California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that his state will file a lawsuit against the Trump administration for deploying 300 California National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, accusing former President Donald Trump of “using the U.S. military as a political weapon against American citizens.”

Newsom said the deployment followed a federal judge’s decision temporarily blocking Trump’s attempt to federalize Oregon’s National Guard. “This is a breathtaking abuse of law and power,” Newsom stated, adding that the administration was “ignoring court orders and treating judges as political opponents.”

He pledged to challenge the move in court, calling on the public “not to stay silent in the face of such reckless and authoritarian conduct.”

Trump defended the deployment, claiming Portland was “under siege” by protesters opposing federal immigration enforcement. Earlier, Trump ordered 200 Oregon National Guard members to be placed under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s command.

The State of Oregon and the City of Portland had already sued the federal government over the deployment, with a federal judge ruling that the protests were “not significantly violent or disruptive” to justify the action.

The Trump administration has since appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which previously allowed Trump to call up the National Guard in Los Angeles after a lower court halted it.