Donald Trump says he is deploying troops to Portland Oregon.
Apparently misled by hyperbolic reporting from conservative outlets on a single small protest president described peaceful city as war ravaged.
Donald Trump said on Saturday he is deploying troops to Portland Oregon authorizing Full Force if necessary ignoring pleas from local officials and the state's congressional delegation who suggested that the president was misinformed or lying about the nature and scale of a single small protest outside one federal immigration enforcement office.
Trump made the announcement on social media where he claimed that the deployment was necessary to protect War ravaged and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Ice facilities he said were under siege by antifascists and other domestic terrorists.
Oregon's governor Tina Kotek rejected the president's characterization In my conversations directly with president Trump and secretary Noem I have been abundantly clear that Portland and the State of believe in the rule of law and can manage our own local public safety needs Kotek said at a news conference in Portland on Saturday There is no insurrection There is no threat to national security and there is no need for military troops in our major city.
The number of necessary troops is zero Portland's mayor Keith Wilson said I've been so deeply disappointed to see the footage from a half decade ago recycled he added referring to a recent Fox News reported cited by Trump that misled viewers by wrongly presenting video from a 2020 protest in Portland as new.
A visit by the Guardian to downtown Portland on Saturday morning confirmed that the city is placid the farmers market was packed and the protest against immigration enforcement in an outlying residential neighborhood remained small There were just four protesters on the sidewalk near the Ice field office Trump claimed was under siege One wearing a chicken costume and draped in an American flag held up a sign that read Portland Will Outlive Him Passing motorists honked in appreciation.
The White House did not provide details in connection with Trump's announcement including a timeline for the deployment or what troops would be involved.
At on Friday night Wilson said that the city had become aware of a sudden influx of federal agents in our city We did not ask for them to come They are here without clear precedent or purpose.
The President has sent agents here to create chaos and riots in Portland to induce a reaction to induce protests to induce conflicts His goal is to make Portland look like what he's been describing it as Oregon's junior senator Jeff Merkley said He wants to induce a violent exchange Let us not grant him that wish Let us be the force of orderly peaceful protest.
The senator also drew attention to from the local newspaper the Oregonian which showed federal agents using force against a small number of protesters outside the Ice facility who remained peaceful.
Although a spokesperson for the Oregon national guard that no official request for troops had been made yet convoys of dozens of federal agents in marked and unmarked SUVs were a federal building downtown and an Ice field office in a residential neighborhood that has been the scene of regular protests by dozens of protesters.
The President of the United States is directing his self-proclaimed Secretary of War to unleash militarized federal forces in an American city he disagrees with Representative Maxine Dexter wrote in on Saturday referring in part to the Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth This is an egregious abuse of power and a betrayal of our most basic American values Authoritarians rely on fear to divide us Portland will not give them that.
Both of Oregon's US senators and three of its House representatives had in recent days strongly rejected Trump's claims about mass anarchy in the city as a fiction intended to justify the unnecessary deployment of federal troops as part of an authoritarian crackdown.
Ron Wyden the state's senior Democratic senator told reporters on Friday It's important to recognize that the president's argument is a fable it does not resemble the truth.
If he watches a TV show in the morning and he see Portland mentioned he says it's a terrible place Wyden added.
During on Thursday to announce that the administration intends to investigate and disrupt what it claims is organized political violence funded by leftwing groups Trump made several wild claims about Portland which was a center of racial justice protests in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer But life has long since returned to normal and barriers around the federal courthouse and police headquarters downtown have been removed.
The president however apparently deceived by video of a handful of protesters gathered outside the Ice facility in a south-west Portland neighborhood broadcast by conservative outlets insisted that the city has been in non-stop anarchy since 2020 and is barely livable.
Portland is I don't know how anybody lives there it's amazing But it's anarchy out there Trump said The president then claimed falsely that most of the city's retail stores had closed due to arson attacks and the few shops that are open were covered in plywood.
Describing the small number of protesters who have gathered outside an Ice facility that has been illegally used for detentions in a residential neighborhood Trump claimed without evidence These are professional agitators these are bad people and they're paid a lot of money by rich people.
But we're going to get out there and we're gonna do a pretty big number on those people in Portland that are doing that.
Representative Suzanne Bonamici an Oregon Democrat said on Friday This proclaimed war on Antifa is completely a fallacy Antifa is an ideology it is not a group and so we're extremely concerned with what he's going to try to do with that pronouncement.
Donald Trump does not care about safety If he cared about safety he would not have released 1 600 convicted insurrectionists into the streets He cares about control and authoritarianism she added referring to Trump's clemency for those who carried out the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden Portland does not need the military We do not want them we do not need them we do not welcome them to come here under his orders.
Trump a Republican has sent military troops to the Democratic-controlled cities of Los Angeles and Washington DC so far in his second presidency He has discussed doing the same in Memphis and New Orleans which are also Democratic strongholds.
This move raises concerns about federal overreach and the politicization of law enforcement.
