Trump autoriza Guardia Nacional en Chicago mientras juez bloquea despliegue en Portland

A federal judge in Oregon halted the Trump administration's plan to deploy National Guard troops to Portland on Saturday, ruling that the president had overstepped his constitutional authority. At nearly the same moment, the White House announced it had authorized 300 National Guard members to Chicago to protect federal immigration enforcement facilities. The two decisions crystallized an escalating confrontation between the administration and Democratic-led cities over how to respond to protests against federal immigration operations.

District Judge Karin Immergut, herself appointed by Trump, issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Portland deployment. She found that Oregon state officials would likely prevail in their lawsuit arguing the president had violated the Tenth Amendment and exceeded his constitutional powers by attempting to federalize the state's Guard without proper authority. Immergut noted that roughly 200 Guard members had been training in preparation for the deployment. She emphasized that while recent confrontations between protesters and federal agents were "inexcusable," they fell far short of the kind of emergency that would justify federal military intervention. The judge warned that some of the administration's arguments risked "blurring the line between civil federal power and military power, to the detriment of this nation." The temporary order expires in 14 days, though Oregon's attorney general said the state plans to seek an extension. The Trump administration quickly appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

In Portland itself, the legal victory did little to ease tensions on the ground. Crowds of protesters gathered late into Saturday night outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in south Portland. According to CNN affiliate KATU, supporters and opponents of the Guard deployment faced off at the building. Federal agents deployed multiple rounds of pepper balls, stun grenades, and tear gas to clear the streets, according to news reports. The Portland Police Department said its officers observed no crimes against persons or property during the Saturday demonstration and made no arrests or used any munitions, referring questions about federal force to the authorities involved.

In Chicago, the situation had grown more volatile. Early Saturday, federal Customs and Border Protection agents fired what they described as defensive shots at a woman after she and drivers of at least ten other vehicles rammed and boxed in a police vehicle. The Department of Homeland Security identified the woman as Marimar Martínez and said she was armed with a semiautomatic weapon. She was hospitalized and then taken into FBI custody; it remained unclear whether charges had been filed. A second person, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, was also taken into custody for participating in the incident. The DHS noted that Martínez had been mentioned in an intelligence bulletin the previous week for posting personal information about federal agents online. Federal forces also deployed tear gas canisters against protesters Saturday, with video showing crowds shouting, running, and shielding themselves.

Hours before the Chicago Guard authorization was announced, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said he had been given an ultimatum. "This morning, the Trump administration's Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops or we will," Pritzker said. He called the demand "absolutely outrageous and un-American." White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson framed the deployment differently, saying the president had authorized the Guard to protect federal agents and assets amid what she characterized as "continued violent disturbances and anarchy" that local leaders had refused to suppress. The broader context animating both cities' protests was the administration's sweeping immigration enforcement agenda, which has drawn sustained opposition from immigrant rights advocates and their allies.

The competing legal and political battles reflect a fundamental dispute over federal versus state authority. Oregon's legal team presented substantial evidence that protests at the ICE facility had not been significantly violent before the president's deployment order. Yet the Trump administration has consistently characterized the demonstrations as violent and linked to domestic terrorism, using that framing to justify federal intervention. The judge's decision in Portland suggested at least one member of the federal judiciary was not persuaded by that argument. But with the appeal now pending and the Chicago deployment already authorized, the conflict shows no sign of resolution. What remains to be seen is whether other courts will reach the same conclusion as Judge Immergut, or whether the administration will find ways to proceed with its plans despite judicial obstacles.