US President Donald Trump on Saturday said he was directing the U.S. military to deploy to Portland, Oregon and to protect federal immigration facilities against "domestic terrorists", saying he was authorising them to use "full force, if necessary".
Ordering the latest crackdown on a Democrat-led city, Trump said in a social media post that he was directing defence secretary 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”.
Portland mayor Keith Wilson, who like other Oregon officials learnt of Trump’s order from social media, said: “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.”
Violent crime in Portland has dropped in the first six months of 2025, data show. Homicides fell by 51% compared to the same period a year earlier, according to preliminary data released by the Major Cities Chiefs Association in its Midyear Violent Crime Report. That report showed Portland had 17 homicides in the period compared with 56 in Louisville, Kentucky, and 124 in Memphis, Tennessee, which have comparable population sizes.
In a press conference on Saturday, Oregon governor Tina Kotek, a Democrat, rejected the need for troops and said she spoke with Trump and homeland security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“There is no insurrection, there is no threat to national security, and there is no need for military troops in our major city,” Kotek said.
“I’m going to continue communicating that to the president, and I hope he will be open to reconsidering the deployment.”
US senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, wrote on X that Trump “may be replaying the 2020 playbook and surging into Portland with the goal of provoking conflict and violence”.
In 2020, protests erupted in downtown Portland, the Pacific Northwest enclave with a reputation as a liberal city, following the killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd. The protests dragged on for months and some civic leaders at the time said they were spurred rather than quelled by Trump’s deployment of federal troops.
‘Full-force’ order unclear
It was unclear whether Trump's warning that US troops could use “full force” on the streets of Portland meant he was somehow authorising lethal force and, if so, under what conditions. US troops are able to use force in self-defence on domestic US deployments.
The Pentagon did not offer any clarification about whether Trump was deploying National Guard, active-duty troops or perhaps a mix of the two, as was the case in Los Angeles earlier this year.
“We stand ready to mobilise US 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,” said Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesperson.
Asked about the Portland decision on Saturday, homeland security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said ICE agents needed to be protected amid protests against immigration raids.
“We’re not going to put up with it. This administration is not playing games,” she said in an interview on Fox News.
Portland police chief Bob Day said there had already been an increase in federal law enforcement in recent days to bolster security at the ICE facility in the city’s southwest.
Aggressive immigration crackdown
There have been growing tension in major US cities over Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown days after a shooting targeting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas left one detainee dead and two others seriously wounded.
On Thursday, Trump told reporters that “crazy people” were trying to burn buildings in Portland. “They’re professional agitators and anarchists,” he said, without providing evidence.
Trump this month signed an executive order that declares the antifascist antifa movement a domestic "terrorist organisation” as part of a crackdown on what he claims is left-wing-sponsored political violence.
According to US law enforcement, there has never been a terrorist incident in the US connected to antifa. Trump first sought to designate the movement as a domestic terror organisation during the nationwide George Floyd protests.
The most notorious episode involving the movement occurred in Portland in August 2020, when Michael Reinoehl, a self-identified antifa supporter, shot and killed Aaron Danielson, a member of the far-right group Patriot Prayer.
Reinoehl was killed by federal and local law enforcement officers during an attempt to arrest him.
Trump has made crime a major focus of his administration even as violent crime rates have fallen in many US cities. His crackdown on municipalities led by Democrats including Los Angeles and Washington has spurred legal challenges and protests.
In the Chicago suburb of Broadview on Friday, ICE used tear gas, less-lethal rounds and pepper balls to quell protests outside an immigration detention centre.
Protests have also occurred outside other detention centres around the country, including in Portland.
Reuters
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