Portland, OR – After weeks of large mobilizations to the Portland ICE facility, a federal judge permanently blocked the deployment of the National Guard to Portland on November 7, and a top Defense Department official confirmed with media 200 California National Guard troops in Oregon will be sent home over the next few days.

Trump announced the deployment of the National Guard to guard the Portland ICE facility on September 27, prompting a battle in the streets between protesters and the administration that lasted for over a month, and led to court decisions in favor of the protesters.

There has been a steady presence of protesters in front of the ICE facility since June 2025, when raids began to surge. The deployment of the National Guard was announced one week after the city announced a citation to the ICE facility for violating its land use agreement by holding detainees over the 12-hour limit, a move pushed for by local activists, as a part of a campaign to revoke the ICE permit and shut down the facility.

After the announcement of the deployment of the national guard, numbers swelled at the ICE facility, with large protests led by Portland Contra Las Deportaciones (PDXCD), a Portland immigrant rights organization that led weekly protests of over 400 people at the ICE facility, in which they blocked the driveway and continuing to demand the revocation of the permit.

The continuous protests were despite Oregon officials like Senator Jeff Merkley telling Portlanders “don’t take the bait” and to stay away from the ICE facility or else risk further crackdown.

Organizers with PDXCD rejected this perspective and met Trump with a fight. “We don’t hide from the Trump administration when they try to carry out their xenophobic and racist agenda in the streets of our city using the military,” said organizer Blaire Glennon.

Throughout the weeks of protests after the announcement of the deployment, DHS arrested many protesters. The highest number of arrests occurred on October 4, in which the main organizers of the protest were arrested during the first 15 minutes of the action, in a seemingly targeted arrest.

In the court proceedings, it was later revealed the National Guard was present in the ICE facility on October 4, despite a temporary restraining order placed against the deployment in court.

Organizers leaped into action to protect protesters, creating a legal defense team to fight back against repression, while not allowing it to stop them from protesting at the ICE facility.

While protests raged on at the ICE facility, a battle was waged in court against the deployment of the National Guard. The court case proceeded in relation to the protests at the ICE facility, as more media attention was gathered by the protesters showing the abuse of DHS and ICE, and the fearlessness of the protesters, the courts moved to more firmly oppose the deployment, leading to the final permanent ban.

“It is due to the people and the people alone that the National Guard deployment was blocked. Through keeping up the pressure on the government with protests in which we would not back down, we showed them it would be a mistake to send the guard to Portland,” said organizer Emily Brown.

The Trump administration is appealing the permanent ban, and the court case is expected to continue forward.

Locally, protesters continue to push city officials; PDXCD is planning a protest at city hall this Wednesday, November 19, to rally against a “Detention Facility Impact Fee” ordinance proposed by Portland Councilors Angelita Morillo and Mitch Green to find private owners of detention facilities for any costs the city incurs as a result of protests in the surrounding area. Organizers say this does not meet the demands raised by Portlanders and demand the full revocation of the permit and for the facility to be shut down. 60 days have passed since the initial citation was issued and so per city code the revocation process to revoke the permit can begin.

Protesters plan to meet each new development by mobilizing into the streets.

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