President Donald Trump is directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to send U.S. troops to Portland, he said Saturday on Truth Social, making the extraordinary pronouncement that he is greenlighting the use of “Full Force, if necessary” in an American city.
“At the request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists,” he wrote.
Further details about the president’s actions were not immediately clear — including what legal authority the president would rely on to authorize “full force” of the military in Oregon. A federal law, the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, generally bars the president from using federal troops to enforce domestic law.
The order came as a surprise to many in the Pentagon, and several officials were unsure what the orders will actually entail.
One official, who was granted anonymity to discuss the order candidly, said they expect it to be a National Guard mission that would look similar to Los Angeles and Washington, which was focused on “supporting federal and local law enforcement,” by doing logistics and and not much more.
The official was unclear on what the president’s claim that “full force” was authorized meant.
In a statement, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said her team has been “provided no information on the reason or purpose of any military mission,” and that her office is reaching out to the Trump administration for more information.
“There is no national security threat in Portland. Our communities are safe and calm,” the Democrat said. “I ask Oregonians to stay calm and enjoy a beautiful fall day.”
The White House and the Defense Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Portland officials, including Mayor Keith Wilson, warned of an influx of federal agents throughout the city in a press conference Friday night.
“We did not ask for them to come,” Wilson told reporters. “They are here without clear precedent or purpose. We have seen that their presence harms commerce and prosperity and opportunity in other cities like Washington, D.C.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) begged the city’s residents on Friday to “say we are not going to take the bait.”
“This is the ‘don’t take the bait press conference,’” he said. ”Our responsibility is to, yes express our views, yes to protest. But best done at a distance from these federal troops, wherever they might be and whatever they are doing. Because their goal is to create an engagement. An engagement that will lead to conflict.”
A spokesperson for Wilson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
The president first sent U.S. troops to Los Angeles in June, after sporadic protests against his immigration agenda turned violent. In recent months, he has weighed deploying the National Guard — in cities ranging from Chicago, Memphis, New Orleans and New York — in the name of tackling street crime.
And in the nation’s capital, the president has asserted more control of the law enforcement apparatus. Trump placed the district’s police department under federal authority and called in the National Guard last month. Administration officials have since boasted of a major decrease in crime in Washington, even though the vast majority of D.C. residents oppose the federal takeover.
Trump’s powers to deploy federal troops domestically has already been challenged in court. A federal judge in September found that his use of military troops in Los Angeles was illegal. That district court judge paused his own ruling, and it was stayed by a federal appellate court while the appeal is ongoing.
Following the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Trump this week signed an executive order designating Antifa — a decentralized movement that federal officials have sometimes characterized as an ideology — as a domestic terror organization, despite there being no legal mechanism for a president to do so.
Trump considered such a move in his first term, as protests raged across the country after the police killing of George Floyd in the summer of 2020. And while critics are skeptical that the order will pass legal muster, Trump’s allies cheered the move as evidence that the president is willing to go further than ever before to investigate the left.
Officials in the largely Democratic city and state quickly condemned Trump’s announcement. Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), who represents parts of the city in Congress, called on residents to protest the “authoritarian actions” of Trump.
“Portland stands united in peace, in unity and in protest against the authoritarian actions of our leader,” she said in a video posted to X shortly after Trump’s announcement. “Let me be clear: Local, state and federal officials have been preparing for this possibility and we will use every tool at our disposal — public pressure, litigation, legislation — to oppose this authoritarian actions. Stay peaceful, stay together and stand undivided.”
Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read, who previously represented Portland in the state legislature, wrote on social media that Trump’s directive “should chill every American to their core,” calling for people to “peacefully say: no troops on our streets.”
Also last week, a gunman shot three immigrant detainees at a Dallas Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, killing one, in what authorities say was an attempt to go after ICE agents. The Department of Homeland Security announced that it plans to boost spending on security at ICE facilities all over the country in the wake of the attack.
Joe Gould contributed to this report.
