Portland protests National Guard deployment in city News
Neareye, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Portland protests National Guard deployment in city

Hundreds of Portland citizens gathered outside a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building Sunday to protest President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to the city over the weekend.

Public outrage began when Trump posted Saturday that he was “directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, & any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, & other domestic terrorists.” Oregon Governor Tina Kotek was quick to address the matter: 

My office is reaching out to the White House and Homeland Security for more information. We have been provided no information on the reason or purpose of any military mission. There is no national security threat in Portland. Our communities are safe and calm. I ask Oregonians to stay calm and enjoy a beautiful fall day.

Trump had released a Presidential Memorandum on September 25 that announced a renewed policy to target “domestic terrorism and organized political violence,” which he argued has increased significantly in recent months, especially in locales that allegedly support “anti-fascism” movements. The White House described such movements as a means to discredit “foundational American principles” and “encourage acts of violent revolution.” The memo cited official claims that “riots in Los Angeles and Portland reflect a more than 1,000 percent increase in attacks on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers since January 21, 2025, compared to the same period last year.” 

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield disagreed with Trump’s public safety justification for National Guard deployment, filing a lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Oregon and arguing “that the President lacks authority under 10 U.S.C. § 12406, which permits federalization of the Guard only in circumstances of invasion, rebellion, or when federal laws cannot otherwise be executed. None of those circumstances exist in Oregon.”

Oregon mayors have also attempted to fight back, with more than a dozen issuing a joint letter Monday rejecting any attempt to militarize the Portland metro area and announcing a coordinated regional action to protect civil rights, public safety, and community trust. 

The order comes weeks after the murder of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk and Trump’s subsequent vows to strike back at what he has described as the “radical left.” Last Tuesday, the federal government labeled political group Antifa–a loosely-structured anti-fascist movement–as a domestic terrorist organization, despite no such legal designation existing in the US.

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