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President Donald Trump has authorized a U.S. military mission in Portland, he said Saturday morning, a move local leaders condemned as an egregious abuse of power.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform. “I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary.”
The deployment of U.S. troops in Portland would come against the wishes of state and local leaders, who gathered Friday night at a Portland church to warn of a massing of federal agents in the city. They described the agents’ arrival as an attempt to goad residents into a confrontation that would give the president a pretext for a military crackdown, and urged residents not to take the bait.
In a statement Saturday morning, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek urged calm.
“My office is reaching out to the White House and Homeland Security for more information,” she said. “We have been provided no information on the reason or purpose of any military mission. There is no national security threat in Portland. Our communities are safe and calm. I ask Oregonians to stay calm and enjoy a beautiful fall day. We will have further comment when we have more information.”
In response to a query from WW, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell issued the following statement: “We stand ready to mobilize U.S. military personnel in support of DHS operations in Portland at the President’s direction. The Department will provide information and updates as they become available.”
Major questions remain about what Trump’s announcement might mean in practice. Trump has in recent months deployed the National Guard to a small number of cities around the U.S. And citing TV footage that he said showed the “destruction of the city,” he has lately indicated that Portland might be next.
Portland-area elected officials and others say there is plainly no need for federal troops in a city they describe as peaceful and vibrant. The Oregon delegation to Congress on Saturday issued a joint demand that federal agents and troops stay out of Portland.
“This unilateral action represents an abuse of executive authority, seeks to incite violence, and undermines the constitutional balance of power between the federal government and states,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter to President Trump, Defense Secretary Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “We urge you to rescind this decision, and withdraw any military personnel and federal agents you have recently sought to deploy.”
Portland has over the years become something of a national shorthand for street protests that have at times descended into conflict and vandalism. Trump’s deployment of federal officers to Portland to quell protests in his first term largely had the opposite effect, as Portlanders besieged the federal courthouse on a nearly nightly basis. But that was in 2020. In recent months, a relatively small group of demonstrators has concentrated primarily in a small area on the South Waterfront, around an ICE facility there, to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
The demonstrations there have at times gotten tense; one military veteran, for example, has said federal agents twice tackled him to the ground while he was peacefully protesting. About a dozen protesters face federal criminal charges for attacking officers and damaging ICE property. Portland’s assistant police chief has contended, according to The Oregonian, that federal agents at the facility were “instigating” conflict with protesters.
The Trump administration, in contrast, describes its facilities and its agents as being under threat. “President Trump and Secretary Noem are taking action to restore law and order following weeks of violent riots at ICE facilities, assaults on law enforcement, and the terrorist attack at our ICE facility in Dallas,” Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement to WW when asked what prompted the move to deploy U.S. troops to Portland. “We are not going to allow domestic terrorists to attack our law enforcement.”
She added, “We will not allow Antifa domestic terrorists to deter us in our mission to make America safe, and those who try will be held accountable.”
Some have proclaimed enthusiasm for Trump’s announcement. “I’ve seen firsthand how lawlessness has transformed Portland from a beautiful place to live to a crime-ridden war zone,” said U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, in a social media post thanking Trump for his “action to keep our ICE facilities protected and Make America Safe again.” (Chavez-DeRemer, a former mayor of Happy Valley, served one term in Congress representing Oregon’s 5th Congressional District.)
Portland’s political representatives felt otherwise. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said the president is launching an “authoritarian takeover of Portland,” and he urged Oregonians to reject Trump’s “attempt to incite violence.”
U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.) called the president’s move a “betrayal” of basic American values.
“Authoritarians rely on fear to divide us,” she wrote in a statement. “Portland will not give them that. We will not be intimidated. We have prepared for this moment since Trump first took office, and we will meet it with every tool available to us: litigation, legislation, and the power of peaceful public pressure.”
She added: “Trump wants to tell a story about Portland that does not reflect who we are. The Portland we love is strong, compassionate, and steadfast in its commitment to protect our neighbors. 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.”
