Judge extends order blocking Trump National Guard deployment to Portland
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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 “primarily prohibited defendant Defense Secretary Hegseth from enforcing” memorandums authorizing the federalization and deployment of National Guard members from Oregon, Texas, and California to Portland.
The interim injunction will remain in effect “until the court gives its final opinion on the merits on Friday, November 7, 2025, at the latest at 17:00.”
Immergut said the court witnessed “three days of testimony and argument in a hearing that ended 48 hours ago” examining more than 750 exhibits, many of them voluminous. “The interests of justice require this Court to comprehensively review the evidence and trial transcripts before making a final decision on the merits,” he wrote.
Karin J. Immergut (L) and Richard A. Hertling (R), nominated to be U.S. district judge for the District of Oregon and judge of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, respectively, were sworn in at a judicial nomination hearing held by the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, DC, on October 24, 2018. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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Ultimately, he evaluated the Trump administration’s actions and found that the government’s justification was lacking.
“Based on court testimony, this Court finds no credible evidence that the protests during the nearly two months prior to the President’s federalization order were out of control or involved more than isolated and sporadically violent behavior that did not result in serious injury to federal personnel.” he wrote.
The judge also concluded that the president “probably lacked a colorable basis” for invoking Section 12406(3) or Section 12406(2) to federalize the National Guard and station it in Portland’s ICE facility.
Immergut pointed to the statements of local law enforcement officials—officials with firsthand knowledge of the demonstrations—as key to his conclusion that the protests did not amount to a riot.
Federal agents clash with anti-ICE protesters at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland, Oregon, on October 12, 2025. (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)
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“Based on the trial testimony that this Court found credible, particularly the testimony of Portland Police Bureau command personnel who worked in Portland and had firsthand knowledge of the crowds at the ICE building, the protests in Portland during the National Guard call-in were likely not a ‘riot,’ and likely did not pose a danger of a riot,” he wrote.
Immergut also concluded that the administration’s actions likely violated legal limits and constitutional protections.
“Defendants’ federalization and deployment of the National Guard in response to protests outside a single federal building in Portland, Oregon, went beyond the statutory authority delegated under 10 USC § 12406 and violated the Tenth Amendment,” the judge wrote.
Law enforcement officers stand guard outside U.S. 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 Portland police in south Portland, Oregon, Oct. 5, 2025. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
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He added that sending troops from one state to another violates state sovereignty, calling it “a detriment to Oregon’s sovereignty under the Constitution and Oregon’s equal sovereignty among the states.”
The judge said he expects to announce his final opinion on the merits by 17:00 on Friday, November 7, 2025. Until then, “the Oregon National Guard may remain federal but not deployed.”
