President Donald Trump's efforts to be the "law and order" president could soon be ruled illegal. Oregon has filed suit against the Trump administration and is seeking a temporary restraining order to block the federalization of the state's National Guard members. The lawsuit, which was filed Sunday, comes one day after Trump announced he would federalize Oregon National Guard members and send them to Portland, Oregon.
"At the request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect war-ravaged Portland, and all of our [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] ICE facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists," Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday. "I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary." The decision comes after weeks of nightly protests in front of a Portland ICE facility.
In response, Hegseth issued a memorandum on Sunday ordering the federalization of 200 Oregon National Guard members "to protect [ICE] and other U.S. Government personnel…and to protect Federal property, at locations where protests against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur" for 60 days. "The memo cited the same legal authority that Trump used to send 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June," according to The Washington Post. A federal judge recently ruled that this deployment broke federal law, but left open the question of when a president can deploy military forces to protect federal property. Litigation in that case is still ongoing after the Trump administration appealed.
