- “Like for other cities, President Trump’s justification for deploying troops and armed federal agents to Portland is blatantly false and inflammatory, as well as jeopardizes residents’ fundamental liberties.” – Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project
PORTLAND, OR – The State of Oregon and the City of Portland filed suit Sunday to block President Donald Trump’s order federalizing 200 members of the Oregon National Guard and sending them into Portland over the objections of state and local leaders.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, argues that Trump’s action is unlawful, unconstitutional, and a violation of both the Posse Comitatus Act and the Tenth Amendment. It charges that the administration’s justification is “patently pretextual and baseless” and that the deployment infringes on Oregon’s sovereign right to control its own National Guard and law enforcement.
“Oregonians have for months been exercising their constitutional right to criticize cruel federal policies,” said Sandy Chung, executive director of the ACLU of Oregon. “A forcible deployment of federal troops and armed law enforcement violates our right to govern ourselves and endangers our families and freedoms.”
The 41-page filing sets the tone from the opening, invoking the “traditional and strong resistance of Americans to any military intrusion into civilian affairs,” a principle it notes is rooted in the nation’s founding. It argues that the U.S. Constitution reserves general police power to the states, while limiting the president’s ability to insert the military into domestic affairs. The suit emphasizes that for more than a century and a half, Congress has explicitly forbidden military involvement in civilian law enforcement.
The legal challenge centers on Trump’s use of 10 U.S.C. § 12406, a statute that allows the president to federalize state National Guard units only under narrow circumstances: invasion by a foreign power, rebellion against federal authority, or when regular forces are unable to enforce federal law. “None of those factual circumstances are present in Oregon,” the brief states, arguing that the protests in Portland “do not in any way constitute a rebellion or danger of a rebellion.”
The complaint points out that protests outside Portland’s ICE facility have been small and largely peaceful, often involving fewer than 30 people, with no arrests since June. It says Trump’s characterization of the city as “war ravaged” is “pure fiction” and that the administration’s move is designed to punish Portland for its political opposition.
The state further argues that the President’s order violates the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement absent explicit congressional authorization. The brief calls the deployment “patently unlawful,” asserting that Trump seeks to “normalize the use of military troops for ordinary domestic law enforcement activity while also punishing politically disfavored jurisdictions like Portland, Oregon.”
“Like for other cities, President Trump’s justification for deploying troops and armed federal agents to Portland is blatantly false and inflammatory, as well as jeopardizes residents’ fundamental liberties,” said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project. “After a harrowing week for our First Amendment freedoms, we see the President’s strategy for what it is—an attempt to create conflict where there is none, sow fear in our communities, and intimidate people from exercising their constitutional rights. But we won’t be cowed, and we can’t let this President normalize military and armed federal policing in our country. This is not how a healthy democracy works.”
Governor Tina Kotek rejected the federal action at a press conference Saturday, stating that Oregon does not want military troops and that public safety will continue to be managed by local law enforcement. Despite her objection, the Secretary of Defense issued a memorandum Sunday federalizing 200 Guard members for a 60-day deployment.
The lawsuit underscores the broader consequences of the order, arguing that diverting National Guard troops into federal service deprives Oregon of resources needed to address emergencies such as natural disasters. The complaint notes that on the same day Trump ordered troops into Portland, Kotek had invoked emergency powers to respond to a wildfire in southwest Oregon that had already consumed more than 17,000 acres.
The state points to the Guard’s critical role in past wildfire response, counter-drug efforts, and disaster relief, saying that unlawfully federalizing troops “impairs the State’s capacity to respond to emergencies.” It warns that removing even a fraction of the Guard’s members from state control “places the State in jeopardy.”
Beyond the immediate concerns of sovereignty and public safety, the suit highlights potential economic harm. It cites recent troop deployments in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., that depressed local business activity, shuttered restaurants and events, and cut into tourism and tax revenues. The presence of federalized troops, it argues, would “chill economic activity” in Portland and across Oregon.
The filing also stresses the confusion and danger created when military units are inserted into civilian policing roles. Portland’s police bureau, with more than 800 officers and specialized crowd-control training, has managed the small-scale ICE protests for months. The state says adding federal troops into the mix threatens to “directly interfere with the ability of state and local law enforcement to deal with any given situation,” escalate tensions, and increase unrest.
The lawsuit situates Trump’s Portland deployment within a broader pattern of federal actions against Democratic-led states and cities. It cites executive orders targeting so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions,” attempts to cut off federal funds, and prior troop deployments in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., that courts have already found to be unlawful.
“This major escalation from the President and the federal government has no place in our politics or our communities,” Chung said. “It is an abuse of presidential power, very disrespectful to and a misuse of our service members, and a reckless waste of our tax dollars to make Oregon a federal target for the purpose of bullying people for political theater.”
The state and city are asking the court to declare Trump’s action unlawful and to issue preliminary and permanent injunctions blocking the deployment.
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The Pentagon’s plan for the National Guard troops in Portland is to protect federal immigration facilities from domestic terrorists which I believe the feds have the right to do.
In reference to the image, what does “Oulive” mean?
Perhaps if that kid was in school (instead of being indoctrinated and dragged to protests by his Mom), he’d learn how to spell.