The hearing comes after federal attorneys asked the U.S. Appeals Court for the Ninth Circuit to overturn a temporary restraining order issued Saturday by U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut. Federal law allows the president to deploy Guard members if there’s an invasion from a foreign nation, a rebellion or if the president cannot carry out federal laws with “regular forces.”
Immergut, who was nominated by Trump, found the administration did not clearly prove those were the conditions taking place in Portland. She said the White House, therefore, could not send in troops to deal with protests at Portland’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building.
“The President’s determination was simply untethered to the facts,” Immergut wrote in her initial ruling.
Despite that ruling, a cadre of conservative social media influences, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the president have continue to make claims that Portland is under siege. The president has made similar claims about Memphis and Chicago, where National Guard troops from Texas were deployed as of Thursday morning to assist federal law enforcement.
This story may be updated.
