California's Governor Newsom Files Lawsuit Against Donald Trump Regarding National Guard Deployment to Oregon
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Sunday that he is suing President Trump regarding the claimed deployment of three hundred California national guard members to Oregon.
“The troops are currently en route,” Newsom stated in his official statement. “The current federal government is blatantly undermining the legal system directly and putting into action their harmful statements – ignoring judicial rulings and viewing judges, even presidential appointees, as political opponents.”
Judicial Background and Federal Ruling
The governor's legal action follows a federal judge’s ruling that blocked the White House from dispatching the Oregon national guard to the city of Portland. Judge Karin Immergut upheld claims that it would intensify rather than ease tensions in the city.
The judge ruled in her ruling, which postpones deploying the forces until at least the 18th of October, that there was a lack of evidence that the current demonstrations in the city justified the decision.
Local Authorities Respond
Portland's legal representative, Portland’s senior deputy attorney, said that there had been no violence against immigration officials for months and that recent Ice protests were calm in the week before the chief executive described the metropolis to be a war zone, sometimes featuring fewer than a dozen demonstrators.
“Public safety is not the real concern, it concerns authority,” Newsom declared. “Legal action will be our response, but the public cannot stay silent in the presence of such reckless and authoritarian conduct by the U.S. President.”
State Attorney General Weighs In
In a statement on social media, Dan Rayfield stated that the government is evaluating choices and preparing to take legal action.
“The administration is clearly intent on sending the troops in U.S. urban centers, absent proof or legal basis to do so,” he wrote. “It is up to us and the courts to hold him accountable. This is our plan.”
National and State Response
The California national guard passed on queries to the defense department. A agency spokesman refused to provide a statement. There was silence from the White House.
National Background
The report from the state came just a day after the President ordered the deployment of military personnel to Chicago, the latest in a succession of similar actions across several US states.
The President had first announced the initiative on the 27th of September, stating he was approving maximum deployment, should it be required” regardless of requests from local leaders and the state’s congressional delegation, who said there had been a single, uneventful demonstration outside one federal immigration enforcement office.
Historical Context
Over a long period, the President has emphasized the storyline that Portland is a “war-ravaged” urban center with activists involved in disorder and illegal activities.
During his first term in 2020, he deployed government agents to the city in the midst of the demonstrations over the death by officers of an individual in another city. The demonstrations spread across the United States but were notably severe in that city. Even with demonstrations against immigration officials being modest in size in the region currently, the President has pointed to them as grounds to deploy forces.
Commenting online about the latest move from Trump, Newsom said: “It is outrageous. It’s un-American, and it must be stopped.”