US President is deploying around 200 members of California’s National Guard from Los Angeles to Portland, the Pentagon said Sunday.
In a statement, the Pentagon said the troops were being sent to Oregon’s largest city “to support US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal personnel performing official duties, including the enforcement of federal law, and to protect federal property.”
The federal ICE building in Portland has seen nightly protests recently, which local and state authorities have described as “small and sedate.” Trump, on the other hand, has described the city as “war-ravaged.”
Why is Trump sending California National Guard members to Oregon?
The move to reassign the troops from California is Trump’s attempt to circumvent a which temporarily blocked him from deploying 200 soldiers from Oregon’s National Guard to Portland, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said.
“The facts on the ground in Oregon haven’t changed,” Kotek said during a news conference Sunday. “There’s no need for military intervention in Oregon. There’s no insurrection in Portland, there’s no threat to national security. Oregon is our home, not a military target.”
On Saturday, District Judge Karin Immergut — who was appointed by Trump — disagreed with the White House’s claims that Portland is a “war zone,” and said the city’s “regular law enforcement forces” were able to deal with clashes between federal immigration agents and protesters.
Immergut said Trump’s description of Portland was “simply untethered to the facts.” The troop deployment has been blocked until at least October 18.
California, Oregon governors dispute Trump’s claims
The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, said the deployment was “appalling” and “un-American.”
“It’s about power,” Newsom said on X. “He is using our military as political pawns to build up his own ego.”
Newsom, a Democrat, has previously sparred with Trump when the US president sent National Guard troops and US Marines to respond to .
Newsom said the National Guard members who were being reassigned to Portland had been during the unrest in Los Angeles in June.
The California governor vowed to fight the move in court, urging the public not to “stay silent in the face of such reckless and authoritarian conduct.”
Trump also sending troops to Chicago
The announcement of troops being reassigned to Portland also came a day after the governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, said around 300 National Guard members were due to be sent to Chicago.
The Trump administration has described it as the “world’s most dangerous city,” but Pritzker has said the situation in Chicago, which has also seen regular protests against federal ICE operations, “does not require the use of the military.”
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has also sent the National Guard to Washington DC, where he said crime was “out of control,” despite claims to the contrary from the city’s officials.
All of the cities Trump has sent or has threatened to send troops to are .
Edited by: Rana Taha
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