鬼百合
One day we will wake to his obituary :-)
‘Wipe them out’: Trump weighs sending feds to quell Portland protests
"I'm going to look at it now," Trump said regarding potentially sending troops into Portland.
www.oregonlive.com
President Donald Trump said Friday that protesters had ruined Portland and implied he would consider sending National Guard troops to “wipe them out.”
Trump has stoked controversy nationally in recent months by deploying National Guard troops in cities and voicing plans to continue to do so in other cities.
His decision to deploy troops in Los Angeles in June was a major contributor to the ongoing protests at Portland’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on South Macadam Avenue. The protests outside the building have ebbed and flowed, with peak activity occurring around mid-June and July 4.
Clashes between protesters and federal agents flared again Sept. 1 and were broadcast on Fox News. Speaking during a Friday news interview, Trump said he hadn’t been considering Portland for a troop deployment, but was “going to look at it now” after learning about the protests on television the previous night.
He said the protesters were “paid terrorists,” citing as proof the apparent quality of the signs he saw protesters carry.
“When we go there — if we go to Portland, we’re going to wipe them out. They’re going to be gone,“ Trump said. ”They’ve ruined that city. I have people that used to live in Portland. They’ve left. Most of them have left, but what they’ve done to that place is just, it’s like, it’s like living in hell."
Portland ICE Protest -- June 14, 2025Mark Graves/The Oregonian
The White House did not immediately respond to questions regarding whether Trump’s comments meant he did intend to send troops to Portland and, if so, when.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson rejected the substance of Trump’s statements.
“Like other mayors across the country, I have not asked for — and do not need — federal intervention. We are proud that Portland police have successfully protected freedom of expression while addressing occasional violence and property destruction that takes place during protests at the ICE facility in Portland," the mayor said in a statement, adding:
“We anticipate that the site, and the half-block surrounding it, will continue to be a focus of protests. Portland will continue to rise to the moment as a proud sanctuary city, taking legal action to stand up for our community and our rights.”
At the height of Portland’s ICE protests in June, including when one was declared a riot, Wilson said the city does not need federal intervention.
“Deploying military troops to the heart of an American city, as the administration has in Los Angeles, is an unwarranted, unprecedented, and unconstitutional action,” Wilson said in a statement at the time.
More than two dozen people have been arrested since June outside the ICE building on a variety of federal charges, including allegations of assaulting an officer, failure to obey orders and destruction of government property. They are being prosecuted in federal court.
The recurring clashes between protesters and federal immigration agents have riled some neighbors and businesses nearby. One resident of a low-income housing apartment filed a lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court to compel the city to have police enforce noise ordinances around the area. A judge ruled in favor of the city last month but expressed sympathy to the resident and others at the apartment.
Outside the Portland ICE office after a protest
To deploy the Oregon National Guard, Trump would have to federalize the troops under the Insurrection Act, because the troops are otherwise under Gov. Tina Kotek’s command.
Kotek’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Her office said in a statement last week that the federal government had “not made any indication that there will be attempts to deploy military troops in Oregon.”
Portland Police Chief Bob Day said this week that he has spoken with the Los Angeles police chief and Los Angeles County sheriff to understand how those cities have responded to Trump’s order sending in troops.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a statement Friday that if Trump sends troops into Oregon, “we will not hesitate to take action in court.”
“Oregon is a safe place, and we intend to keep it that way,” Rayfield said. “The president may have a lot of power, but he has to stay in his lane — and if he doesn’t, we’ll hold him accountable.”
Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson accused Trump of “wasting your tax dollars to attack cities who value diversity and stand up for our immigrant and refugee neighbors.”
“It’s uncalled for and unnecessary,” she said in a statement late Friday. “Recent reports show that Portland has seen a rapid decline in homicides and other violent crime this year, and crime has been trending downward overall for multiple years.”
After setting city records for homicides during the pandemic, Portland has recorded 25 killings this year, less than half the number at this time a year ago.
“If the President truly wanted to help Portland and Multnomah County, he would reverse his callous cuts to public health and safety net services like Medicaid — decisions that harm people in red and blue states alike,“ Vega Pederson said. ”The president’s policies are supercharging an affordability crisis that is hitting us hard locally, raising the cost of food, housing and medicine for thousands of our residents."
