Appeals court rules Trump can deploy National Guard to Portland

A US appeals court has ruled that President Donald Trump can deploy National Guard troops Portland, Oregon.

The court granted a request from the justice department to halt a judge’s order which blocked the deployment while a legal challenge to Trump’s action plays out.

The decision clears the way for some 200 troops to be deployed to protect federal buildings, despite objections from city and state officials, who say intervention is not needed.

Portland is one of several other mostly-Democratic cities Trump has ordered National Guard troops into, as part of a crackdown on what he describes as crime and lawlessness.

The ruling by the San Francisco-based appeal’s court – which comes weeks after a hearing was held there on 9 October – allows the troops to deploy while legal challenges continue in court.

US District Court Judge Karen Immergut had issued a temporary restraining order earlier this month, which blocked Trump’s use of the Oregon National Guard.

Hours later, Judge Immergut blocked another attempt by Trump to deploy the military – this time with units from the Texas National Guard instead of Oregon.

But prosecutors for the Department of Justice argued that troops are needed in Portland to calm protests that have continued overnight for months outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland’s South Waterfront district.

Monday’s ruling – by two out of the three justices on the appeals panel – found Trump’s plan to deploy the troops for 60 days was a “measured response”.

In response to the ruling, the White House said: “As we have always maintained, President Trump is exercising his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel following violent riots that local leaders have refused to address.”

It added that the ruling “reaffirms that the lower court’s ruling was unlawful and incorrect”.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said the decision would give “the president unilateral power to put Oregon soldiers on our streets with almost no justification”.

“We are on a dangerous path in America,” he said.

He also urged judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to join together to vote “to vacate the majority’s order before the illegal deployment of troops under false pretenses can occur”.