() The state of Oregon is fighting back against the Trump administration’s plan to move National Guard troops into the city of Portland.
State authorities have initiated a lawsuit against the administration, arguing that it lacks the legal authority to make such a decision. President Donald Trump described the city as “war-torn” and indicated that troops would be authorized to exert “full force,” though he did not specify what that entails, to address antifa, which he labeled as domestic terrorists.
Protests outside an ICE facility in Portland began peacefully but escalated on Sunday after protesters and agents clashed, resulting in the use of pepper bullets. Following the confrontation, two individuals were detained.
Just hours after being informed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had ordered the deployment of 200 Oregon National Guard troops under federal command, Oregon officials took steps to prevent the action. Governor Gina Kotek, a Democrat from Oregon, criticized the deployment as “unnecessary and an overreach of power by the Trump administration.”
“Local law enforcement can handle this,” Kotek asserted. “The situation regarding where personnel are going, their mission, the rationale behind their deployment, and their duration remains uncertain. Such ambiguity is not how operations should be conducted.”
Kotek added that the deployment should not be happening at all.
It has been a week since Trump declared antifa a “domestic terrorist organization” and his authorization for the use of full force in Portland.
