Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said on Sunday that Trump was “ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations within the United States.”
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from sending any National Guard troops to Oregon in a Sunday ruling.
“What was unlawful with the Oregon National Guard is unlawful with the California National Guard,” Attorney-General Dan Rayfield said, as reported by CNN. “The judge’s order was not some minor procedural point for the president to work around like my 14-year-old does when he doesn’t like my answers.”
However, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said on Sunday that Trump was “ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations within the United States.”
In a social media post, Pritzker called on Texas Governor Greg Abbott to “immediately withdraw any support for this decision and refuse to coordinate.”
“The facts haven’t changed: President Trump exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said.
Oregon blocks Trump’s move to send National Guard to Portland
The ruling in Oregon follows the Trump administration’s move to send members of the California National Guard to Portland after the judge earlier blocked the administration from deploying the Oregon National Guard.
Oregon challenged Trump’s efforts to federalize its National Guard, saying Trump was exaggerating the threat of protests against his immigration policies to justify illegally seizing control of state units.
The state argued that Trump’s deployment violated several federal laws and the state’s sovereign right to police its own citizens.
US District Judge Karin Immergut granted a temporary restraining order after she ruled that the state and city of Portland “are likely to succeed on their claim that the President exceeded his constitutional authority and violated the Tenth Amendment.
Immergut, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, said there was no evidence that recent protests necessitated the presence of National Guard troops, no matter where they came from.
“How could bringing in federalized National Guard from California not be in direct contravention of the (decision) I issued yesterday?” Immergut asked Justice Department attorney Eric Hamilton during a hearing on Sunday night.
“Is there any legal authority for what you are doing?”
Hamilton replied that the California National Guard was legally federalized on June 7, in a mission that was “not limited in any way to the state of California.”
Sending those troops to Portland was a reasonable step toward fulfilling that earlier mission, to protect federal personnel and property throughout the US, Hamilton said.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said that some 100 members of the California National Guard were already in the state and more were on the way.
“At the direction of the President, approximately 200 federalized members of the California National Guard are being reassigned from duty in the greater Los Angeles area to Portland, Oregon, to support US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal personnel performing official duties, including the enforcement of federal law, and to protect federal property,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a press release.
In a Sunday statement, Kotek said that she had “received no official notification or correspondence from the federal government regarding this action by the President.”
“This action appears to be intentional to circumvent yesterday’s ruling by a federal judge. The facts haven’t changed. There is no need for military intervention in Oregon. There is no insurrection in Portland. No threat to national security. Oregon is our home, not a military target,” she added.
