Newsom to Challenge Trump‘s National Guard Deployment to Oregon
SACRAMENTO – California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Sunday he will seek a court order to halt President Trump’s deployment of California National Guard troops to Oregon. Newsom characterized the move as an “abuse of power,” stating that 300 California National guard personnel were en route to Portland, a city President Trump has described as “war-ravaged.”
“This is a breathtaking abuse of the law and power,” Newsom said in a statement.
The President’s action follows a federal judge’s temporary block on friday preventing the federalization of Oregon’s national Guard. Trump previously mobilized the California National Guard during immigration protests earlier this year and has sought to utilize the military to address crime in cities like chicago and Washington, D.C., actions that have drawn criticism from Democratic leaders. Officials in Portland have asserted the deployments are both unnecessary and lack legal basis.
“The Trump Administration is unapologetically attacking the rule of law itself and putting into action their dangerous words – ignoring court orders and treating judges, even those appointed by the President himself, as political opponents,” Newsom added.
California filed a federal lawsuit in June, alongside Attorney General Rob Bonta, challenging Trump’s earlier mobilization of the state’s National Guard during immigration protests in Los Angeles. Officials intend to utilize this existing legal action to challenge Sunday’s deployment.
Newsom recently criticized universities considering signing the President’s higher education compact, which ties federal funding to rightward shifts in campus policy, stating, “I need to put pressure on this moment and pressure test where we are in U.S. history…This is it. We are losing this country.”
