Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in our sister publication, Portland Mercury. We will be posting dispatches from Portland as they become available. 

In an early Saturday morning post on Truth Social, President Trump wrote that he will be sending troops to “protect war ravaged Portland” as well as the city’s ICE facility from those he called “Antifa and other domestic terrorists.” More troubling still, the president also authorized his agents to use “full force, if necessary.”

This announcement came on the heels of Friday night’s press conference held by Mayor Keith Wilson and several state leaders, saying that the Trump administration had deployed additional federal agents to Portland’s ICE facility. The mayor labeled the administration’s move as “just a big show,” and along with others in attendance, encouraged Portlanders to “not take the bait,” or physically engage with ICE officers.

At this point, it’s unclear what type of troops the president plans on sending to the city—whether it’s more federal agents or the National Guard—or even how many would be deployed. Trump’s post came with the implied threat of sending troops to other cities with ICE facilities as well. 

Deploying the National Guard to assist ICE agents—as the president did in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and plans to do in Memphis—would most likely face legal challenges, and happen under the objection of Democratic Governor Tina Kotek, who said Saturday that Oregon leaders were “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,” Kotek said in a statement issued by her office Saturday morning. “I ask Oregonians to stay calm and enjoy a beautiful fall day. We will have further comment when we have more information.”

For weeks President Trump has been issuing objectively false statements about Portland and the small, almost entirely peaceful protests that have been ongoing at the ICE facility in Southwest Portland. Besides falsely calling the city “war ravaged,” the president has also made other wildly inaccurate claims, including how “many people have died over the years in Portland” due to the protests, and labeling demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights as “professional agitators and anarchists.”

In reality, while there have been nightly protests at Portland’s ICE facility, the size of the crowd has rarely exceeded a couple dozen people, who regularly taunt the federal agents, but remain—on the whole—peaceful. This is in direct contrast to the federal officers who have reportedly made more than a dozen attacks on protesters, who gather on the sidewalk outside the ICE facility, chanting and squeezing squeaky toys as a symbol of the ease with which federal agents are provoked. Last week, the Oregonian reported and shared video footage of ICE agents shoving and hitting demonstrators, as well as using chemical spray against them, even as they were following the orders of officials, and not standing on federally controlled property. Agents were also reportedly firing less-lethal ammunition rounds specifically at the groins of protesters, repeatedly hitting at least one person in the face and body with their shield, and shoving those trying to help injured demonstrators to the ground, as well as those whose backs were turned away from officers.

A Portland Police officer recently testified in court that some of the clashes at the facility were “instigated” by ICE agents, who were “not following best practice.”

Depending on which troops the president decides to send into Portland, lawsuits are almost certain to follow. Earlier this month, District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer ruled that Trump violated the Posse Comitatus Act by deploying 4,000 National Guard members and placing them in law enforcement roles. The ruling has been appealed by the Trump administration, and the case has been put on pause to allow Trump’s legal team to explain their actions to the court in greater detail. 

As he did in Los Angeles, President Trump could also invoke the Insurrection Act to justify sending a large number of troops into Portland, but the rarely implemented action is only intended to be used against “an armed rebellion against the US federal government” and will certainly be challenged in court, as well as by military officials concerned about pitting US troops against American citizens.

Though currently focused on Portland, the president is also expected to send troops into Memphis, Tennessee—another blue city—though he will reportedly only be deploying 150 troops; far fewer than the number sent to Los Angeles and Washington, DC.

Attorney General Pam Bondi joined the president in publishing falsehoods on social media, writing on X Friday night that the federal government would fight back against the “continued onslaught of violence,” while seeking “the most serious available charges against all participants in these criminal mobs.”

Bondi ended the post with the words, “the rule of law will prevail.”

33 replies on “What to Expect After Trump Threatens to Send Additional Troops to “War Ravaged” Portland”

  1. I expect that this will be yet another stupid distraction, but it’s very wise of Portland to take it seriously – and we should take it seriously as well. It should be a topic of questioning in the mayoral debate. What will be the game plan for resistance and protection?

  2. release the Epstein Files

    “the rule of law will prevail.”

    Republicans released ALL 440

    Pages of the Kenneth Starr Report

    concerning then-President William Clinton’s

    breezy CONSENSUAL affair with an Adult Woman

    without Redactions. When the Nazis come to Town

    they’ll be wrapped in Flags, Guns, Body Armor

    and a dismembered Constitution

    bringing along a Contingent of

    black clothing-clad “Antifa”

    to Stir Shit Up with a bit

    a’ the ole Ultraviolence

    Corporate Media

    will Flood the Planet

    w/ Images of Untold Rioting

    Ensuring Cadet Bonespurs’ll

    Never again have to face

    another brutal Election

    Thanks for the Update, @tS!

