A Trump appointed federal judge in Oregon has barred the administration from deploying the National Guard to Portland until at least Friday, reported Associated Press (AP). The city and state had sued in September to block the deployment. U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut said she would issue a final order on Friday.
The Trump administration has argued that the purpose of the deployment is to protect federal personnel and property where protests are occurring or likely to occur. However, Immergut wrote that most violence appeared to be between protesters and counter-protesters and found no evidence of "significant damage" to the immigration facility at the center of the protests.
Bob Maginnis is a national defense strategist and author of more than a dozen books on national defense. He thinks the judge might have a point.
"Most of the fighting is between one civilian radical group and another in the Portland area. If that's true and the judge says you're not there to defend against people attacking federal government land, you're trying to get in the middle of two civilian militia-like radical groups that are fighting each other and having a heyday downtown, apparently,” says Maginnis.
Maginnis says that one can understand why someone would not want federal troops there, but he admits that there could be much more that he is not aware of.
Also, he adds that he thinks ICE could defend its own facility without National Guard assistance.
"They can send as many ICE agents as they want out. They're federal law enforcement people, and they can line up on the street if that's necessary. So, I think there's a way around this, to defend federal government property without sending National Guardsmen," concludes Maginnis.
