U.S. President Donald Trump has redeployed troops from California to Oregon, circumventing a federal court order that had barred him from deploying the National Guard to Portland.
The move, announced late Sunday, effectively sidesteps the judge’s ruling by reassigning National Guard soldiers already serving in Los Angeles to federal duty in Portland.
The deployment marks a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration’s ongoing clashes with Democratic-led states over immigration enforcement and public protests.
California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the decision as a “breathtaking abuse of the law” and vowed to challenge it in court. “This isn’t about public safety—it’s about power,” Newsom said. “The commander-in-chief is using the U.S. military as a political weapon against American citizens.”
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker also criticized the move, revealing that the administration is redeploying 400 Texas National Guard troops to multiple states, including Illinois and Oregon. He urged Texas Governor Greg Abbott to “withdraw support immediately” and refuse to cooperate.
The Pentagon confirmed that roughly 200 members of the California National Guard have been reassigned to Portland to “support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal personnel performing official duties.”
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson defended the decision, saying President Trump “exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement.”
She accused Governor Newsom of “siding with violent criminals instead of law-abiding citizens who want peace in their communities.”
Portland has long been a flashpoint for protests over immigration enforcement and policing, becoming one of several Democratic-led cities targeted in Trump’s broader “law and order” agenda.
The city has also been a focal point in the president’s rhetoric about “Antifa”, a loosely organized anti-fascist movement that Trump recently designated as a domestic terrorist organization through executive order.
Over the summer, Los Angeles witnessed daily demonstrations following intensified immigration raids. Trump deployed the California National Guard in June to suppress the unrest — a controversial move that bypassed the traditional authority of state governors over Guard deployments.
Governor Newsom at the time warned the action would “inflame tensions,” while Trump insisted it “saved the city from burning to the ground.”
The troops still stationed in Los Angeles from that earlier deployment are now being reassigned to Portland under the president’s new directive.
The Portland deployment comes just one day after Trump authorized 300 National Guard troops to Chicago, another Democratic-led city that has seen protests over immigration enforcement.
On Saturday, demonstrations in Chicago turned violent after an encounter with immigration agents. Officials said officers opened fire on an armed woman who allegedly rammed vehicles during the clash. Her condition remains unclear, though authorities said she managed to drive herself to a hospital.
Governor Pritzker condemned the federal response as an attempt to “manufacture a crisis.” Speaking on CNN, he warned that the move would only incite more unrest, saying:
“They want mayhem on the ground. They want to create a warzone so they can justify sending in even more troops.”
Trump’s redeployment of state-based National Guard units marks one of the most controversial uses of domestic military power in modern U.S. history — intensifying tensions between Washington and state governments as the administration faces growing criticism for blurring the line between public safety and political theater.
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