Oregon state representatives approved a measure Thursday that would prohibit a president from deploying another state’s National Guard to Oregon for law enforcement or immigration enforcement purposes without the Oregon governor’s permission.

Last year, shortly after President Donald Trump called Portland “war-ravaged,” he ordered National Guard troops from Oregon and other states to the city to protect the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. Trump’s efforts ultimately failed after U.S. District Court Judge Karin J. Immergut found the president’s attempts to send troops to Portland violated the U.S. Constitution.

Speaking on the House floor, state Rep. Paul Evans, a Democrat from Monmouth, the chief sponsor of House Bill 4091, said he understands that this measure might keep Oregon on the Trump administration’s radar and not help with the relationship between the state and federal government.

But, he said, “I suspect that ship has sailed.”

The National Guard serves both state governors and presidents at the same time. The guard has bases across the state, from Klamath Falls to Portland to Warrenton.

Evans noted the president could still invoke what’s known as the Insurrection Act to deploy troops, which Trump has threatened to do in the past. But barring that, Evans said, this measure seeks to clarify what the National Guard is meant to do.

He said while the relationship between the state and federal government is being fought out in the courts, “we need our folks here as much as possible to fight wildfire, to respond to a potential seismic event and to do all the things that a National Guard has always done to help their state, their people, and their place.”

Rep. Daniel Nguyễn​, a Democrat, told his colleagues on the House floor that he was the child of refugees, forced to leave a war-torn country.

“Now it’s not lost upon me that I also represent the only house district in Oregon with an ICE facility literally three blocks away in a neighborhood where I spent much of the past 17 years,” he said. “I can tell you that it did not look like a war zone until our commander in chief ordered it to be a war zone. And for weeks I heard helicopters rattle my windows as they flew overhead.”

Nguyễn said he worried that people weren’t seeing members of the National Guard as their “protectors” right now, but rather their “persecutors.”

Rep. Alek Skarlatos, a Republican from Canyonville, who became well-known after thwarting a terrorist attack on a train in France while he was serving in the Oregon National Guard, said he’s not convinced the measure will do much and the federal government will continue to do what it deems necessary. It seems likely the measure will face legal challenges.

“At the end of the day I recommend a ‘no’ vote, but you can vote however you want because this bill actually doesn’t have any teeth,” Skarlatos said on Thursday. “I recommend a ‘no’ only because I think it will further damage the reputation of the National Guard.”

Evans introduced a similar bill in 2025, even before Trump deployed members of the National Guard to Los Angeles and Portland. It passed the House, but didn’t make it through the Senate.

HB 4091 now heads to the Senate.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/19/oregon-democrats-approve-national-guard-measure/