(Los Angeles) In Oregon, two hundred members of the State National Guard are being placed under federal control and deployed to protect immigration agents and government facilities, according to a note from the Ministry of Defense received on Sunday by state leaders.
The deployment carried out despite the objections of state leaders is reminiscent of the one that took place last summer in Los Angeles, where demonstrators protested against expulsion operations
The White House did not comment immediately. Several Pentagon officials have been contacted, but none have confirmed or deny the authenticity of the note.
President Donald Trump announced on Saturday the sending of troops to Portland. State governor, Democrat Tina Kotek, said on Sunday that she opposed this deployment during a conversation with the president.
“Oregon is our house, not a military target,” she said in a statement.
Dan Rayfield, the state prosecutor general, announced that he was intersecting federal legal action, arguing that Donald Trump was going beyond his powers.
“What we see does not concern public security,” he said. It is a demonstration of political force of the president under the guise of maintenance of order, seeking to obtain a media blow to the detriment of our community. »»
The Pentagon note provided by Oregon leaders established a direct comparison between the deployment of thousands of national guard soldiers in Los Angeles in June and the proposed deployment in the state, adding: “This memorandum implements the president’s directive. »»
The memorandum does not cite specifically Portland as a target of the proposed deployment. However, Donald Trump said on a message published on the social networks on Saturday he asked for the Pentagon, at the request of the Kristi Internal Security Secretary Kristi Noem, “to provide all the troops necessary to protect Portland, ravaged by the war, and all our ICE installations besieged by antifa attacks and other national terrorists”.
“I also authorize the use of maximum force if necessary,” added the American president.
Unlike Los Angeles, it does not seem that Mr. Trump or Mr. Hegseth are currently ordering the deployment of troops in active service in this state. In June, the Trump administration had deployed around 700 navies in Los Angeles. Their withdrawal took place just over a month later.
In August, the president ordered the deployment of more than 1000 soldiers of the National Guard who have patrol the streets for weeks. He also suggested sending troops to Chicago, but has not yet done so.
Oregon includes a trial to prevent Trump from deploying the army
Oregon state authorities 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 Varieux City in Oregon, 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.
