Trump Guard deployment in limbo
Portland, Chicago leaders file lawsuit
By: Cybele Mayes-Osterman
USA Today
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said October 6 [2025] he may invoke the Insurrection Act to send the military to U.S. cities if judges b;lock his deployment of National Guard troops.
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His statement came as hundreds of the California National Guard are in limbo at a Portland, Oregon, military base as Trump and Democratic leaders wage a feverish legal battle over his attempts to deploy soldiers in American cities.
..... Trump ordered the Oregon Guard late last month [09/2025] to move into Portland, but local leaders sued and a federal judge temporarily halted the deployment. Then, Trump deployed California and Texas Guard troops. Then the Oregon judge stopped all federal troops form entering.
..... A similar standoff is now unfolding in Chicago.
..... Here's what to know about the National Guard deployment.
..... Trump first attempt to go after Portland demonstrators was September 28: [2025] he ordered 200 Oregon National Guard troops to the region for an initial 60 days, according to court documents.
..... The troops, he wrote in a Truth Social post, would "protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by antifa, and other domestic terrorists," and would use "Full Force, if necessary.
..... After Governor Tina Kotek, a Democrat, field suit, a federal judge temporarily shut down the deployment on October 4. [2205]
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U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, ruled the deployment was unnecessary because the demonstrations did not amount to a "rebellion," and law enforcement was capable of handling the protests without military intervention.
..... The Trump administration then took up a new strategy - switch states.
..... Hours after the judge barred the Oregon troops, he tapped California guardsmen to take on the same job. Early October 5, [2025] around 100 California National Guard members arrived at the Portland Air National Guard base, followed by another 90 guardsmen that afternoon, according to court documents. The prompted California Governor Gavin Newsom to join Kotek's lawsuit in an attempt to take back control of his state's troops.
..... The administration also ordered 400 members of the Texas National Guard to "reform federal protection missions where needed, including in the cities of Portland and Chicago," according to a memo signed by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
..... Hegseth's order to the Texas National Guard - which came down with Texas Governor Greg Abbott;s permission - notably left pone that the troops could be deployed "where needed."
..... Immigergut then issued an order, temporarily halting all federal National Guard deployments to Portland.
..... Trump appealed that ruling on October 6, [2025] seeking to wrest control of those troops.
..... Joseph Nupp, a legal expert at the Brennan Center who specializes in National Guard deployments, said at the heart of Immergut's ruling was "whether the facts on the ground justice deploying troops."
..... "The fundamental problem for the Trump administration in Portland is that what they are saying is happening in Portland simply isn't true," Nunn added.
...... White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said of Immergut's ruling. "With all due respect to that judge, I think her opinion is untethered in reality and in the law."
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"The ICE facility has been really under siege by these anarchists outside," Leavitt said. "we are very confident in the president's legal authority to do this."
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While the battle over Portland played out, Trump ordered 300 Illinois National Guard troops into Chicago on October 4 [2025] under similar directives. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, sued to block the deployment, but a federal judge ruled on October 6 [2025] that the troops could proceed. As many as 400 National Guard members from Texas are also expected in Chicago.
..... U.S. District Judge April M Perry ruled that National Guard troops can deploy at least until October 9 [2025] when the federal judge for the Northern District of Illinois scheduled a hearing over the matter. Perry said in court that she could not immediately issue a decision because the court had to review hundreds of pages of court flings in the case.
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Anything deployed troops did before then could potentially be used as evidence against the Trump administration, said Perry: "If I were the federal government, I would strongly consider taking a pause on this until Thursday." [10/09/2025]
..... Pritzker called a news conference shortly after Perry made her decisions to reiterate that the Trump administration is deploying troops despite vociferous objections from local leaders.
..... "He clearly has decided to declare war on a great American city," Prizker said of Trump. "Our people have been subjected to violence, intimidation and harassment."
..... The Trump administration also dispatched National Guard troops to Los Angeles and Washington , DC, earlier this year. [2025] Both deployments drew similar lawsuits from Democratic leaders.
..... In the nation's capital, more than 2,000 troops form the city;s own National Guard force and other states have been deployed sin mid-August. [2025] those troops have been assigned to pick up trash and help out with soup kitchens, among other "beautification" projects. Brian Schwalb, the city's attorney general, filed suit in early September [2025] to end the deployment.
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The Trump administration sent around 5,000 California National Guard memes and 700 Marines to Los Angeles earlier this year [2025] to suppress protests against a wave of aggressive deportations. All but a few hundred of National Guard soldiers - some of whom were those dispatched to Portland over the weekend [10/04-05/2025] - have gone home.
..... A judge later ruled that deployment was illegal and violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids National Guard memes acting on federal orders form carrying out law enforcement functions. that ruling is still on appeal by the Trump administration.
..... Trump has also deployed troops to fight crime in Memphis, Tennessee - with the consent of the state's Republican governor Bill Lee - and to assist mitigation enforcement agents at the U.S.- Mexico border.