US President is deploying around 200 members of California’s National Guard from Los Angeles to Portland, the Pentagon said Sunday, with a judge later blocking all troops deployment to the city.
In a statement, the Pentagon said the troops were being sent to Oregon’s largest city “to support US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal personnel performing official duties, including the enforcement of federal law, and to protect federal property.”
The federal ICE building in Portland has seen nightly protests recently, which local and state authorities have described as “small and sedate.” Trump, on the other hand, has described the city as “war-ravaged.”
Why is Trump sending California National Guard members to Oregon?
The move to reassign the troops from California is Trump’s attempt to circumvent a which temporarily blocked him from deploying 200 soldiers from Oregon’s National Guard to Portland, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said.
“The facts on the ground in Oregon haven’t changed,” Kotek said during a news conference Sunday. “There’s no need for military intervention in Oregon. There’s no insurrection in Portland, there’s no threat to national security. Oregon is our home, not a military target.”
On Saturday, District Judge Karin Immergut — who was appointed by Trump — disagreed with the White House’s claims that Portland is a “war zone,” and said the city’s “regular law enforcement forces” were able to deal with clashes between federal immigration agents and protesters.
Immergut said Trump’s description of Portland was “simply untethered to the facts.” The troop deployment has been blocked until at least October 18.
On Sunday, Immergut blocked Trump’s deployment of 200 California troops to Oregon, after a joint lawsuit by California and Oregon.
California, Oregon governors dispute Trump’s claims
The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, said the deployment was “appalling” and “un-American.”
“It’s about power,” Newsom said on X. “He is using our military as political pawns to build up his own ego.”
Newsom, a Democrat, has previously sparred with Trump when the US president sent National Guard troops and US Marines to respond to .
Newsom said the National Guard members who were being reassigned to Portland had been during the unrest in Los Angeles in June.
The California governor vowed to fight the move in court, urging the public not to “stay silent in the face of such reckless and authoritarian conduct.”
Trump also sending troops to Chicago
After the announcement that troops would be reassigned to Portland, the Democratic Governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, said late Sunday that Trump was ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon “and other locations.”
The Trump administration has described Chicago as the “world’s most dangerous city.”
While Illinois’ largest city has seen regular protests against federal ICE operations, Pritzker has rejected Trump’s claim that crime is out of control.
“We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion. It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another states’ military troops,” Pritzker said in a post on X Sunday night, urging Texas Governor Greg Abbott not to support the move.
“There is no reason a President should send military troops into a sovereign state without their knowledge, consent, or cooperation,” Pritzker said.
Abbott, a Republican, has said he “fully authorized” the deployment.
“You can either fully enforce protection for federal employees or get out of the way and let Texas Guard do it,” Abbott said on X.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has also sent the National Guard to Washington DC, where he said crime was “out of control,” despite claims to the contrary from the city’s officials.
All of the cities Trump has sent or has threatened to send troops to are .
Edited by: Rana Taha
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