A federal judge will decide today whether to block the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Oregon.
Oregon and Portland officials sued after Trump announced he would send troops to protect what he called “war-ravaged” Portland. The state calls the order illegal and says Trump’s portrayal of the city is wildly hyperbolic. About 200 Oregon National Guard soldiers have been mobilized.
President Donald Trump claimed last week the move was “to protect [the] war-ravaged” city. He said troops will be used to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities “under siege from attack by Antifa and other domestic terrorists.”
Trump said he is authorizing the military to use “full force, if necessary.”
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The order came days after two people were killed and one wounded at an ICE facility in Dallas. Authorities said the alleged shooter wrote “anti-ICE” on an unspent shell casing. It also follows Trump’s signing of an order declaring Antifa a “terrorist organization,” despite its lack of a centralized structure.
Antifa is an anti-fascist political movement that the Trump administration has blamed for violent protests at ICE facilities.
ICE facilities across the U.S. have drawn protests opposing Trump’s mass deportation policies.
Leaders in the heavily Democratic city criticized Trump’s use of federal agents and troops in Portland.
In an editorial published yesterday in Time, Mayor Keith Wilson said the city does not want or need federal troops.
"To those who are most aggrieved by Portland, I would ask this: If you visited our schools, would you fund teachers or would you send troops? If you drove our bridges, would you send engineers or would you send troops?" he wrote. "If you saw our hospitals, would you support Medicaid, or would you send troops? If you worked with our homeless, would you send outreach workers and addiction specialists or would you send troops? If you met with the daughters whose immigrant fathers were ripped away on their way to school drop-off, would you still send men in masks to further traumatize our neighborhoods?
"The federal government is retreating from its longstanding housing and economic responsibility to cities across the nation. This has left a leadership vacuum in place of a partnership for the future of Oregon’s prosperity and freedom. Anyone willing to lend a hand to Portland has a seat at the table, including the federal government. We want them back at that table, the sooner the better."
