(Los Angeles) The authorities of the State of Oregon brought a trial on Sunday to prevent the deployment of the army in the city of Portland, in the northwest of the country, the day after the announcement of this measure by Donald Trump.
The republican president, who has already deployed the army in the democratic cities of Los Angeles, Washington and Memphis, had threatened in early September to send the National Guard to Portland, the scene of major demonstrations in May 2020, during his first mandate, after the murder by African-American police George Floyd.
According to Donald Trump, these deployments are necessary to combat crime and demonstrations against immigration police (ICE).
The complaint filed on Sunday by the Oregon and Portland authorities accuses Mr. Trump of abuse of power, affirming that this decision “was motivated by his desire to normalize the use of the army for ordinary activities for maintaining internal order”, in particular in the courts led by his political opponents.
Since his return to power in January, Trump has erected the fight against illegal immigration in absolute priority, evoking an “invasion” of the United States by “criminals from abroad” and communicating abundantly on expulsions, of which the ICE is one of the main instruments.
Several demonstrations and actions against the ICE have hatched across the country, especially in so-called “sanctuar” cities, such as Portland-la de l’Oregon largest city, which protect migrants in an irregular situation threatened with expulsion.
In recent weeks, the Republican has also been committed to combating the violence he attributes to an alleged network of left -wing “national terrorists”, an initiative that his detractors qualify as attempted to silence the dissent.
In their complaint, Oregon authorities said it was not necessary to deploy the National Guard to Portland because, contrary to what Donald Trump said, the demonstrations against ICE were peaceful and small.
In recent weeks, demonstrators in Portland and other cities have intermittently blocked the entries of the ICE premises, causing clashes when the agents tried to release the premises.
In response to the announcement made on Saturday by Mr. Trump, Oregon Democrat Governor Tina Kotek said that she had received no information or calendar concerning the deployment of troops.
