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Donald Trump has ordered troops to be sent to Portland, Oregon, authorising them to use “full force” as he expands the deployment of the US military in American cities.
The US president said on Saturday that he was directing defence secretary Pete Hegseth “to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland” and combat what he described as domestic terrorism.
Portland will become the fourth US city where Trump has deployed the military. It comes as the president intensifies efforts to target political opponents and “leftist” political groups following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The deployment is also intended to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, which the president claimed were “under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists”. He said the request for troops was made by homeland security secretary Kristi Noem.
“I am also authorising Full Force, if necessary”, Trump wrote in a social media post.
The president did not provide a timeline for the deployment, or indicate which specific troops would be ordered into Portland. The Pentagon and White House did not immediately respond to requests for more details.
Speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said that “professional agitators and anarchists” who are “wild” and “crazy people” are “trying to burn down buildings, including federal buildings” in Portland, but he offered no evidence.
“These are bad people, and they’re paid a lot of money by rich people, some of whom we know”.
“I hear names of some pretty rich people that are radical left people”, naming billionaire progressive donor George Soros and LinkedIn co-found Reid Hoffman. “If they are funding these things, they’re going to have some problems”. Last month the president called for Soros to be charged for allegedly supporting “violent protests” across the country.
Oregon governor Tina Kotek said “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.”
Portland mayor Keith Wilson said that “the number of necessary troops is zero, in Portland and any other American city. Our nation has a long memory for acts of oppression, and the president will not find lawlessness or violence here unless he plans to perpetrate it.”
On Monday, Trump designated “Antifa” — a decentralised activist movement that takes its name from a shorthand of “anti-fascist” — a domestic terrorist organisation. He labelled the movement a “militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law”.
The president and his allies have often claimed that Antifa was responsible for violent protests in US cities.
The Portland troop order was announced three days after a shooting at an ICE office in Dallas that the FBI said appeared to be an act of targeted political violence after investigators said they found bullet casings containing anti-ICE messages near the gunman. One detainee was killed and two others were injured.
Trump has already ordered National Guard troops to Los Angeles, Washington, DC and Memphis, all cities that, like Portland, are led by Democratic mayors. However, the deployment to Memphis, which is in deeply Republican Tennessee, is shaping up to look rather different than the Los Angeles and Washington operations.
The defence department sent about 4,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles, along with 700 Marines, to quell unrest following the federal government’s immigration crackdown. It also deployed about 2,000 National Guard troops to Washington as part of the president’s law enforcement efforts to combat crime in the nation’s capital.
Memphis, however, is expecting just 150 troops, Tennessee’s Republican governor has told local media.
Trump has also threatened to send troops into New York City and Chicago.
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