President Donald Trump on Saturday authorized sending federal troops to protect “War ravaged Portland.”
It was the latest in a string of comments from the president about threatening federal intervention and inaccurately characterizing what is happening in the city.
“At the request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists. I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson again blasted Trump’s threats to send troops in a statement Saturday.
“President Trump has directed ‘all necessary Troops’ to Portland, Oregon. The number of necessary troops is zero, in Portland and any other American city,” Wilson said in the statement. “Our nation has a long memory for acts of oppression, and the president will not find lawlessness or violence here unless he plans to perpetrate it. Imagine if the federal government sent hundreds of engineers, or teachers, or outreach workers to Portland, instead of a short, expensive, and fruitless show of force.”
Gov. Tina Kotek said in a statement that her office is trying to reach the White House and the Department of Homeland Security to find out more about the announced troop deployment. Kotek’s office has not yet been told the “purpose of any military mission,” Kotek said.
“There is no national security threat in Portland,” Kotek said in the statement. “Our communities are safe and calm. I ask Oregonians to stay calm and enjoy a beautiful fall day.”
Kotek’s office learned about Trump’s plan to send troops to Portland from social media posts and received no courtesy heads up.
It’s not immediately clear if or when troops would arrive in Portland, or which branch of the military might be involved. The Oregon National Guard had not received any official requests as of Saturday morning, a spokesperson said, adding that any request would be coordinated through Kotek’s office.
The president appears to be referring to the ongoing protests outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in South Portland. Those protests peaked in June, but have involved no more than several dozen people in recent weeks.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for details on Trump’s announcement, such as a timeline for the deployment or what troops would be involved. There is no law allowing a domestic group or ideology to be labeled a terrorist organization, The New York Times has previously reported.
Members of Oregon’s Democratic congressional delegation poured scorn on Trump’s announcement Saturday while asking Portlanders to remain peaceful.
“Trump is launching an authoritarian takeover of Portland in the hopes of provoking conflict in my hometown. I urge Oregonians to reject Trump’s attempt to incite violence in what we know is a vibrant and peaceful city. I will do everything in my power to protect the people in our state,” Sen. Ron Wyden told The Oregonian/OregonLive in a statement Saturday morning.
Feds in Portland
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici said in a statement that Trump was “lying” and that she personally saw only a few peaceful protesters outside the ICE facility this week.
“The administration is trying to provoke us to justify their actions,” Bonamici said in the statement. “Do not take the bait.”
Trump has previously threatened to send the National Guard into Chicago without following through. A deployment in Memphis, Tennessee, is expected to include only about 150 troops, far less than were sent to the District of Columbia for Trump’s crackdown or in Los Angeles in response to immigration protests.
Portland mayor Keith Wilson and other Oregon leaders gathered Friday to sound the alarm about the apparent increased federal presence at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility south of downtown Portland.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter said in a statement Saturday that Trump’s decision to send troops to Portland “is an egregious abuse of power and a betrayal of our most basic American values.”
“We did not ask for federal agents, and we do not want them. Let me be clear: the Portland we love will not be divided by federal forces,” Dexter said. “Do not take the bait. Stay safe, stay peaceful, and stay together.”
Federal agents have been filmed hitting, shoving and pepper-spraying nonviolent protesters, and more than a dozen demonstrators have reported other alleged uses of excessive force that resulted in massive bruising or injuries. A top Portland Police Bureau official has said in court that federal officers were “instigating and causing some of the ruckus” outside the ICE facility.
But the protests have been a source of frustration for many neighbors in the otherwise residential neighborhood, as Portland police have declined to enforce the city’s noise ordinance at anti-ICE protests. Protesters regularly blast music for hours and loudly hurl insults at federal police.
Julie Parrish, a lawyer and former Republican state lawmaker, represented a Portland woman who lives near the ICE facility and sued over the “onslaught of noise” from protesters this summer.
But Multnomah County Senior Judge Ellen Rosenblum, a former Oregon attorney general, said last month she couldn’t compel officers to intervene.
Parrish said the president’s decision to send federal forces was the result of poor leadership from the city’s mayor.
“They’ve let that area be feral for months and then blame the facility and not the people terrorizing the neighbors,” she said, referring to Wilson and the police bureau.
A protester who said he has been going at least twice a week for the last three months said he was “baffled” by Trump’s announcement.
“How do you label peaceful protesters terrorists in order to send troops against us?” Milo Black said. “We’re not antifa. antifa’s literally just an ideology. It’s not a group.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Read the original article on MassLive. Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here.