  3. @1 – You nailed it. Portland has become a quite unhappy place over recent years, ravaged is an apt description – but not war ravaged. So unconstitutional and illegal.

  5. @1 I seriously doubt the mayor can do much of anything once that train has left the station. The best thing they can do is not give the Feds an excuse to come here. Seeing all the posts on social media this weekend insisting Portland is some idyllic place is equally disingenuous. They should have enforced the rules about noise all night and prosecuted protestors who crossed the line. Trump is wrong to escalate the situation for or purposes but the city gov was equally wrong for letting it fester.

  7. @4: As much as you know about Seattle, apparently. Portland used to be far more hip. Remember Darcell? Remember Hamburger Marys? They still have there antique shows.

    But if it makes you feel any better, Seattle does have a ravaged ambiance, since that seems to suit you.

  8. Seattle’s

    Also on the List

    Will Harrell capitulate

    Will Wilson Kick Ass & Take names?

    will Dems in

    Congress move to Defund

    Cadet Bonespurs’ Shocktroops?

    will Dems Shut the Gov’t Down?

    or try and get us

    Better Healthcare?

  9. @6 fair enough. What do you think should happen in Portland? I’m thinking of the low income residents across the street who say they can’t sleep and are being harassed.

  11. Speaking-up dear, why so peevish and brusque? Your intemperate outburst points to an emotional fragility that is borderline neurotic. Let go and let God!

  13. Protesting ICE won’t accomplish anything; in downtown Seattle, protestors blocked traffic (myself included) years ago without success. All it does now is give Trump yet another issue upon which to posture. He doesn’t need the help.

    No matter how abusively they do it, ICE enforces the law. We can and should speak out against the abuses, and contribute money so victims of the abuses can sue, but in the end we need to change our laws. Only that can prevent future enforcements.

    Right now, we have Trump keeping a promise he made to his base, and liberal cities ineffectually protesting. Not a good look for us.

  14. @13: We don’t need to change laws to accommodate the Trump Administration’s law breaking, and protests need not be effectual to have a good look.

  15. Raindrop dear (oops, sorry Phoebe) your misty water-colored memories of Portland are your own personal nostalgia. And as we both know, when all one is looking for is trouble, that’s all one will find.

  19. @14: Read harder next time. I wrote we should change our laws to prevent future abusive enforcements, NOT to accommodate currently abusive enforcements.

    “…protests need not be effectual to have a good look.”

    Trump gets to crow to the MAGA crowd that he’s both kept his promise and owned the libs. Please do tell us all about the silver lining.

  21. Cadet Bonespurs calling Portland

    “War Ravaged” is a prediction

    and a Promise and a

    Distraction from

    his Epstein

    Calamity

    meanwhile

    thedjt’s gathering

    our Military Leaders

    for their Loyalty Tests

    yonder come The

    Great Purges

    will the Night of

    the Longknives

    be far behind?

  23. Coolidge dear, when it comes to MAGA, I think it’s more like the Afternoon of the Erectile Dysfunction, followed by the early bird dinner special at Denny’s, and bed at eight.

  24. The leftists in Portland were certainly lined up for war on Sunday….

    Oh wait no. They were all just in line for overpriced brunch to soak up their hangover from the night spent drinking White Claws and eating tater tots at a queer owned pinball bar.

    So scary! Run everyone! They’re coming!

  25. @KkKoolie

    I had all the

    ‘Drama’ I could

    Crave with Obama

    but with this Nazi

    in the Whitehouse

    lots of us’re One atrocity

    Away from thedjt’s slaughterhouse

    think about it:

    he’ll be coming for you

    too Plenty soon enough

  27. 26

    shit

    she’ll be

    Gone like

    the Whind

    when Bonespurs

    Needs a Newer* Model

    *younger!

    and LOTS

    OF ‘EM! ‘They’ll

    Letchya do ANYTHING

    When you’re EMPEROR OF

    THE FUCKING GALAXY/Universe!

  29. District dear, I would expect a successful candidate to address at the very least the following issues:

    Plan B in the event of curtailment of federal grants for transportation, housing, energy, etc.

    Plan for the protection of the city’s Race and Social Justice Program

    Protection of customer data in city systems (utility bills, business licenses, etc)

    The county should have its own plan ready for King County Housing Authority and similar programs, and Seattle Public Schools should be looking at protecting students’ and parents’ privacy and protection at school.

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