The state of Oregon has launched legal action in federal court to prevent the deployment of 200 National Guard troops to Portland, accusing President Donald Trump of misrepresenting the city as “war ravaged”.
Governor Tina Kotek said she had been informed by the Pentagon that the president had assumed control of the state’s reservists, citing powers to quell “rebellion” or disorder. Speaking at a press conference, she insisted there was no justification for military intervention.
“When the president and I spoke yesterday, I told him in very plain language that there is no insurrection, or threat to public safety that necessitates military intervention in Portland,” Kotek said.
A memorandum signed by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, and obtained by the Washington Post, confirmed that 200 members of the Oregon National Guard had been called into federal service for 60 days, effective immediately.
Oregon’s attorney general, Dan Rayfield, described the move as “unlawful”, arguing it was not prompted by foreign invasion or widespread unrest, but by a small protest involving dozens of activists outside a single Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office.
“Let’s be clear, local law enforcement has this under control,” Kotek said. “We have free speech demonstrations happening near one federal facility. Portland police are actively engaged in managing those, with federal staff at the facility, and when people cross the line into unlawful activity, they are being held accountable.”
The state’s lawsuit contends that Trump’s claims of the ICE facility being “under siege”, and of life in Portland being “like living in Hell”, were based on a Fox News broadcast earlier this month. That report combined footage of the current protest with video from much larger demonstrations in 2020, filmed in a different part of the city.
Rayfield accused the president of either deliberately misleading the public or relying on “social media gossip” about conditions in Portland.
Kotek said she had attempted to correct Trump’s understanding during a phone call on Saturday, telling him he had been misinformed. “When he says to me that the federal courthouse is under attack, that is absolutely not true,” she said.
The Fox News segment in question included images of a 2020 protest outside Portland’s federal courthouse, wrongly described as part of the current demonstration.
“Some demonstrations are happening at one federal facility, and they are being managed on a regular basis by local law enforcement,” Kotek said. “If that is the only issue he is raising, he has been given bad information. We cannot be looking at footage from 2020 and assume that that is the case today in Portland.”
