Trump Expands National Guard Deployments, Governors Accuse White House of “Authoritarian Overreach”

California Governor Gavin Newsom has condemned President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy 300 California National Guard troops to Oregon, calling it “a breathtaking abuse of the law and power.”

Newsom said on Sunday that the troops had been “federalised” months ago against his objections and were now being sent to Portland under the president’s direct command.

“The commander-in-chief is using the US military as a political weapon against American citizens,” Newsom said, vowing to challenge the move in court.

His statement followed a similar complaint from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who on Saturday denounced the deployment of National Guard troops from his state to Chicago without consultation.

States mount legal challenge

Late Sunday, Oregon’s Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced a joint lawsuit by Oregon, California, and the city of Portland against what he called “the unlawful deployment of California National Guard troops to Oregon.”

The challenge comes after a federal judge in Oregon temporarily blocked the Trump administration from sending that state’s own National Guard to Portland.
Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, ruled that “relatively small protests” in the city did not justify federal military intervention and that such actions risked undermining state sovereignty.

“This is a nation of constitutional law, not martial law,” Immergut wrote.

Growing pattern of intervention

The Oregon deployment marks the latest in a string of federal interventions in Democrat-led states. Since the start of his second term, Trump has ordered or discussed sending troops to at least 10 US cities, including Baltimore, Memphis, Washington, DC, New Orleans, and several cities in California.

During the summer, Trump sent Guard soldiers and active-duty Marines into Los Angeles, prompting a lawsuit from Newsom’s administration. A judge later found that the move was likely unlawful and issued a temporary block.

The White House has justified the latest actions as necessary to counter what it calls “ongoing violent riots and lawlessness.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described Chicago as “a war zone,” echoing Trump’s earlier statements that both Chicago and Portland were “cities under siege.”

Governors push back

Pritzker accused the White House of deliberately escalating tensions:

“They want to create the war zone so that they can send in even more troops,” he told CNN. “They need to get the heck out.”

Despite the administration’s rhetoric, official statistics show that crime rates in several major US cities have fallen in 2025. New Orleans, for instance, is on track to record its lowest homicide rate in more than 50 years.

Mounting political pressure

Trump’s latest use of the military deepens a constitutional debate over executive power and state sovereignty.
Critics argue that federalising state Guard units for domestic deployment without local consent blurs the line between law enforcement and military authority — a line traditionally upheld even during national emergencies.