President Trump declared on Saturday that he had directed troops to be sent to Portland, Ore., and authorized them to use “full force” to put down protests directed at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities. It was the latest action by the president to deploy the American military on the nation’s streets.
“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,” Mr. Trump wrote on his Truth Social site. “I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
It was not immediately clear what Mr. Trump meant by “full force.” Portland is one of the Democratic cities that has been in the president’s sights; he previously threatened to send the National Guard into Chicago to combat crime, but has not yet done so.
On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security said that rioters had “repeatedly attacked and laid siege to an ICE processing center” in Portland, where protesters have demonstrated for weeks against Mr. Trump’s hard-line immigration enforcement tactics.
“Many of these criminals have been arrested and hit with federal charges,” the agency wrote on the social media site X. “Rose City Antifa, a recently designated domestic terrorist organization, illegally doxed ICE officers. They published their home address online and on public flyers. Individuals associated with Antifa also sent death threats to DHS personnel.”
Mr. Trump signed an executive order this week targeting the left-wing antifascist movement known as antifa, threatening “investigatory and prosecutorial action” against those who financially support it.
In his order, Mr. Trump said that he was declaring antifa a “domestic terrorist organization” — a designation that does not actually exist under U.S. law. Anti-fascism, like fascism itself, is a broad political ideology rather than a specific organization, and the United States does not have a domestic terrorism law.
Mr. Trump has already deployed federal troops at the southern border to crack down on illegal immigration; in California, in response to protests; and in Washington, to try to put down crime. He has said he will send a surge of law enforcement to Memphis next and then, eventually, to Chicago.
Luke Broadwater covers the White House for The Times.
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