A panel of Ninth Circuit judges has backed President Donald Trump’s efforts to deploy National Guard troops in Portland, Oregon, lifting a prior court order blocking the move.
The decision, which advanced 2-1, could enable Trump to eventually send troops to the city, even as Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek have stressed they’re not needed.
A second temporary restraining order, however, still remains in effect, notes Susan Graber, the dissenting Ninth Circuit judge in the ruling. That means that any troop deployment could remain on hold until that, too, is lifted.
Trump has claimed that the National Guard is required to defend an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland, a city he’s alleged is “war-ravaged” and besieged by “fires all over the place.”
Local leaders have vehemently disputed these portrayals and emphasized that protests outside an ICE facility in the city have been largely peaceful and managed by regional law enforcement.
