On Sept. 27, President Trump described Portland, Ore., as a “War ravaged” city that was “under siege from attack by Antifa” mobs protesting ICE raids.
But here is how federal officers described the scene outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in southwest Portland on Sept. 25: “low energy.” The next day the same: “low energy.”
Internal reports from the week before Mr. Trump ordered troops into Portland show that, by and large, the officers observed displays of civil disobedience, including protesters standing in front of vehicles on the road, playing loud music and “flipping a bird,” and an older woman using chalk to write on a wall.
They also described some tense incidents, such as at least two confrontations between protesters and counterprotesters and a suspicious car that “lurched” at Department of Homeland Security officers. But local officials have said the city is well equipped to manage the demonstrations, and that an infusion of federal troops is not warranted.
“We ultimately have a perception versus reality problem,” Caroline Turco, a lawyer for the city, argued in court on Friday. “The president’s perception is that it’s ‘World War II out there.’ The reality is this is a beautiful city and with a sophisticated police force that can handle the situation.”
City and state leaders said this week that the demonstrations had grown more intense since the president’s Sept. 27 social media post, with more arrests and larger crowds than in preceding weeks.
The reports reviewed by The New York Times were prepared by officers with Federal Protective Service, the agency tasked with protecting federal buildings, and cover much of the period of Sept. 21 to Sept. 26.
At least one protester was arrested on Sept. 25 for blocking a driveway as ICE vehicles drove through, and was later released.
But the reports — which are prepared each day for law enforcement partners — offered no indication of a dangerous escalation of tensions, or unusual levels of protest activity that would prompt the level of alarm expressed by Mr. Trump, who said in his Truth Social post announcing the troop surge that he would authorize “Full Force” to curb the demonstrations if necessary.
Trump administration officials said the reports did not fully reflect the reality on the ground in Portland, which has seen nightly protests since June and dozens of arrests. They noted that a gunman shot three people and himself at an ICE facility in Texas on Sept. 24.
“This summer,” said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, “rioters in Portland have been charged for crimes including arson and assaulting police officers — this isn’t a peaceful protest that’s under control, like many on the left have claimed, it’s radical violence.”
But a federal judge, Karin Immergut, who temporarily blocked the use of the National Guard in Portland, was not swayed by arguments that protests were out of control before the troop deployment. She wrote in a ruling on Saturday that Portland and Oregon officials were able to “provide substantial evidence that the protests at the Portland ICE facility were not significantly violent or disruptive in the days — or even weeks — leading up to the president’s directive on Sept. 27, 2025.”
The ruling came in response to lawsuits from the city and the state over the deployment, claiming that the presence of National Guard troops would only inflame the situation. The federal government has appealed the temporary restraining order to U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Nathan Vasquez, Multnomah County’s district attorney, said in an interview on Tuesday that the protesters were “there to send a message to the federal government, not storm the ICE building.”
The Portland Police Bureau reports making 40 arrests since the daily protests began in early June. According to police department news releases, 13 of those have come since the president’s Sept. 27 social media post. More counterprotesters have turned up as well, Chief Bob Day said.
“Certainly over the last 10 days, the energy level has gone up, and the amount of conflicting points of view have increased greatly,” Chief Day said at a news conference on Tuesday. “This has created an environment that is equally if not more challenging for us because of the dynamics in the crowd.”
A White House official said there had been some notable threatening acts since the summer. In July, three protesters were charged with assaulting federal law enforcement officers outside the Portland building, with one person allegedly throwing an incendiary device at officers.
On Sept. 1, in an incident captured on video and circulated on social media, protesters rolled out what appeared to be a guillotine — an act seen as ominous by some and merely symbolic by others. Neighbors have also lodged noise complaints and objected to protesters’ behavior and the federal use of tear gas.
The reports reviewed by The Times offer a glimpse into the nature of the daily protests as they continued into the fall. Officers described patrolling the perimeter of the property and keeping tabs on protesters’ whereabouts, sometimes tracking them by drone.
The reports described some protesters by name, indicating that they were regulars. One protester was dressed as a pirate. Another person urinated on a guard station — and did so again two hours later, leading him to be detained.
At other times, the reports described people who appeared armed with pepper spray, open-carry weapons and, in one case, “a large black pole.” Protesters were described trying to block vehicles entering and exiting the property, directing high-powered flashlights toward the building and yelling at officers.
The reports described some of the protesters as antifa, or antifascist activists. Mr. Trump and the Department of Homeland Security have described members of the movement as far-left domestic terrorists. Portland is known as home to a relatively large contingent of regular protesters who wear black and camouflage and describe themselves as antifa.
“The group exhibited low energy throughout the day and into the evening,” read the report for Sept. 26, the night before Mr. Trump’s announcement. “Protesters vocally expressed their opposition outside the facility, but no individuals engaged in behavior that prompted intervention from law enforcement.”
The day before, on Sept. 25, the report read similarly: “The demonstrator count peaked at approximately 20. The group exhibited low energy throughout the day into the evening.” But that night, one person was arrested for blocking the path of a federal vehicle. “The subject was subsequently released, with potential charges pending review by the U.S. attorney’s office,” the report concluded.
Hamed Aleaziz covers the Department of Homeland Security and immigration policy for The Times.
Adam Goldman is a London-based reporter for The Times who writes about global security.
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