A U.S. appeals court allowed for now President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy troops to Portland to counter protests against his immigration crackdown, a major boost for the administration’s effort to send the military into Democratic-led cities.

A divided court in San Francisco on Monday lifted an order earlier this month that blocked the deployment of 200 Oregon National Guard members to Portland, a city Trump has claimed without evidence is “burning to the ground.”

The 2-1 ruling doesn’t affect a second order issued by the same lower court judge that blocked the deployment of troops from any state, so an immediate deployment may not be possible. But the government has said it will quickly ask the judge to dissolve that order if the appeals court ruled in its favor.

The move by Trump i

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