Trump says he will send troops to Portland, Oregon, in latest deployment to US cities

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday he will send troops to Portland, Oregon, “authorizing Full Force, if necessary” to handle “domestic terrorists” as he expands his controversial deployments to more American cities.

He made the announcement on social media, writing that he was directing the Department of Defense to “provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland.” Trump said the decision was necessary to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, which he described as “under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for details on Trump’s announcement, such as a timeline for the deployment or what troops would be involved.

FILE – A woman stands off with a law enforcement officer wearing a Houston Field Office Special Response Team patch outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) building during a protest Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

Portland’s mayor, Democrat Keith Wilson, said there was no need for troops in his city. “Our nation has a long memory of acts of oppression, and the president will not find lawlessness or violence here unless he plans to perpetrate it,” he said.

Trump previously threatened to send the National Guard into Chicago but has yet to follow through. A deployment in Memphis, Tennessee, is expected soon and will include only about 150 troops, far less than were sent to the District of Columbia for Trump’s crackdown on crime or in Los Angeles in response to immigration protests that turned violent with the troops’ arrival. Trump also sent Marines to Los Angeles.

A U.S. defense official, when asked about Trump’s Truth Social post, said the Pentagon would provide information and updates when available. There was no immediate response by the department about whether Trump was referring to a deployment of National Guard troops from Oregon or elsewhere or to active-duty forces. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“There is no national security threat in Portland. Our communities are safe and calm,” said Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat.

Portland, population 636,000, was the site of long-running and sometimes violent racial justice protests following George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police in 2020. The Trump administration sent hundreds of agents, including from the U.S. Border Patrol, for the stated purpose of protecting the federal courthouse and other federal property from vandalism.

Recent protests have been far more muted and focused on the area around the ICE building, located outside the city’s downtown that was the heart of the 2020 protests. The building’s main entrance and ground-floor windows have been boarded up and tagged with graffiti.

Early Saturday, all was quiet outside that building, with no signs of protesters or law enforcement.

Some federal agents have been injured and several protesters have been charged with assault. Some demonstrators also say they’ve been injured. When protesters erected a prop guillotine earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security described it as “unhinged behavior.”

Meantime, city groups and officials have sought to highlight the recovery of the downtown area since 2020.

This summer was reportedly the busiest for pedestrian traffic since before the coronavirus pandemic, and overall violent crime in Portland from January through June decreased by 17% compared to the same period in 2024, a recent report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association found. The downtown has seen a decrease in homeless encampments that defined the years immediately after the pandemic.

Since the Sept. 10 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Trump has escalated his efforts to confront what he calls the “radical left,” which he blames for the country’s problems with political violence.

Trump, in comments Thursday in the Oval Office, suggested some kind of operation was in the works.

“We’re going to get out there and we’re going to do a pretty big number on those people in Portland,” he said, describing them as “professional agitators and anarchists.”

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