Dive Brief:
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The state of Oregon and the city of Portland filed suit against the Trump administration in U.S. District Court Sunday, calling for an immediate halt to the deployment of Oregon National Guard members to the city, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield’s office announced.
- U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the deployment of 200 troops on Sunday, after President Donald Trump posted Saturday on social media that he was directing Hegseth “to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists,” authorizing “Full Force, if necessary.”
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Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek refuted Trump’s claims in a Saturday call with the president. ‘“I told him in plain language that there is no insurrection or threat to public safety that necessitates military intervention in Portland or any other city in our state,” she said in a statement Sunday.
Dive Insight:
Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum Thursday stating, “Riots in Los Angeles and Portland reflect a more than 1,000 percent increase in attacks on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers since January 21, 2025, compared to the same period last year.”
Since June, federal officers have arrested more than two dozen protesters outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in South Portland, the Oregonian reported. The newspaper described “relatively low-key demonstrations by a small group of people,” accompanied by law enforcement, at the building.
“Oregon communities are stable, and our local officials have been clear: we have the capacity to manage public safety without federal interference,” Rayfield said in a statement. “Sending in 200 National Guard troops to guard a single building is not normal.”
The Portland City Council declared Portland a sanctuary city in 2017. Oregon was among the states that sent defiant responses to an Aug. 13 letter from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi that threatened to rescind federal funding and press criminal charges over “sanctuary” policies. In that letter, Kotek defended Oregon’s state law, enacted in 1987, prohibiting state law enforcement officers from performing federal immigration enforcement.
Portland was among a coalition of 36 cities and counties and the U.S. Conference of Mayors that filed an amicus brief last week in support of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s lawsuit challenging the federal government’s deployment of the National Guard and the U.S. Marines in Los Angeles in June. A U.S. District Judge ruled Sept. 2 that the Los Angeles deployment violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids the use of U.S. military for civil law enforcement, but the troops remain in the city while the case is on appeal.
Trump has threatened to send federal troops into Chicago, where Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker have strongly pushed back. ICE agents fired rubber pellets, tear gas and other chemicals at protesters outside an ICE facility north of Chicago on Friday, and at least two people were arrested.
Trump also signed an order to send federal troops into Memphis, where Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has welcomed them and Memphis Mayor Paul Young said he would “work strategically” with them.
William Banks, an emeritus professor at the Syracuse University College of Law and the author of “Soldiers on the Home Front: the Domestic Role of the American Military,” said Trump’s rhetoric regarding Portland over the weekend is “rinse and repeat.”
“State and local officials in Oregon are doing what they can do, and they’re doing it very well,” Banks said. “They’re speaking publicly, not only to the local citizens, but also to Trump and the leaders in Washington. They’re pushing back, and that seems to have worked in Chicago to some extent.”
Portland leaders at a Friday press conference urged residents to stay calm and avoid violence. Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, who also participated in the press conference, warned protestors to avoid violence, saying that it only plays into the hands of the president.
The U.S. Defense Department did not respond to Smart Cities Dive’s request for comment.
