Struggle against National Guard wins in Portland court
President Donald Trump was permanently barred from sending the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, on Nov.7 by Judge Karin Immergut. A Trump appointee, she has served on the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon since 2019. Trump falsely claimed that the protests against Portland’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility were violent and required the deployment of federal troops.
Holly Brown from Freedom Road Socialist Organization was arrested in Portland by ICE agents and charged with trespassing on federal property, October 4, 2025. (Credit: KOIN TV)
But Immergut found the anti-ICE protests to be “predominately peaceful, with only isolated and sporadic instances of relatively low-level violence” and did not justify federal intervention. (The Guardian, Nov. 7)
Trump declared Portland a site of violent riots and lawlessness. However, the ongoing protests against ICE, which began in June, have been moderately sized and described as predominantly peaceful. Portland and the state of Oregon sued the Trump administration in September after he told the Defense Department to federalize and deploy the Oregon National Guard.
“A huge victory,” declared Oregon’s Attorney General Dan Rayfield. He said: “From the beginning, this case has been about making sure that facts, not political whims, guide how the law is applied. Today’s decision protects that principle.”
