Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon is “wholly pretextual” and designed to stir up unrest to justify surging the military and federal law enforcement into the city, according to a federal lawsuit from Oregon officials.
The lawsuit follows the president’s Truth Social directive calling on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “provide all necessary Troops” to the “War ravaged” city while claiming Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities are “under siege from attack by Antifa and other domestic terrorists.”
Trump also said he is authorizing “Full Force, if necessary,” raising alarms that the president was preparing for U.S. military personnel to fire on civilians.
The lawsuit — which names Trump, Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as defendants — argues that the president’s “provocative and arbitrary actions threaten to undermine public safety by inciting a public outcry.”
“The facts cannot justify this overreach,” according to attorneys for Oregon and the city of Portland.
While the administration’s rhetoric appears focused on ongoing protests outside an ICE facility, the crowd has diminished in recent weeks, and protests have “not necessitated any arrests since mid-June,” according to the lawsuit.
But Trump’s “heavy-handed deployment of troops threatens to escalate tensions and stokes new unrest,” with recently deployed law enforcement forced to respond “to the predictable consequences” of the president’s actions, the complaint states.
Trump has similarly surged federal law enforcement into several Democratic-led states and cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., while Memphis is also preparing for federal agents to arrive as soon as this week.
California sued the administration in the wake of Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops and U.S. Marines into Los Angeles in response to protests against large-scale immigration raids and arrests.
A federal judge earlier this month determined that the administration illegally deployed military assets into the Los Angeles area in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which prohibits the military from enforcing domestic law.
Trump — whose efforts appeared designed to create “a national police force with the president as its chief” — deployed troops to southern California “ostensibly to quell a rebellion and ensure that federal immigration law was enforced,” according to the ruling from California District Judge Charles Breyer.
But “there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law,” he added.
The president instead illegally and “systematically used armed soldiers (whose identity was often obscured by protective armor) and military vehicles to set up protective perimeters and traffic blockades, engage in crowd control, and otherwise demonstrate a military presence in and around Los Angeles.”
Oregon officials are similarly arguing that the president’s “patently unlawful” threats are in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, as well as Tenth Amendment protections ensuring that police authority rests with the states, not the federal government.
The administration’s “stated basis for federalizing members of Oregon’s National Guard is patently pretextual and baseless,” Oregon officials argued.
Trump singled out a “particular disfavored jurisdiction for political retribution” and seeks to “eviscerate the constitutional principle that the states’ sovereignty should be treated equally,” they argued.
Speaking to reporters Sunday, Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek said she told Trump that there was no public threat requiring military intervention in Portland, or any other city in the state.
“Despite this, and with all evidence to the contrary, he has chosen to disregard Oregonians’ safety,” she said. “This is not necessary, and I believe it’s unlawful.”
Trump’s troop deployment also follows a pair of executive actions targeting left-wing groups and dissent, with a promise to launch a government-wide counterterrorism campaign against his political and ideological opponents.
Protesters have demonstrated against ICE and other federal facilities in Portland for years, notably during Trump’s first administration as nationwide demonstrations against police violence escalated into days-long clashes with police and federal agents.
This summer, Portland police declared a riot outside the ICE facility and arrested more than 20 people. But the streets have largely remained empty in the weeks that followed despite sporadic protests targeting the president’s anti-immigration agenda, with state and local officials fiercely objecting to his characterization of the progressive West Coast enclave as a war zone.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson defended the administration’s actions to make Portland “safer.”
“President Trump is using his lawful authority to direct the National Guard to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following months of violent riots where officers have been assaulted and doxxed by left-wing rioters,” she said.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell the president called 200 Guard troops “to deter rampant lawlessness within Portland and to enable Federal law-enforcement officers to safely conduct their duties.”
