Newsom says Trump is keeping 200 California Guard members in Oregon

Sharon Bernstein, The Sacramento Bee on Nov 3, 2025

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The Trump administration has sent 200 National Guard troops to Oregon, where they remain stationed despite a federal judge’s order barring the president from using them to quell protests in Portland, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in court papers filed late last week.

Newsom said the White House has doubled the number of California Guard troops in Oregon since initially sending 100 soldiers there on Oct. 5, making them unavailable for needed tasks at home. It is also keeping 14 federalized California Guard members in Illinois and 101 in Los Angeles, court documents said.

The use of the California reservists in Oregon was detailed in a motion filed by Newsom in federal court in San Francisco on Friday, as part of a lawsuit against the administration’s takeover of the Guard in June.

The administration took federal control of 3,000 members of the California National Guard after immigration sweeps in Los Angeles prompted violent protests last summer. California immediately filed suit against the deployment, but two initial court rulings in the state’s favor were quickly overturned by an appellate court.

The case continues to play out in federal court in San Francisco and in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, while similar disputes are working their way through courts in Oregon and Illinois.

In his latest motion, Newsom argued that sending the Guard to Oregon was part of a broader effort to federalize state militias and keep them under the administration’s control indefinitely, to be used throughout the country like a militarized law enforcement agency.

He asked U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer to lift an order that stopped proceedings on an earlier motion that challenged the administration’s decision to extend Trump’s control over the guard beyond its initial expiration date in August. The Guard is currently set to be under the president’s control through February.

Newsom said that by sending California Guard members to Oregon and Illinois the administration is essentially admitting that they are not needed in Los Angeles, where the immigration officials they were sent to protect have not faced violent or uncontrollable protests for months.

At the same time, he said, keeping the 100 Guard members on active during in L.A. contributes to an unnecessary militarization of that city.

Newsom accused the administration of using protests in June as an excuse to take over the Guard and use it throughout the country, whether or not there is legal justification to do so.

The administration is using Trump’s takeover of the California guard as a “blank check that allows them to federalize state National Guard troops in any number and for any duration they please and to send the troops anywhere in the country,” Newsom’s motion said.

The motion asked Breyer to re-start hearings on Newsom’s request that the court ban Trump from continuing to use the California guard, saying it is no longer justified. Breyer has given the administration until Oct. 14 to respond.

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