---
title: "Judge halts National Guard deployment to Portland"
description: "The temporary block prevents 200 federalized Oregon Army National Guard troops from being sent to Portland until Oct. 18."
date: "2025-10-05"
modified: "2025-10-05"
authors:
  - name: "Nicholas Slayton"
    job_title: "Contributing Editor"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/nicholas-slayton/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/judge-blocks-national-guard-portland/"
categories:
  - "Around the World"
  - "Military Branches"
  - "National Guard"
  - "News"
  - "United States"
tags:
  - "Northern Command"
---

# Judge halts National Guard deployment to Portland

![PORTLAND, OREGON - OCTOBER 04: Federal agents, including members of the Department of Homeland Security, the Border Patrol, and police, attempt to keep protesters back outside a downtown U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility on October 04, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. The facility has become a focal point of nightly protests against the Trump administration. A federal judge in Portland has temporarily blocked President Trump from sending in the National Guard to quell protests. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-05-at-09-27-36-GettyImages-2239291559.jpg-JPEG-Image-8192-_-4608-pixels-_-Scaled-14.jpg>)
*Federal agents and local Portland police respond to protesters outside an ICE facility on Oct. 4, 2025. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images*

A federal judge temporarily [blocked](<https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/10/04/federal-judge-blocks-trump-from-deploying-oregon-national-guard-to-portland/>) the deployment of 200 federalized National Guard soldiers to Portland for at least two weeks.

U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut issued the ruling late Saturday, following a hearing after Oregon filed suit against the Trump administration. The temporary block prevents the White House from deploying federalized Oregon Army National Guard troops to the city, where protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been ongoing, until at least Oct. 18. In the [30-page opinion](<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26180525-merged-96819-1-1759621288/>), the judge said that the protests do not constitute a “rebellion.”

The Trump administration says it plans to appeal.

Trump initially announced the deployment on Sept. 26, saying he was directing the Department of Defense to provide troops to go to the city, which he called “war ravaged” and said was under siege by anti-fascists and “other domestic terrorists.” He also authorized the use of “full force” by the military. Two days later the Department of Defense [confirmed](<https://taskandpurpose.com/news/national-guard-portland-ice/>) it was ordering 200 soldiers, federalized under Title 10 of the U.S. Code.

The 200 soldiers, drawn from 3d Battalion,116 Cavalry Squadron and the 821st Troop Command, were being sent to the “greater Portland area.” According to U.S. Northern Command last week, after staging the soldiers were to conduct “refresher training” on crowd control, deescalation, rules on the use of force and other civil disturbance operations.

It’s the first time this year that a judge has blocked the deployment of U.S. troops into cities before they arrived. A federal district judge ruled last month that the federalization and deployment of thousands of National Guard troops in California violated the Posse Comitatus Act, but that came three months after they arrived in Los Angeles and after the majority had been released back to the state. That ruling was appealed by the Trump administration.

Judge Immergut’s ruling came the same day that the Trump administration [authorized](<https://taskandpurpose.com/news/chicago-national-guard-trump-protest/>) the mobilization of 300 National Guard soldiers to head to Chicago. That move came after weeks of threatening to send in the military and over the objections of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. It’s not immediately clear where they are being drawn from or when they are expected to arrive in the city. The Department of Homeland Security already has a large presence of armed agents and equipment in the Chicago area, send as part of its ongoing Operation Midway Blitz.

## Author
Nicholas Slayton is a contributing editor for Task & Purpose, covering conflict for over 12 years, from the Arab Spring to the war in Ukraine. His previous reporting can be found on the non-profit Aslan Media, The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, The New Republic, The American Prospect, Architectural Digest, The Daily Beast, and the Los Angeles Downtown News. You can reach him at nicholas@taskandpurpose.com or find him on Twitter @NSlayton and Bluesky at @nslayton.bsky.social.

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