The State of California's Governor Newsom Initiates Lawsuit Targeting President Trump Over State Guard Dispatch to Portland
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Sunday that he is taking legal action against President Trump regarding the alleged sending of 300 California state guard members to Oregon.
“The troops are currently en route,” Newsom stated in a press statement. “The Trump Administration is openly attacking the legal system itself and enacting their dangerous statements – ignoring legal directives and considering court officials, even those appointed by the President himself, as foes.”
Judicial Background and National Decision
Newsom’s proposed lawsuit comes after a federal judge’s ruling that prevented the White House from dispatching the state guard of Oregon to the city of Portland. US district judge Karin Immergut upheld assertions that it would escalate rather than reduce unrest in the urban area.
The judge ruled in her order, which postpones sending the forces until at least 18 October, that there was a absence of factual support that the recent protests in the city justified the move.
City Officials React
Portland's legal representative, the deputy attorney, noted that there had been peaceful conditions against federal agents for months and that recent Ice protests were calm in the days before the chief executive declared the city to be a conflict area, sometimes featuring a small number of protesters.
“Public safety is not the real concern, it concerns authority,” Governor Newsom asserted. “Legal action will be our response, but the public must not remain quiet in the presence of such dangerous and dictatorial conduct by the nation's leader.”
Oregon Legal Chief Weighs In
In a statement on X, the state's attorney general said that the government is evaluating choices and getting ready to file suit.
“Donald Trump is evidently hellbent on deploying the troops in American cities, without proof or authority to do so,” he noted. “It is up to us and the judicial system to demand answers. We are committed to this course.”
Federal and Local Response
The guard's representatives referred questions to the defense department. A official representative declined to comment. There was no quick reply from the presidential administration.
Broader Context
The report from Oregon came just a short time after the President authorized the deployment of state guard forces to Chicago, the latest in a succession of similar operations across numerous states in the U.S..
Trump had originally declared the plan on 27 September, stating he was “authorizing full force, should it be required” regardless of pleas from state authorities and the elected officials, who indicated there had been a solitary, uneventful rally outside a federal agency location.
Historical Background
Historically, Trump has amplified the storyline that the city is a conflict-torn urban center with activists participating in unrest and unlawful behavior.
In his initial presidency in 2020, he sent national troops to the city in the midst of the rallies over the death by police of an individual in Minneapolis. The unrest spread across the US but were notably severe in Portland. Despite rallies against federal authorities being modest in size in the state recently, the President has pointed to them as grounds to send forces.
Remarking online about the latest move from Trump, Newsom said: “This is shocking. This goes against American values, and we must prevent it.”