Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield filed a temporary restraining order Monday to try and stop President Donald Trump and his administration from deploying the National Guard to Portland. It's a move that's part of a larger lawsuit filed jointly by the state and city.
The litigation is in response to recent remarks by Trump on Truth Social Saturday, who said he requested that Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth send in the necessary amount of troops to protect "war ravaged"
Portland and ICE facilities under attack.
Trump, Hegseth, Noem, and the Department of Homeland Security are all listed as defendants in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks to stop National Guard troops from deploying to the city. Portland Police's Assistant Chief of Operations Craig Dobson argued in a filing that federal intervention is unnecessary.
"Since July 18, 2025, central precinct officers have carried out routine monitoring of the ICE-facility protests without serious incident," Dobson wrote. "In that time, the risks posted by nightly ICE-facility protests have not merited anything more than standard, periodic monitoring like any other neighborhood in the city."
A copy of the lawsuit is included below.
The restraining order claims the President is violating the "Posse Comitatus Act," which bars federal troops from engaging in civilian law enforcement. It's part of a larger battle led by the state and the city that cites Title 10 of the United States Code, which states the National Guard may only be federalized in certain cases, like invasion or rebellion.
Rayfield said that is not the case in Oregon.
Trump, however, argues that Title 10 justifies the deployment in Portland to protect ICE agents and Federal property. Trump posted to his Truth Social account on Saturday, saying ICE facilities in Portland were "under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists," the post read.
The deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles two months ago holds relevance to the current situation here in Portland. The President used Title 10 in June when he made the decision to send troops to L.A. Earlier in September, a judge in California ruled the order by the President was not legal and that ruling is cited by the city and the state in this lawsuit.
KATU spoke with Lewis and Clark Professor of Law Tung Yin, who touched on that particular and if it will play a role in the ruling that an Oregon judge will be tasked with.
"We already have another judge whose looked at very similar facts and concluded that the President does not have the authority to do what he wanted to do," Yin explained. "A judge here can simply say, 'Well, you know, I'm agreeing completely with what happened down there,' and essentially copy the opinion. But there's no guarantee."
Yin said the ruling in California may be a legal precedent for an Oregon judge to follow, but said a universal ruling by the highest court may be what's needed.
"What you ultimately would need is a decision at the Supreme Court level, that would say this isn't just L.A or Portland or any other city, we're saying that any of these situations in the United States the rule is whatever it turns out to be," Yin said.
The White House said 200 Oregon National Guard troops will be deployed to Portland for 60 days.
In a statement from the Oregon Military Department regarding the deployment, they say soldiers will support the protection of federal law facilities.
Oregon Military Department's Director of Public Affairs Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Bomar said, in part, "Please remember this is still us, your neighbors and friends. Our job is the protect Oregonians and defend national interests when directed as we are now."
When asked when troops could arrived in the city, Director of Public Affairs for the Oregon Military Department Lt. Col. Stephen Bomar responded:
“From notification to being in Portland, providing support takes approximately 96 hours. Notifications went out [Sunday] so the potential for Thursday but may be soon based on the administrative and coordination processes.”
[SRC] https://katu.com/news/local/oregon-suing-trump-administration-over-planned-national-guard-troops-deployment-to-portland-republicans-invasion-occupation-politics-immigration-ice-local-community-democrats
