Oregon trial begins over Trump’s National Guard deployment to Portland

The Trump administration will face Oregon state leaders in court Wednesday over whether the president can federalize National Guard troops and deploy them to Portland, a city that President Donald Trump has called “war-ravaged” and in need of military reinforcements.

Judge Karin Immergut will preside over the trial, which will begin at 9 a.m. local time and is expected to last the rest of the week.

The lawsuit comes as the administration faces a series of setbacks in Oregon, where it wanted to deploy 200 National Guard troops to increase protection for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents but was unable to do so because of repeated court orders.

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Federal agents confront anti-ICE protesters at the ICE building on October 12, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)

Immergut, a Trump appointee, issued two such orders blocking Trump from deploying troops both in-state and out-of-state, and on appeal, the 9th Circuit briefly ruled in favor of Trump, but reversed course this week.

All of the Oregon-related orders in the lower court and the 9th Circuit were issued on an emergency basis, and Immergut’s three-day trial is expected to produce a more permanent ruling, although either side will likely immediately appeal.

Trump has faced obstacles deploying National Guard troops to many blue cities, where the administration says illegal immigration and street crime are endemic.

In court documents filed before the trial, DOJ lawyers said the Portland deployment was “amply justified.”

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President Donald Trump, alongside Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi, speaks during a press conference to discuss crime in Washington, DC, August 11, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

“In the weeks and months leading up to the President’s decision, agitators assaulted federal agents and damaged federal property in numerous ways, painted violent threats, blocked vehicles from entering the Portland ICE facility, trapped agents in their cars, followed them when they attempted to leave the facility, threatened them on the premises, threatened them at their homes, doxxed them online, and threatened to kill them on social media,” the attorneys wrote of the DOJ.

They added that law enforcement officers tasked with handling immigration-related tasks had been diverted to handling local unrest, which they said took them away from their regular duties.

“The record is replete with evidence of the (Portland Police Bureau’s) failure to provide assistance when requested by federal officials,” they wrote.

Law enforcement officials and protesters gathered outside the ICE facility in Portland, Oregon on September 28, 2025. (Getty Images)

State lawyers, meanwhile, have argued that congressional laws governing National Guard deployment allow the president to federalize reserve troops against the wishes of state governors only as a last resort.

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“Ordinary challenges to the government cannot justify the extraordinary measures employed here by defendants,” the Oregon lawyers wrote.

Also looming in the background is a related case pending before the Supreme Court. The high court is weighing whether to take over Trump’s National Guard deployment in Chicago, and the case could have far-reaching effects on the president’s similar fights in other states, including Oregon and California.

Lee Ross of Fox News contributed to this report.