US President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of 300 California National Guard members to Oregon, a move that Governor Gavin Newsom condemned as “a breathtaking abuse of the law and power.” The deployment comes just a day after a federal judge temporarily blocked the administration’s attempt to send Oregon’s own National Guard troops to Portland, reported news agency AP.In his statement on Sunday, Newsom said the troops had been “federalised” and placed under the president’s command months ago over his objections, originally in response to unrest in Los Angeles. “The commander-in-chief is using the US military as a political weapon against American citizens,” he said. “We will take this fight to court, but the public cannot stay silent in the face of such reckless and authoritarian conduct by the president of the United States.”There has been no formal announcement from Washington confirming the move, and both the California National Guard and the Pentagon declined to comment, as per AP.According to NBC News, Newsom claimed the deployment was in direct response to a federal court order blocking Trump’s earlier attempt to federalise the Oregon National Guard. He accused the administration of “ignoring court orders and treating judges, even those appointed by the President himself, as political opponents.”On Saturday, US District Judge Karin Immergut — a Trump appointee — issued a temporary block on deploying the Oregon National Guard in Portland, arguing that there was “no insurrection” or threat to national security. In her ruling, Immergut wrote, “This country has a longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs.”Oregon Governor Tina Kotek also criticised Trump’s portrayal of Portland as “war-ravaged,” saying, “There is no insurrection in Portland. No threat to national security. The only threat we face is to our democracy — and it is being led by President Donald Trump,” reported NBC News.The decision has added to the escalating confrontation between the president and Democratic governors. Over the weekend, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker also denounced Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago as “outrageous and un-American.”Before this, the Trump administration had already deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles and Washington, DC, and threatened to send them to cities including Baltimore and New Orleans.
