(MENAFN) California Governor Gavin Newsom declared on Sunday that the state will initiate legal action against the Trump administration for dispatching California National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon. Newsom condemned the move, stating Trump “is using the U.S. military as a political weapon against American citizens.”

According to an official statement, President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of 300 California National Guard members to Portland, following a temporary judicial block that prevented the federalization of Oregon’s National Guard.

“They are on their way there now,” the release emphasized. “This is a breathtaking abuse of the law and power. 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, “We will take this fight to court, but the public cannot stay silent in the face of such reckless and authoritarian conduct by the President of the United States.”

President Trump justified the federalized troop presence by citing the need to quell protests in Portland, which he described as besieging the city due to opposition against immigration enforcement by federal agents.

On September 27, Trump commanded the deployment of “all necessary troops” to Portland, placing 200 members of the Oregon National Guard under the authority of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The State of Oregon and the City of Portland responded swiftly by filing a lawsuit on September 28. Federal Judge Karin Immergut ruled on Saturday that the protests were “not significantly violent or disruptive” enough to warrant the federalization of Oregon’s National Guard.

The Trump administration subsequently appealed the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, a court that earlier reinstated Trump’s ability to deploy the National Guard in Los Angeles in June after a federal judge in San Francisco had blocked it.

MENAFN06102025000045017169ID1110154545