Trump-Appointed Judge’s Ruling Deals Major Blow to National Guard Operations

In a recent court decision, a federal judge has once again obstructed the Trump administration’s initiative to federalize and deploy the National Guard to Portland, Oregon. This ruling comes after a brief trial where the judge determined that, despite offering President Donald Trump significant leeway, there was compelling evidence suggesting the move lacked a lawful foundation.

Judge Karin Immergut, appointed by Trump, highlighted in her Sunday ruling that there was a clear disconnect between the president’s claims and the actual situation regarding the threat level posed by protests outside the Portland ICE facility. The judge stated that the president’s assessment of the threat did not align with the reality on the ground, which ultimately impacted federal property and officers.

Judge Immergut explained, “Even with substantial deference to the President’s judgment on whether conditions warranted such action, the Court finds that the President’s use of Section 12406 was likely unjustified. The unrest was most intense in June, well before the Guard was federalized in September.” She emphasized that after the initial surge of violence in June, the protests near the ICE facility were mostly peaceful from mid-June to late September 2025, with only sporadic disruptions to federal operations.

Further testimony revealed that a high-ranking Federal Protective Service (FPS) official was unaware of the deployment plan and noted that neither he nor the regional FPS director had requested such action. This led Judge Immergut to conclude that Trump likely lacked a legitimate basis to invoke 10 U.S. Code § 12406, which allows the president to call upon the National Guard when regular forces are insufficient to enforce U.S. laws.

The judge pointed out that the trial did not present credible evidence of significant damage to the ICE facility in the months leading up to the president’s decision. There was also no indication that ICE was unable to perform its duties. Although protesters occasionally blocked the facility’s driveway, federal law enforcement successfully managed these situations.

This ruling follows recent admissions by the Department of Justice to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The DOJ acknowledged errors in previously stating that nearly a quarter of FPS officers nationwide had to be redeployed due to the Portland protests starting in June.

During early October oral arguments at the 9th Circuit, Oregon identified another basic inaccuracy, one expressed by Trump in a Truth Social post saying Portland was “war ravaged” or “under siege.”

Immergut did not use these words in her latest order, but she did find, as she did earlier in the case, that “sporadic violence against federal officers and property damage to” an ICE facility amid protests was not an organized “rebellion against the authority of the government” or an “attempt to overthrow the government as a whole.”

“This Court finds that Defendants’ federalization and deployment of the National Guard in response to protests outside a single federal building in Portland, Oregon, ‘extend[ed] beyond delegated statutory authority’ under 10 U.S.C. § 12406 and violated the Tenth Amendment,” the judge said, granting a preliminary injunction blocking Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth from federalizing and deploying Oregon’s National Guard until 5 p.m. on Friday, by which time she intends to issue a “final opinion on the merits.”