A federal judge is poised to rule on the fate of the National Guard in Portland. Here’s what the trial revealed
By Jason Kravarik, Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN
(CNN) — A trial to decide the fate of the National Guard deployments in Oregon concluded Friday, leaving Portland residents, Trump administration officials and hundreds of soldiers in limbo as they await the judge’s decision.
US District Judge Karin Immergut presided over the three-day trial that featured a surprising revelation: National Guard troops were on the ground at Portland’s ICE facility earlier this month even after the judge ordered them not to show up.
The trial also provided insight on what top federal and National Guard officials knew — and didn’t know — when President Donald Trump called for hundreds of troops to protect the ICE facility that has faced months of protests.
As Oregon and California challenge the effort to send 400 soldiers from their states to the facility, federal attorneys argued during the trial it’s within Trump’s presidential authority to respond to the daily protests outside the facility that have subjected the building and its agents to what it described as coordinated violence.
But state and city attorneys called the move “one of the most significant infringements” on Oregon’s sovereignty in the state’s history and argued the Trump administration is dramatically misrepresenting the situation and risking inflaming tensions.
“The government cannot create the very emergency they propose to resolve,” Oregon attorney Scott Kennedy said.
Troops have so far been barred from deploying due to two temporary restraining orders from Immergut: one blocking troops from Oregon and another blocking troops from any state. The former order is temporarily on hold after being appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Plaintiffs are seeking a ban on deploying National Guard troops to Oregon. The judge, whom Trump appointed during his first term, is expected to file a decision by Sunday when the previous order expires. The decision is expected to draw a quick appeal from the losing side.
Here’s what you need to know.
DOJ admits soldiers were at ICE facility even after judge’s order
Trump announced abruptly in a social media post last month that he would order Oregon National Guard troops to Portland, hurling his administration into a legal showdown with the state.
As the case played out, Immergut issued an initial restraining order on October 4 blocking the deployment. But government attorneys admitted this week that Guard soldiers were already at the facility – and remained there for hours after her order.
Though Immergut filed her restraining order at 3:40 p.m. PT on October 4, Justice Department attorney Eric Hamilton told her as many as 10 soldiers were at the facility until midnight. Earlier, his colleague Jean Lin had said the troops were there until 2 a.m.
The judge briefly pressed the Trump administration on whether the soldiers’ presence might have been in contempt of her order, questioning why the government would deploy those Guard members while knowing her ruling on the restraining order was imminent.
“The government deployed that very night that I told you I would issue an opinion,” Immergut said. “Does that not seem in bad faith?”
“I don’t think so,” Justice Department attorney Eric Hamilton replied, adding that the Guard members were needed at the ICE building prior to the judge’s ruling.
Immergut questioned why the Oregon National Guard members didn’t vacate the ICE facility for hours after her restraining order was issued, yet California troops were able to arrive in Oregon by the next day.
“Doesn’t that seem odd?” she asked.
Hamilton told her the direction to comply with her order “went high up in the chain of command,” and a four-star general was involved. He argued it took time to implement the order. “There are steps that it has to go through.”
“My clients were working to end the mission,” Hamilton said.
The issue was tabled after Immergut suggested there could be a separate hearing on the potential order violation.
ICE facility official was surprised by Guard deployment
Top officials charged with the safety of the Portland ICE facility were not consulted before Trump ordered National Guard troops to Portland in September, one of those officials testified.
A deputy regional director for the Federal Protective Service, identified in court by the initials R.C., said he and his boss, the FPS regional director, found out about the order on the news.
“I was surprised,” R.C. said.
“Your first thought was ‘What would I do with 200 National Guard men?’” asked Oregon Senior Assistant Attorney General Brian Simmonds Marshall.
“Yes, sir,” R.C. said, admitting he already had a large number of FPS and supporting agents staffing the ICE facility. Asked about Trump’s claim that Portland is “burning down,” the official said, “I do not agree with the statement that Portland is burning down.”
A high-ranking official in the National Guard Bureau also testified that he had never been to Portland’s ICE facility – or been formally briefed on the conditions there – before he authorized the Guard deployment.
Acting Major General Timothy Rieger said the only direct information he had regarding conditions on the ground in Portland were from the media and other anecdotal accounts.
“You don’t know if that (media) footage is from this year or prior years?” asked California attorney Barbara Horne-Petersdorf.
“I do not know the veracity of that footage,” Rieger replied.
Rieger said he was acting on the direction of an internal memo from the Secretary of Defense’s office that was corroborated by a Truth Social post from Trump.
