Trump Authorizes the Use of “Full Force” and Sends Troops to Portland

Trump sends troops to Portland because Antifa has made threats, but Oregon leaders don’t believe the claims of danger and are against federal action.

President Donald Trump has told the military to send troops to Portland, Oregon, and has given the go-ahead to use “full force” if needed.

Trump said, “I’m telling Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to send all the troops needed to protect war-torn Portland.” He also said that the goal of the move was to protect “any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa and other domestic terrorists.”

The statement, which was made on Truth Social, was quickly criticized by Oregon officials and Democratic lawmakers, who said the city was not in danger as claimed. “Plains is not a threat to national security.” Gov. Tina Kotek said in a statement, “Our communities are safe and calm.” She also said that she had asked the government for more information.

Keith Wilson, the mayor of Portland, said, “No troops are needed in Portland or any other American city.” Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon said Trump was “replaying the 2020 playbook” and told people not to fall for what he called an attempt to “incite violence.”

The Pentagon said they were ready to carry out Trump’s order, but they didn’t say whether the troops would be from the National Guard or the normal military. “We are ready to send U.S. troops to Portland to help DHS with their operations if the President tells us to,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell told the BBC.

The Department of Homeland Security said that protesters had attacked its branch in Portland several times. The government said in a post on X that “Rose City Antifa, a recently designated domestic terrorist organization, illegally doxed ICE officers” and that some people had sent death threats to federal workers. This week, Trump signed an order calling Antifa a domestic terrorist organization. However, legal experts say that US law doesn’t allow for this kind of labeling.

Democratic lawmakers have also said bad things about how federal agents are said to be acting. Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici said that ICE wasn’t focused on dangerous criminals. She used examples of a parent being detained outside of a preschool and a firefighter being arrested while fighting wildfires to make her point. Lawmakers used a study from the Cato Institute to find that 65% of people being held by ICE did not have any criminal records.

Republicans, on the other hand, supported Trump’s action. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the US labor secretary, called Portland a “war zone full of crime” and thanked Trump for “taking action to protect our ICE facilities and Make America Great Again.”

This move comes after earlier this year’s troop mobilizations in Memphis, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC, which turned violent. Later, a federal judge said that the transfer to Los Angeles broke the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits how the military can be used in the United States. It’s still not clear if Trump is allowed by the law to send troops to Oregon.