President Donald Trump said Saturday that he was directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “provide all necessary Troops” to Portland, Oregon.
In a post on Truth Social, the president wrote that the troops would “protect War ravaged Portland” and protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities that he claimed are “under siege from attack by Antifa and other domestic terrorists.”
Trump added that he is “authorizing Full Force, if necessary,” but didn’t clarify what that meant.
The president has repeatedly spoken negatively about Portland, including saying on Thursday that “anarchy” is taking place in the West Coast city.
“You go out to Portland, people die out there. Many people have died over the years in Portland. Portland is, I don’t know how anybody lives there. It’s amazing, but it’s, it’s anarchy out there. That’s what they want. They want anarchy,” Trump said during remarks in the Oval Office on Thursday.
Last week, in separate comments in the Oval Office, the president said people in Portland are “out of control.”
“Have you seen Portland at all? If you take a look what’s happening in Portland. It’s, it has been going on for years. Just people out of control, crazy. We’re going to stop that very soon,” Trump said.
Pentagon officials appeared to be surprised by the Truth Social post and told NBC News they were not aware of any new orders to send troops into Portland. The officials said they had no immediate information about any potential operation, including the size and scope of the mission or who — National Guard or active-duty forces — would be deployed.
In a statement, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said, “We stand ready to mobilize U.S. 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.”
The move also comes after a gunman opened fire on the agency’s field office in Dallas on Wednesday, wounding two detainees and killing one detainee.
Leaders in Portland on Friday urged residents to remain calm ahead of what they said was an expected surge in federal law enforcement to an ICE facility in the area.
“This is disappointing news,” the city’s mayor, Keith Wilson, said at a press conference Friday. “We did not ask for them to come. They are here without precedent or purpose. We have seen how their presence harms commerce and prosperity and opportunity in other cities like Washington, D.C.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., also attended the press conference and urged residents to avoid confrontation with federal law enforcement officers.
“We are not going to take the bait,” Merkley told reporters. The senator said it was OK to express views and protest, but it’s “best done at a distance from these federal troops.”
During a news conference in Portland on Saturday, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said that Trump’s “inconceivable insistence that we need federal troops in Portland does not address the real concerns in our communities.”
Kotek described the city as a thriving community with sports, shopping, food and theater — a description she said she provided during a conversation with Trump.
“Our city is a far cry from the war-ravaged community that he has posted about on social media, and I conveyed that directly to him,” she said, adding: “He thinks there are elements here creating an insurrection. I told him there is no insurrection here and that we have this under control.”
“He said, ‘Well, let’s keep talking,’” Kotek recalled the president saying.
During the conversation, Kotek said Trump did not provide a timeframe for the deployment.
Kotek added that she does not believe the president has the authority to deploy federal troops in the state and is coordinating a possible response with her attorney general.
During the Saturday news conference, Wilson said he plans on signing a joint statement of values with a dozen other regional mayors.
“That’s what we need right now, not occupying troops,” he said.
The president has long been outspoken about his negative views toward Portland, a city that he declared in his first term to be an “anarchist jurisdiction.”
Trump for months has railed against crime in American cities, threatening to surge federal law enforcement and troops to multiple cities run by Democratic mayors — including Chicago, Baltimore and New Orleans. The threats have drawn blowback from Democratic mayors and governors in Illinois, Maryland and other states.
Earlier this month, the president also signed a memo establishing a task force to mobilize National Guard troops and federal law enforcement to Memphis, Tennessee. That move was supported by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican.
Trump also authorized the deployment of National Guard troops and a surge of federal law enforcement to the nation’s capital in August. While Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser credited the surge with lowering crime in the city, she also said near the end of August that the continued presence of immigration agents and troops was “not working” in Washington.
Earlier this month, Washington sued the Trump administration, alleging an “illegal deployment” of National Guard troops to the city.
That lawsuit came just days after a federal judge in California ruled that the Trump administration violated a law that bars the use of soldiers for civilian law enforcement activities. The president in June mobilized 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines in Los Angeles to quell protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