Is the facility ‘under siege’ or under control?
Underpinning the arguments was a fundamental disagreement over how extreme the demonstrations have been – and whether local law enforcement is capable of handling criminal activity or violence when it occurs.
Portland “is not war-ravaged, there is no rebellion, and the laws continue to be enforced every day,” Caroline Turco, an attorney for the city of Portland, said during opening statements.
Instead, a simmering protest scene only ramped up after Trump ordered Guard troops to enter Portland in late September, state and city attorneys said.
While admitting there have been “sporadic and inexcusable crimes” along with peaceful protests, Oregon’s attorney Scott Kennedy called them “precisely the kinds of challenges” that existing law enforcement can and have handled.
The Trump administration focused on a particularly chaotic night in June as they argued local law enforcement is unable to fully protect the facility.
The tense June 14 protest resulted in a riot declaration by Portland police, and drew a crowd that was “very active, high-energy and engaged in active criminal conduct,” said DOJ attorney Tiberius Davis, quoting a report from Oregon State Police Captain Cameron Bailey.
During cross examination on Wednesday, Bailey admitted troopers—who were scheduled to provide mutual aid to Portland police—were not on scene before the protest began.
There was “no immediate law enforcement intervention available at that time?” Davis asked. Bailey agreed, saying troopers were scheduled to start later in the evening.
R.C, the high-ranking official with the Federal Protective Service, said demonstrators that night threw broken glass, rocks and debris at federal agents. There was also an attempt to “breach the facility,” the official said.
Officers that night considered using deadly force if protesters entered the building, saying they may have to “go lethal,” according to R.C.
“Protesters were putting chains on the door,” R.C. said. “It shows an attempt to lock the officers in and create a hazard for the team that was there.”
He added that two FPS officers were injured from fireworks thrown at the building and an ICE employee required medical attention after being hit with an object.
Davis also sought to establish that federal officers were getting little help from Portland police by outlining several incidents in which rocks were thrown at the ICE facility without any arrests. One report logged people “using slingshots to shoot cameras” at the ICE facility, he said.
Attorneys for Oregon and Portland maintain Trump’s lawyers are seizing on a small sample size of dates that ended in violence, instead of a vast majority of nights that remained peaceful.
Portland Police Commander Franz Schoening testified that managing these demonstrations can become complicated because the city’s sanctuary laws limit how officers are able to interact with crowds outside the immigration facility.
“We will not engage in immigration-related enforcement or participate in activities” that could be related to it, Schoening said. That includes clearing crowds in front of the ICE driveway, so the task was left to federal agents, he said.
Officers are also restricted from assisting federal agents if they have begun to deploy munitions like pepper balls and tear gas, Schoening said, citing a law passed in 2020 that limits Portland’s participation with agencies using such munitions.
‘Unpredictable’ use of force can create safety risks, police commander says
The Portland police commander highlighted starkly different approaches between federal and local law enforcement in handling the protests, saying federal tactics sometimes contribute to the chaos.
Portland police often have different interpretations of the level of threat outside the ICE facility, Schoening said, including on October 18, when federal agents used munitions on the crowd.
“We simply didn’t see that (as necessary),” Schoening said.
That night, police witnessed a federal officer launching tear gas canisters that “skipped off of their driveway and went onto the roof of the ICE facility where other officers were standing.”
That prompted those federal officers to deploy more munitions, he said. “Our officers were impacted by those munitions.”
The commander said he was “startled” to see the amount of force often employed by federal agents, noting it was “disproportionate to the level of criminal conduct we are seeing down there.”
The use of force against demonstrators has at times threatened the safety of nearby Portland officers, Schoening added. When federal agents use “indiscriminate force,” he said, including the “unpredictable” use of chemical crowd dispersal agents, local police do not get a warning.
“Officers face safety risks themselves,” he said.
The Trump administration, however, argues federal agents face systematic disruption and assault from protesters that justifies a more forceful response.
“It is a frequent occurrence for agitators to carry bats, improvised weapons and shields,” Hamilton told the court.
Hamilton said the protesters have displayed “disturbingly intrusive behavior” and organized violence. “The agitators coordinate their activity, including their information-gathering techniques.”
The government also dismissed the state’s claim that National Guard presence escalates the tensions on the ground, saying there is no substantive evidence that has occurred.
“It is totally speculative that there will be inflamed tensions and that inflamed tensions would impact plaintiffs in any way,” Hamilton said.
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CNN’s Josh Campbell contributed to this report.
