WASHINGTON
The White House on Monday sharply criticized a federal judge who blocked President Donald Trump's repeated efforts to deploy National Guard troops to the streets of Portland, Oregon.
"With all due respect to that judge, I think her opinion is untethered in reality and in the law. The president is using his authority as commander in chief, US Code 12406, which clearly states that the president has the right to call up the National Guard in cases where he deems it's appropriate," spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
Leavitt said protesters who have staged daily protests outside of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland "have been disrespecting law enforcement. They've been inciting violence."
"The president wants to ensure that our federal buildings and our assets are protected, and that's exactly what he's trying to do," she added.
US District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, temporarily blocked the president's efforts to deploy National Guardsmen to Portland for a second time on Sunday, saying the administration attempted to circumvent an earlier order by trying to send troops from the California National Guard. The order came after California joined Oregon's suit.
The Trump administration is expected to appeal.
The White House has sought to portray the daily protests outside of the Portland ICE facility as "violent," and Leavitt said the site "has been really under siege by these anarchists outside."
Immergut dismissed the characterization in her initial order on Saturday, saying the demonstrations "were not significantly violent or disruptive in the days – or even weeks – leading up to the president’s directive" to deploy the guard.
"This country has a longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs," Immergut wrote.
"This historical tradition boils down to a simple proposition: this is a nation of constitutional law, not martial law. Defendants have made a range of arguments that, if accepted, risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power – to the detriment of this nation," she added.