A federal judge on Oct. 15 extended her order preventing President Donald Trump from deploying members of the Oregon National Guard to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in Portland.

Responding to a lawsuit filed by Oregon, Judge Karin J. Immergut of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon had issued a temporary restraining order on Oct. 4 directing the Trump administration not to deploy federalized National Guard troops to Oregon.

A president may assume command of, or federalize, state National Guard troops on an emergency basis in certain circumstances.

The order, now extended by 14 days, was set to expire on Oct. 18.

In her Oct. 4 order, Immergut noted that Trump had said in a Truth Social post on Sept. 27 that he was sending troops “to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.”

The judge ruled that the president lacked a legal basis to federalize the National Guard and rejected the federal government’s argument that the situation in Portland was so serious that it prevented federal law enforcement officers from enforcing the law.

“The President’s determination was simply untethered to the facts,” the judge said at the time.

Immergut also directed the litigants to move forward with the evidence-gathering process—known as discovery—on Oregon’s two claims that the federal government is misusing Section 12406 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code and the 10th Amendment. That amendment states, “Powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”

Oregon argues that the federal government’s actions usurp the state’s authority to manage law enforcement within its borders.

On Sept. 28, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued a memorandum to the leadership of the Oregon National Guard requesting that 200 service members be temporarily moved to federal service, as allowed under Section 12406.

According to the memo from Hegseth, these members of the Oregon National Guard “will be called into Federal service effective immediately for a period of 60 days.”

Meanwhile, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has yet to rule on whether it is lawful for the president to deploy the Oregon National Guard troops.

On Oct. 8, the panel ruled that for the time being, Trump may exercise control over the troops, but not deploy them.

At a hearing on Oct. 9, members of the panel suggested that Oregon Assistant Attorney General Stacy Marie Chaffin was downplaying the extent of the violence aimed at ICE in Portland.

Chaffin told the court that the anti-ICE protests in September had been “generally calm and sedate.” According to her, the minimal interference that these activities have caused with ICE business does not justify a National Guard deployment in Portland.

Ninth Circuit Judge Ryan Nelson said Chaffin’s description of the extent of the violence was “clearly erroneous.”

“There’s still violence going on,” Nelson said.

The judge said the violence in Portland has been diminishing over time, but only because the Department of Homeland Security sent 115 members of the Federal Protective Service to the scene.

The panel may issue its ruling at any time.

This article by Matthew Vadum appeared Oct. 16, 2025, in The Epoch Times.