United States President Donald Trump has authorised the deployment of troops to the northwestern city of Portland, Oregon, as well as to federal immigration facilities around the country, in his latest controversial use of the military for domestic purposes.
Writing on his Truth Social network on Saturday, the US president said he would be asking his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, to carry out the order, adding that the soldiers would be permitted to use “full force, if necessary”.
Trump claimed the move was necessary to protect “war-ravaged” Portland and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities from “domestic terrorists”, but the city’s mayor and other Democratic leaders were quick to condemn the decision.
Just days before Trump’s announcement on Saturday, a deadly shooting took place at an ICE facility in Texas. One detainee was killed and two others were severely injured in the attack, which Trump blamed, without providing evidence, on the “radical left”.
Protests against the US government’s anti-immigration policies have taken place outside ICE facilities in cities, including Portland.
It was unclear whether just the National Guard or other military branches, or both – as happened in June in Los Angeles, amid protests against immigration raids, will be deployed to Portland.
The US government has also deployed troops to the US capital, Washington, DC, in what Trump claimed was a bid to stamp out crime.
Portland and state leaders lambasted Trump on Saturday, saying his actions were against their wishes. By law, the National Guard can generally only be deployed at a state governor’s request, and there are ongoing lawsuits in California as well as Washington, DC over the deployment of troops.
“The number of necessary troops is zero, in Portland and any other American city. The president will not find lawlessness or violence here unless he plans to perpetrate it,” said Keith Wilson, the mayor of Portland.
Meanwhile, US Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, noted Trump’s decision to send federal forces to the city in 2020, after protests broke out there following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Wyden said on X that Trump “may be replaying the 2020 playbook and surging into Portland with the goal of provoking conflict and violence”.
Despite Trump’s claims about Portland, overall violent crime in the city was down by 17 percent from January to June, when compared with the first six months of 2024, according to a recent report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association.
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