KEY POINTS:
- Federal judges have blocked Trump administration’s National Guard deployments to Portland and temporarily restrained deployments to other cities
- A California federal judge ruled in September that the Los Angeles deployment violated the Posse Comitatus Act
- Illinois and Chicago filed lawsuits Monday seeking to block the deployment of Texas and Illinois National Guard troops
- Tennessee’s Republican governor supported the Memphis deployment, while Democratic governors in Oregon, California, and Illinois opposed deployments to their states
- Legal experts say the deployments test the limits of presidential authority over military use in domestic law enforcement
Federal Courts Block Multiple National Guard Deployments
U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut issued an order late Sunday temporarily prohibiting the president from deploying or relocating any federalized members of any state’s National Guard to Oregon, according to OPB. The restraining order — Immergut’s second in as many days — capped a dramatic 24 hours that saw California join Oregon’s efforts to block the Trump administration from sending hundreds of federalized members of the California National Guard to Portland.
The court granted the state’s request for a temporary restraining order, which halts any federalization, relocation or deployment of any guardsmembers to Oregon from any state, the California Governor’s Office stated on October 5.
Illinois and the city of Chicago are suing the Trump administration over its effort to deploy National Guard troops in the state, NPR reported on October 5. They want a judge to block the administration from federalizing the Illinois National Guard, and also have it barred from sending troops from any other states to Illinois.
Timeline of Deployments Across Five States
Los Angeles (June 2025)
A federal judge in California ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration violated a 19th-century law barring the use of soldiers for civilian law enforcement activities when it mobilized 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in June, NBC News reported on September 2.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco said in a 52-page filing that “The evidence at trial established that Defendants systematically used armed soldiers (whose identity was often obscured by protective armor) and military vehicles to set up protective perimeters and traffic blockades, engage in crowd control, and otherwise demonstrate a military presence in and around Los Angeles”.
Washington, D.C. (August 2025)
Trump deployed the National Guard to the streets of Washington, DC, on the basis that the US capital was suffering from a “crime emergency”, according to Wikipedia’s entry on the 2025 deployment of federal forces. Washington, D.C., on Thursday sued the Trump administration over its deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops to the capital city’s streets, arguing that the move violates the Constitution and federal law, CNBC reported on September 4.
In the weeks since Trump’s announcement, the total number of National Guard troops has swelled to roughly 2,200, according to D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s lawsuit cited by CNBC.
Memphis (September 2025)
President Trump signed a memorandum on September 15, 2025 in Washington, D.C. that will send members of the National Guard and federal law enforcement agencies to Memphis, Tenn., NPR reported. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s support for Trump’s plan makes it more legally sound — but still unusual, and highly unprecedented, according to Rosa Brooks, a Georgetown University law professor quoted by NPR.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, who supports the federal effort, said no more than 150 National Guard members are expected to be deployed, noting that troops would not be armed or make arrests unless requested by local authorities, CNN reported on October 2.
Portland (September-October 2025)
On September 28, it was revealed that Oregon state leaders received a memo from Trump where he noted that he had ordered the deployment of 200 National Guard members to Portland, and that they were authorized to “perform federal functions for 60 days”, according to Wikipedia.
The California National Guard troops who arrived in Oregon were sent to Camp Withycombe, in Clackamas County, which is owned and operated by the Oregon Military Department, OPB reported. The president’s move was first disclosed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who lambasted Trump’s decision as “a breathtaking abuse of the law and power”.
Chicago (October 2025)
Trump ordered the deployment of 400 members of the Texas National Guard to other states including Oregon and Illinois, the Texas Tribune reported on October 5, citing social media posts from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, argued the deployments are politically motivated, claiming Trump has a long history of making “threatening and derogatory” comments about Chicago and the state of Illinois, dating to at least 2013, CNN reported on October 6.
Legal Framework: The Posse Comitatus Act
The Posse Comitatus Act consists of just one sentence: “Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, or the Space Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both”, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Members of the National Guard are rarely covered by the Posse Comitatus Act because they usually report to their state or territory’s governor. However, when Guard personnel are called into federal service, or “federalized,” they become part of the federal armed forces, which means they are bound by the Posse Comitatus Act until they are returned to state control, the Brennan Center explained.
State Opposition and Legal Challenges
Governor Newsom announced a new partnership with Belgium, focusing on economic development and global trade—wait, that’s unrelated. Let me continue with relevant information.
“The Trump Administration’s flagrant disregard for the courts was on full display when it sought to circumvent Judge Immergut’s order blocking the federalization of the Oregon National Guard by redeploying troops from Los Angeles to Portland,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta, according to a statement from the California Governor’s Office.
“Defendants’ deployment of federalized troops to Illinois is patently unlawful,” the lawsuit says, as reported by CNN. Illinois and Chicago officials said foundational American principles limiting the president’s authority to involve the military in domestic affairs are “in peril”, The Hill reported.
Crime Statistics and Justifications
Memphis police say overall crime is at a 25-year low, with robbery, burglary, and larceny also reaching 25-year lows. Murder is at a six-year low, aggravated assault at a five-year low, and sexual assault at a twenty-year low, according to police statements quoted by Al Jazeera on September 16.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, who supports the federal effort, said the deployment comes as the city has grappled with violent crime, including persistently high rates of homicides and carjackings, in recent years, CNN reported. The city reported the highest violent crime rate among US cities of 100,000 people or more, according to 2024 FBI crime data, Al Jazeera noted, citing a review by Al Jazeera of FBI crime statistics [that] found the rate of violent crime for Memphis was 2,501 per 100,000 people in 2024.
Violent crime is at a low point in Chicago, along with other cities Trump has threatened with National Guard deployments, NPR reported on October 6.
Federal Court Rulings
“In short, Defendants violated the Posse Comitatus Act,” [Judge Breyer] said, NBC News reported regarding the Los Angeles deployment ruling.
Immergut said in her initial ruling that protests around the ICE facility have remained small since July, with no more than 20 protesters in front of the building on average, according to OPB. She said the federal government does not have the justification to take control of Oregon’s National Guard.
U.S. District Judge April Perry acknowledged she was “very troubled by the lack of answers” Monday from a Trump administration lawyer about the deployment to Illinois, WBEZ Chicago reported. She gave the Justice Department until midnight Wednesday to respond.
Cross-State Deployments
A “Department of War” memo filed with Immergut just before Sunday’s hearing announced the Trump administration’s deployment of the Texas National Guard, OPB reported. “On October 4, 2025, the President determined that violent incidents, as well as the credible threat of continued violence, are impeding the execution of the laws of the United States in Illinois, Oregon, and other locations throughout the United States,” the memo stated.
The Texas National Guard deployed Monday evening to “safeguard … federal officials” operating in American cities at direction of President Donald Trump, according to the Texas Tribune, which reported that Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a press conference in Houston on Oct. 1, 2025.
Looking Ahead
Legal experts say Trump is testing the limits of presidential authority by using the rarely used statute to deploy federal troops to American cities without state approval, NPR reported on October 7. And the legal tactic is getting mixed results in federal court.
The Insurrection Act allows the president — with or without the state government’s consent — to use the military to enforce federal law or suppress a rebellion against federal authority in a state, or to protect a group of people’s civil rights when the state government is unable or unwilling to do so, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
