By Tuesday night, the National Guard had yet to appear in Portland, and details about their impending deployment remained unclear.
What hasn’t changed is President Donald Trump’s attacks on the city, and claims that Portland is under siege. In a statement Tuesday full of inflammatory rhetoric, the White House said it would use federal resources to “stop Antifa-led hellfire” and bring an end to the “Radical Left’s reign of terror in Portland.”
“What’s happening in Portland isn’t protest,” the statement said. “It’s premeditated anarchy.”
The statement arrived three days after Trump announced he would deploy 200 Oregon National Guard members to “protect” Portland and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility for 60 days.
City and state leaders have scrambled to stall Trump’s actions and tell the president he’s misinformed.
Here’s what we know so far.
Why is Trump sending troops to Portland?
In a Truth Social post Saturday morning, Trump said he was sending troops to Portland because Kristi Noem, his secretary of homeland security, asked him to. He said the city was under siege by antifa and “other domestic terrorists,” but did not cite a specific incident.
Antifa — short for anti-fascist" — is not the name of an organization, but an umbrella term often used to describe far-left activists and protesters, including those who wear all-black clothing to obscure their identities.
Portland, like many U.S. cities, saw protests break out early this summer against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. They have been held mainly outside the city’s ICE processing center in South Portland. The building is about 2 miles from the city's core.
Anti-ICE protesters in Oregon often convene outside the agency's Portland site, where federal officers interview immigrants or temporarily detain people before sending them to a detention center, with the closest one being in Tacoma.
Protests outside Portland's ICE facility this year haven't matched the intensity of those the city experienced in 2020 or 2021, however, though they have been held almost nightly since June. And while federal officers have had some skirmishes with protesters, the gatherings have dwindled in recent months, rarely drawing more than 30 people, officials said.
That's not the way the White House describes it.
In its statement Tuesday, the White House said “Antifa militants” have violently attacked Portland’s ICE facility and its employees since June, and that Democrat politicians who say otherwise are denying reality.
Among them is Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, who told Trump in a brief phone call Saturday the information he’d received about Portland was false.
How are people reacting?
City and state leaders were quick and unified in their responses calling Trump’s decision unwarranted, unlawful and unwanted.
“Military service members should be dedicated to real emergencies,” Kotek said during a sunny Saturday news conference on the downtown Portland waterfront, as joggers and bicyclists passed by and boats drifted along the sparkling river. “They are not needed in this city.”
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, joined by 12 other Oregon mayors, urged Trump to reverse his order, calling it unnecessary and likely to inflame tensions.
"The number of troops we want is zero," Wilson said. “The justification for their presence in our cities is either a misunderstanding, or a lie.”
The city and state sued the Trump administration Monday, alleging the order violates the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which gives states authority over public safety, and requesting a temporary restraining order that would block troops’ deployment in Portland.
A federal court hearing about the request is scheduled Friday morning in Portland, the Oregon Department of Justice said in a statement.
Some locals and tourists have reacted to Trump's order with humor, rather than dismay.
One TikTok user posted a video Saturday of “the war zone” across the street from Portland’s ICE facility, where four protesters — one dressed as a chicken — could be seen waving signs at passing cars. He said he didn’t dare get any closer, lest the protesters offer him cookies.
“Close call,” U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., joked in a comment on the post. “You barely got out of there alive.”
Is Trump's order legal?
Attorneys for Portland and state of Oregon don’t think so.
They argue the order fails to meet any legal requirements to federalize the state’s National Guard and their lawsuit accuses Trump of targeting Portland "for political retribution."
Portland leaders have clashed with ICE during the 10 days before Trump's announcement.
On Sept. 18, Portland notified ICE it had breached its land use agreement with the city more than two dozen times over 10 months, including by repeatedly holding detainees at its Portland facility for over 12 hours and boarding up its first-floor windows.
The next day, Wilson asked the Department of Homeland Security to investigate after The Oregonian published "deeply troubling" footage of federal officers hitting and pepper spraying nonviolent protesters outside Portland's ICE facility.
Six days later, The Oregonian reported that the Portland Police Bureau's assistant chief said in sworn testimony that federal officers at the ICE facility were "instigating" clashes with protesters and "causing some of the ruckus that's occurring down there.
Trump posted his Truth Social announcement two days later.
Oregon isn’t the first state to object after the president has sought to deploy troops there, seemingly in response to protests critical of his administration. A federal judge granted an injunction in California last month blocking the use of the National Guard in Los Angeles.
Trump didn’t face roadblocks after deploying federal troops to Washington, D.C., a district where he has that authority, and Memphis, where Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee requested their presence.
When will troops arrive?
After being notified of an assignment, it takes about 96 hours for troops' boots to hit the ground, Oregon National Guard spokesperson Col. Stephen Bomar told multiple outlets after Saturday's announcement.
Because the department was notified Sunday morning, troops could arrive in Portland as early as Thursday. But Bomar told Oregon Public Broadcasting it would likely take longer, partly because of a lack of coordination between federal, state and local agencies.
Before arriving in Portland, all 200 National Guard members assigned there would need to have their qualifications verified, and some might need more training, the outlet reported Monday.
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