Apparently misled by hyperbolic reporting from conservative outlets on a single small protest president described peaceful city as war ravaged.
Donald Trump said on Saturday he is deploying troops to Portland Oregon authorizing Full Force if necessary ignoring pleas from local officials and the state's congressional delegation who suggested that the president was misinformed or lying about the nature and scale of a single small protest outside one federal immigration enforcement office.
Trump made the announcement on social media where he claimed that the deployment was necessary to protect War ravaged and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Ice facilities he said were under siege by antifascists and other domestic terrorists.
Oregon's governor Tina Kotek rejected the president's characterization In my conversations directly with president Trump and secretary Noem I have been abundantly clear that Portland and the State of believe in the rule of law and can manage our own local public safety needs Kotek said at a news conference in Portland on Saturday There is no insurrection There is no threat to national security and there is no need for military troops in our major city.
The number of necessary troops is zero Portland's mayor Keith Wilson said I've been so deeply disappointed to see the footage from a half decade ago recycled he added referring to a recent Fox News reported cited by Trump that misled viewers by wrongly presenting video from a 2020 protest in Portland as new.
A visit by the Guardian to downtown Portland on Saturday morning confirmed that the city is placid the farmers market was packed and the protest against immigration enforcement in an outlying residential neighborhood remained small There were just four protesters on the sidewalk near the Ice field office Trump claimed was under siege One wearing a chicken costume and draped in an American flag held up a sign that read Portland Will Outlive Him Passing motorists honked in appreciation.
The White House did not provide details in connection with Trump's announcement including a timeline for the deployment or what troops would be involved.
At on Friday night Wilson said that the city had become aware of a sudden influx of federal agents in our city We did not ask for them to come They are here without clear precedent or purpose.
The President has sent agents here to create chaos and riots in Portland to induce a reaction to induce protests to induce conflicts His goal is to make Portland look like what he's been describing it as Oregon's junior senator Jeff Merkley said He wants to induce a violent exchange Let us not grant him that wish Let us be the force of orderly peaceful protest.
The senator also drew attention to from the local newspaper the Oregonian which showed federal agents using force against a small number of protesters outside the Ice facility who remained peaceful.
Although a spokesperson for the Oregon national guard that no official request for troops had been made yet convoys of dozens of federal agents in marked and unmarked SUVs were a federal building downtown and an Ice field office in a residential neighborhood that has been the scene of regular protests by dozens of protesters.
The President of the United States is directing his self-proclaimed Secretary of War to unleash militarized federal forces in an American city he disagrees with Representative Maxine Dexter wrote in on Saturday referring in part to the Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth This is an egregious abuse of power and a betrayal of our most basic American values Authoritarians rely on fear to divide us Portland will not give them that.
Both of Oregon's US senators and three of its House representatives had in recent days strongly rejected Trump's claims about mass anarchy in the city as a fiction intended to justify the unnecessary deployment of federal troops as part of an authoritarian crackdown.
Ron Wyden the state's senior Democratic senator told reporters on Friday It's important to recognize that the president's argument is a fable it does not resemble the truth.
If he watches a TV show in the morning and he see Portland mentioned he says it's a terrible place Wyden added.
During on Thursday to announce that the administration intends to investigate and disrupt what it claims is organized political violence funded by leftwing groups Trump made several wild claims about Portland which was a center of racial justice protests in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer But life has long since returned to normal and barriers around the federal courthouse and police headquarters downtown have been removed.
The president however apparently deceived by video of a handful of protesters gathered outside the Ice facility in a south-west Portland neighborhood broadcast by conservative outlets insisted that the city has been in non-stop anarchy since 2020 and is barely livable.
Portland is I don't know how anybody lives there it's amazing But it's anarchy out there Trump said The president then claimed falsely that most of the city's retail stores had closed due to arson attacks and the few shops that are open were covered in plywood.
Describing the small number of protesters who have gathered outside an Ice facility that has been illegally used for detentions in a residential neighborhood Trump claimed without evidence These are professional agitators these are bad people and they're paid a lot of money by rich people.
But we're going to get out there and we're gonna do a pretty big number on those people in Portland that are doing that.
Representative Suzanne Bonamici an Oregon Democrat said on Friday This proclaimed war on Antifa is completely a fallacy Antifa is an ideology it is not a group and so we're extremely concerned with what he's going to try to do with that pronouncement.
Donald Trump does not care about safety If he cared about safety he would not have released 1 600 convicted insurrectionists into the streets He cares about control and authoritarianism she added referring to Trump's clemency for those who carried out the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden Portland does not need the military We do not want them we do not need them we do not welcome them to come here under his orders.
Trump a Republican has sent military troops to the Democratic-controlled cities of Los Angeles and Washington DC so far in his second presidency He has discussed doing the same in Memphis and New Orleans which are also Democratic strongholds.
This move raises concerns about federal overreach and the politicization of law enforcement.