Trump orders deployment of troops to Portland, ICE facilities

Summary

• Trump authorizes full force if necessary
• Local officials push back on need for troops, urge calm
• Portland is latest Democrat-run city to face Trump military crackdown

US President Donald Trump on Saturday said he was directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to send troops 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 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, responding to Trump's order, 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."

In a press conference on Friday, Wilson and other local leaders urged calm in the face of an apparent influx of federal officers that the mayor said did not come at the request of the city. "This may be a show of force, but that's all it is. It's just a big show," he said.

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.

Trump focus on crime, 'antifa'

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 last week signed an executive order that declares the anti-fascist antifa, movement a domestic "terrorist organization" 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 United States 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 "Jay" 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.

The Trump administration's goal of deporting record numbers of immigrants living in the US illegally has framed the push around criminals, but it has arrested many people without criminal records. Residents in New York, Chicago, Washington and other Democrat-leaning metro areas have pushed back in recent months.

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.