Governor Gavin Newsom said Sunday that he intends to seek a court order in an attempt to stop the deployment of President Trump of the Troops of the California National Guard to Oregon.
Calling the president's action an “impressive abuse,” said Newsom in a statement that 300 staff of the California National Guard was deployed in Portland, Oregon, a city that the president has called “devastated by war.”
“They are on their way there now,” said Newsom about the National Guard. “This is an impressive abuse of law and power.”
Trump's measure occurred a day after a federal judge in Oregon temporarily blocked the federalization of the Oregon National Guard.
The president, who mobilized the California National Guard in immigration protests earlier this year, has followed the use of the military to combat crime in cities, including Chicago and Washington, generating outrage among Democratic officials in those jurisdictions. Local leaders, including those of Portland, have said that actions are unnecessary and without legal justification.
“The Trump administration is attacking without apologies the rule of law in itself and putting into action its dangerous words, ignoring the judicial orders and the treatment of judges, including those appointed by the president himself, as political opponents,” said Newsom.
In June, Newsom and California Atty. General Rob Bonta filed a Federal Demand on Trump mobilization of the State National Guard during immigration protests in Los Angeles. California officials are expected to present the court order on Sunday's implementation using that existing lawsuit.
Newsom has increased its rhetoric over Trump in recent days: on Friday, the governor lashed out at universities that can sign the president's compact of higher education, which requires the direct campus policy to change in exchange for priority federal funds.
“I need to press this moment and pressure test where we are in the history of the United States, not only the history of California,” said Newsom. “This is all. We are losing this country.”
