California to sue over Trump sending National Guard to Portland

Los Angeles, Oct 6 (IANS) California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the US State of California would sue the Trump administration for deploying National Guard from the state into Portland, Oregon, saying Trump "is using the US military as a political weapon against American citizens."

In a press release, Newsom disclosed that US President Donald Trump is deploying 300 California National Guard troops to Portland after a federal judge temporarily denied Trump the ability to federalize the Oregon National Guard, Xinhua news agency reported.

"They are on their way there now," the press release said. "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."

"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," Newsom said.

Trump claimed that the deployment of federalized troops was necessary because the city of Portland was under siege by protesters opposing the immigration enforcement actions conducted by federal agents.

On September 27, Trump ordered to send "all necessary troops" to Portland, putting 200 members of the Oregon National Guard under the command of Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Oregon State and the city of Portland filed a lawsuit in response to this order on September 28. Karin Immergut, a federal judge in Oregon, wrote in her ruling Saturday that the protests there were "not significantly violent or disruptive" to justify Trump's use of Oregon's National Guard.

The Trump administration later appealed that decision to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco, California. This court previously restored Trump's ability to call up the National Guard in Los Angeles in June, after a federal judge in San Francisco ruled it should be halted.

--IANS

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