Last month, a federal judge found that President Donald Trump’s deployment of members of California’s National Guard against the wishes of California’s governor was illegal. That didn’t stop Trump from doing the same in Oregon this weekend.

“I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists,” he wrote on Truth Social. A defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity called Trump’s claims “nonsense.” A similar deployment of troops to Los Angeles earlier this year was found to be illegal by a federal judge.

Hegseth issued a memorandum, on Sunday, calling into federal service 200 members of the Oregon National Guard, against the wishes of Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek. Trump said that he was “authorizing Full Force, if necessary” in Portland. The Department of War would not say how they interpret that order.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson did not respond to a request for further information on why Hegseth called Guard members into federal service in Oregon when the Los Angeles deployment was found to be unlawful.

Trump has deployed roughly 35,000 federal troops within the United States this year, according to exclusive figures provided to The Intercept by official military sources. These occupation forces, drawn from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and National Guard, have been operating under Title 10 authority, or federal control, in at least five states — Arizona, California, Florida, New Mexico, and Texas — in service of the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant agenda. Oregon will now join them. (Troops currently en route to Memphis are doing so under Title 32 status, meaning they are under state control.)

Trump’s Portland order drew pushback from Oregon’s Democratic lawmakers as well as experts, who said there was no need for federal troops to be deployed to the city. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Reps. Suzanne Bonamici, Andrea Salinas, Val Hoyle, Maxine Dexter, and Janelle Bynum all demanded the Trump administration keep troops out of Portland. Local government officials have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Sunday to stop the deployment.

“[F]or over a century and a half, Congress has expressly forbidden federal military interference in civilian law enforcement,” reads the complaint against Trump, Hegseth, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “Defendants have trampled on these principles by federalizing members of the Oregon National Guard for deployment in Portland, Oregon, to participate in civilian law enforcement.”

Recent protests in Portland have been muted and focused on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building located outside the city’s downtown area. In court this month, a Portland police official said federal officers were “instigating” confrontations with protesters outside the ICE facility. Several demonstrators have been charged with assault. Others have been charged with crimes like arson and resisting arrest.

Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center’s liberty and national security program, said there was no cause for Trump’s order.........

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