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Left: Karin Immergut participates in her Senate confirmation hearing on October 24, 2018 (C-Span). Right: President Donald Trump addresses the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, August 25, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
A judge appointed by Donald Trump in Oregon blocked the federal government on Sunday evening from sending “any” National Guard troops into the state for the second time in as many days, criticizing the Trump administration for attempting to “sidestep” her initial ruling by trying to deploy troops from California and Texas.
U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, who was appointed during Donald Trump’s first presidential term, delivered a strong critique of the administration during an emergency hearing via telephone at 10 p.m. on Sunday, claiming the government sought to evade her previous day’s order that prohibited mobilization of the Oregon National Guard.
On Saturday, Immergut released a 31-page directive stopping the deployment of the Oregon National Guard to Portland, arguing that the administration’s resolution to quell “violent” protests at an ICE facility was made in “bad faith.”
Following her Saturday order, Trump, who has described Portland as a “war zone” on the verge of destruction, answered by drawing from National Guard forces in California and Texas to send them to Portland.
“Isn’t calling in federalized National Guard from California directly going against the temporary restraining order I issued yesterday?” the judge questioned one of the DOJ’s lawyers during the nighttime hearing, as reported by The Associated Press. “Aren’t the defendants merely sidestepping my order?”
During the hearing, Immergut explicitly broadened the scope of her initial temporary restraining order (TRO), this time reportedly barring “the relocation, federalization or deployment of members of the National Guard of any state or the District of Columbia in the state of Oregon.” The latest TRO expires in 14 days, though Immergut could extend that deadline following a hearing currently scheduled for Oct. 17.
Oral arguments on a proposed preliminary injunction, which could potentially halt troop deployment to Oregon indefinitely, are scheduled for Oct. 29.
Portland, like other Democratic-led cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles, has been targeted by the administration despite staunch pushback from state and local leaders who have argued that the administration’s claims of widespread violence are demonstrably false.
As Immergut noted in Saturday’s ruling, the president’s authority to federalize National Guard service members is dependent upon there being an imminent foreign invasion, a “rebellion against the authority of the government,” or an inability to “execute the laws of the United States.” The judge said none of those factors were present to justify the deployment of federal troops.
“Here, the protests in Portland were not ‘a rebellion and did not pose a ‘danger of a rebellion,’ especially in the days leading up to the federalization,” she wrote in Saturday’s order. “Defendants presented evidence of sporadic violence against federal officers and property damage to a federal building. Defendants have not, however, proffered any evidence demonstrating that those episodes of violence were part of an organized attempt to overthrow the government as a whole.”
Immergut closed Saturday’s order with a callback to the founding of the United States and the nation’s “longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs.”
“This historical tradition boils down to a simple proposition: this is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law. Defendants have made a range of arguments that, if accepted, risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power—to the detriment of this nation,” she wrote.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Trump on Sunday was enraged over Immergut’s ruling blocking the troop deployment, saying she “ought to be ashamed of herself.”
“I wasn’t served well by the people that pick judges,” Trump told reporters with C-SPAN, PBS and other outlets while repeatedly misgendering Immergut. “I appointed the judge and he goes like that, so I wasn’t served well. Obviously, I don’t know the judge. But if he made that kind of a decision — Portland is burning to the ground. You have agitators, instigators, all you have to do is look at the television, turn on your television, read your newspapers. It’s burning to the ground. The governor, the mayor, the politicians, they’re petrified for their lives.”