s federalization order, the protests grew out of control or involved more than isolated, sporadic instances of violent conduct that did not result in any serious injury to federal personnel,” she wrote.

The judge further concluded that the President “probably did not have a tangible basis” for invoking Section 12406(3) or Section 12406(2) to federalize and deploy the National Guard to the Portland ICE facility.

Immergut cited the testimony of local law enforcement — officials who had direct knowledge of the protests — as key to his conclusion that the protests did not constitute a rebellion.

Federal agents confront anti-ICE protesters at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building October 12, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)

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“Based on the trial testimony that this Court has found credible, particularly the testimony of the command staff of the Portland Police Bureau, who work in Portland and have direct knowledge of the crowds at the ICE building from June to the present, the protests in Portland at the time of the National Guard calls are likely not a ‘rebellion’ and probably do not pose a danger of rebellion,” she wrote.

Immergut also concluded that the administration’s actions likely violated statutory limits and constitutional protections.

The judge wrote that “defendants’ federalization and deployment of the National Guard in response to protests outside a single federal building in Portland, Oregon, extended beyond the statutory authority delegated under 10 USC § 12406 and violated the Tenth Amendment.” »

Law enforcement officers stand guard outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters after U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut on Sunday temporarily blocked U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration from sending National Guard troops to police Portland, South Portland, Oregon, Oct. 5, 2025. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

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She added that sending troops from one state to another infringes on state sovereignty, describing it as “an attack on Oregon’s sovereignty under the Constitution and on Oregon’s equality of sovereignty among the states.”

The judge said she plans to issue her final opinion on the merits by Friday, November 7, 2025, at 5 p.m. PT. Until then, “the Oregon National Guard may remain federalized, but not deployed.”