Federal show of force appears confined to Portland ICE facility so far. Governor is consulting with state attorney general and fellow Democratic governors on response
By Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle
Oregon leaders say President Donald Trump did not consult with state and local officials or law enforcement agencies before announcing Saturday that he would deploy troops to what he described as the “war-ravaged” city of Portland.
“Portland’s doing just fine, and I made that very clear to the president this morning,” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said at an afternoon press conference in downtown Portland along the Willamette River. “Our city is a far cry from the war-ravaged community that he has posted about on social media and I conveyed that directly to him.”
As of Saturday afternoon, it appears a deployment of federal officers to the area has so far been limited to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility south of downtown Portland, where armored trucks were seen Friday evening going in and out of the building.
The Democratic governor said she reached out to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Trump on Saturday morning, after she learned of the potential deployment from Trump’s Truth Social post. She said she told Noem and Trump, in brief and separate calls, that any federal military deployment to police the city is not welcome.
Kotek was joined by several local and state leaders, including Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, two Portland-area U.S. members of Congress, Reps. Andrea Salinas and Suzanne Bonamici, both Democrats, and Portland Police Chief Bob Day.
Ashland Rep. Pam Marsh calls planned Portland troop deployment ‘horrific’
State Rep. Pam Marsh is decrying President Donald Trump’s plan to send military troops to Portland. Marsh, a Democrat from Ashland, told The Oregonian/OregonLive, “I think the Portland delegation of legislators is going to take the lead on this, although, from my vantage point, hundreds of miles away, it’s horrific and unnecessary and inappropriate.”
“My impression is there is no more information available to legislators at this moment than is in the news. So we have no idea which troops are coming and when,” Marsh said. “I’ll share anything that seems useful. I just haven’t heard anything useful.”
— Rogue Valley Times staff and wire reports
Day said the federal agents do not have to share their operational plans with local law enforcement.
“I do know that there are more federal law enforcement officers here designated to provide security for the buildings and, in their mind, try and provide a higher level of security for their staff and employees,” Day said.
He reiterated that the Portland Police Bureau, in a sanctuary county in a sanctuary state, does not engage in immigration enforcement.
There have been ongoing protests outside of the Portland ICE field office since June, and despite them being mostly nonviolent, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has brought federal charges against 26 protestors for crimes including arson, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest.
Trump in his social media post did not specify what legal justification he had to deploy troops to Oregon, what military branch would be used or other key details. The troops would be used to defend U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities from “domestic terrorists,” he said.
A 19th-century law, the Posse Comitatus Act, generally forbids military members from conducting domestic law enforcement. Kotek said she is coordinating with state Attorney General Dan Rayfield to see if any legal response is necessary.
“We will be prepared to respond if we have to,” Kotek said about a potential lawsuit against the federal government.
Kotek said she has not heard from any other state governors about their National Guard troops being called upon by Trump to be deployed to Oregon. Kotek, as head of the Oregon National Guard, has said repeatedly she would not deploy Oregon troops.
She said she has been in touch with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom to learn from their experiences with Trump’s federal troop deployments. The White House shelved plans to send the guard to Chicago after Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson made clear they would not cooperate, and Trump’s advisors warned it would draw legal challenges.
Oregon House minority speaker Christine Drazane, R-Canby, said in an email statement that she supports the federal military deployment.
“The ICE facility in Portland has been subject to months of dangerously chaotic protests that have put residents and federal agents in harm’s way. The governor’s assertion that there is no national security threat and the mayor’s assertion that everything is fine is tone-deaf,” she said.
Kotek said the federal intervention is counter-productive and more likely to incite than quell any violence. Renewed calls for protest at the facility at 4 p.m. Sunday were circulating on social media Saturday.
“Any federal takeover with military troops in our state is a threat to communities across Oregon. It violates our right to govern ourselves. It interferes with local law enforcement’s ability to fulfill their mission, and frankly, it drains taxpayer resources that could be better spent elsewhere,” Kotek said. “Again, I communicated that to the president directly: Oregon is our home. It is not a military target. Any deployment would be an abuse of power and a misuse of federal troops.”
Alex Baumhardt has been a national radio producer focusing on education for American Public Media since 2017. She has reported from the Arctic to the Antarctic for national and international media, and from Minnesota and Oregon for The Washington Post. This story first appeared in the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
Related article: Trump to deploy troops to Portland, Oregon, vows ‘Full Force’ (Sept. 27, 2025)
