(UPDATE: ADDED VIDEO AND ADDED QUOTES FROM REP. JANELLE BYNUM, ST. REP. EMERSON LEVY, AND STATEMENT FROM OREGON HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER CHRISTINE DAZAN)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — President Donald trump announced through his social media site Truth Social that he has asked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to deploy federal troops with “full force. The President also added that Portland is “war ravaged”.
This comes after the federal government has designated ANTIFA as a domestic terrorist group last Tuesday.
Former Oregon Representative and current Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer asked President Trump to send in federal troops.
In response to President Trump’s announcement, several politicians have released statements.
Oregon’s Democrat Federal Legislators released a statement that said in part,
“This unilateral action represents an abuse of executive authority, seeks to incite violence, and undermines the constitutional balance of power between the federal government and states.” Adding, “we urge you to rescind this decision, and withdraw any military personnel and federal agents you have recently sought to deploy.”
In addition, Representative Janelle Bynum held a virtual town hall to speak with local residents.
Rep. Bynum said,”This is a declaration of war on our city, and I won’t stand for it and neither should you. Now, ladies and gentlemen, it’s not the first time a President has unleashed the full power of this country onto its own people. We’ve seen this before in the Civil Rights Movement. We’ve seen this in manifest destiny. We’ve seen this before, but we haven’t seen this level of cowardly behavior.”
While most Democrat legislators are outraged there has been a divide over how the public should respond to it.
Rep. Bynum said in response to a question about how citizens should respond, “We have to form human chains. We have to get ahead of where they might be. We also have to make sure we provide a barrier and a deterrent for them to go anywhere. Do not give them any sort of respite. Do not make it comfortable, homey, exciting, wonderful, for his goons to take over in any part of our state.”
State Rep. Emerson Levy has a different view. State Rep. Levy said to KTVZ News, “Wherever federal troops come in Oregon, my advice is to stay home and don’t engage. Let’s show the entire nation that we are a peaceful state that engages in democracy and follows the law.”
Congresswoman Bynum has sent a letter to President Trump, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Secretary of Defense, demanding a meeting to discuss the legal basis and scope of troop deployments to Portland.
In part, the letter states:
“Decisions to deploy military forces domestically, especially in communities that did not request or require their presence, warrant clear legal justification, transparency, and oversight.”
Oregon
House Minority Leader, Christine Drazan said in a statement in part “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.”
KTVZ News has reached out to Congressman Cliff Bentz but have yet to hear back