{"id":267168,"date":"2025-09-30T18:39:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T18:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/267168\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T18:39:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T18:39:25","slug":"trump-says-its-anarchy-in-portland-heres-why-locals-say-thats-far-from-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/267168\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says \u2018it\u2019s anarchy\u2019 in Portland. Here\u2019s why locals say that\u2019s far from reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Most people in Portland, Oregon, don\u2019t mind if you think they\u2019re weird. In fact, it\u2019s practically a trademark<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe do have a lot of weirdos here,\u201d Sarah Siano, who has lived in the city off and on since 2010, says with a smile.\n <\/p>\n

\n But to hear President Donald Trump tell it, Portland is the latest city taken over by terrorists and in desperate need of federal salvation, making its weirdness something else entirely.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s anarchy out there,\u201d Trump said last week in the Oval Office, days before announcing the federalization of 200 members of the Oregon National Guard<\/a> for a period of 60 days.\n <\/p>\n

\n The president is citing daily protests outside the city\u2019s Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility <\/strong>to justify the latest of his troop callups in a major city with a Democratic-led government.\n <\/p>\n

\n The anarchy described by the president is strongly disputed by locals who say they don\u2019t want or need federal help.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt kind of feels like somebody\u2019s trying to rage bait you,\u201d Siano said. \u201cThey\u2019re just trying to get that negative reaction.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The state and the city government took their concerns a step further Sunday, filing a lawsuit<\/a> against the Trump administration and calling the president\u2019s move \u201cunlawful\u201d and \u201cbaseless.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere is no insurrection,\u201d Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said Saturday.
\u201cThere is no threat to national security, and there is no need for military troops in our major city.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n As they await a federal judge\u2019s decision on whether to block the Guard deployment \u2013 and continue to emphasize<\/a> their \u201csanctuary city\u201d status \u2013 Portland officials remain at odds with Trump over their view that the city needs no additional federal presence.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cPresident Trump has directed \u2018all necessary Troops\u2019 to Portland, Oregon,\u201d Mayor Keith Wilson said<\/a> Saturday. \u201cThe number of necessary troops is zero.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Getting an exact record of clashes between protesters and law enforcement is difficult because most of the standoff has been between demonstrators and federal agents, with Portland Police declining to get involved unless there is a safety threat to the general public.\n <\/p>\n

\n Portland Police Bureau logs show more than 100 calls made to the address of the ICE building this year. Listed reasons include \u201cdisorder,\u201d \u201cunwanted person\u201d\ufeff and shots fired.\n <\/p>\n

\"Protesters<\/p>\n

\n The tension reached its peak during one week in June, when a half-dozen protesters were arrested for allegedly starting<\/a> fires<\/a> around the building and more<\/a> were accused of interfering with law enforcement.\n <\/p>\n

\n On June 14, a protest organized in connection with the national \u201cNo Kings\u201d<\/a> movement turned violent as some demonstrators arrived at the ICE facility. Police declared a riot<\/a> outside the building \u2013 the only time this year \u2013 and made three arrests<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Portland Police continued to monitor the area for the following week, resulting in four minor arrests, including one for DUI. Later that month, the building was closed for several days after federal law enforcement forcibly removed protesters who refused to leave federal property.\n <\/p>\n

\n The area outside the ICE facility has been calmer since the dramatic events of June, but the tan brick and stucco building in an industrial area has more layers of fencing, its lower-level windows have been blocked by plywood and a concrete retaining wall is covered in anti-ICE graffiti.\n <\/p>\n

\n Still, contrary to the president\u2019s depiction of constant violent lawlessness, neighbors say most of the time there is little to see.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI live within a thousand feet of the ICE facility,\u201d Lashawnda Shavers told CNN affiliate KPTV<\/a> on Sunday. \u201cThere are no fires, there\u2019s no lynching, there\u2019s no rioting, there\u2019s no looting, there\u2019s no attacks or assaults.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Neighbors have repeatedly complained about the tear gas periodically being deployed against protesters. It wafts down the street in such a thick cloud that a nearby charter school<\/a> was moved a mile away earlier this month to get away from the gas.\n <\/p>\n

\n And some Portland residents say they\u2019re fed up with all of it.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201c(Protesters) are making noise constantly, even when nobody from ICE is outside,\u201d David Schmidt told CNN affiliate KATU<\/a>. \u201cSo for hours they would be out here just disrupting the public here that lives here.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Trump seems to describe 2020 scenes in his criticism of Portland<\/p>\n

\n This isn\u2019t the first time Trump has sent federal law enforcement to Portland to deal with protesters. More than 700 officers were deployed in 2020 to protect federal facilities in downtown Portland as some protests turned violent following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.\n <\/p>\n

\"Protesters<\/p>\n

\n Dozens of those officers did not have sufficient training in handling crowd control, according to a report <\/a>by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General.\n <\/p>\n

\n Those frequently violent protests in downtown Portland stretched on<\/a> for more than 100 days and became a top target for conservative leaders who argued Democratic leaders of major cities were being too soft on criminals.\n <\/p>\n

\n At the time, Trump called<\/a> the protesters \u201canarchists and agitators,\u201d and his view of Portland today appears to be strongly influenced by the protests of five years ago.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe few shops that are open, they just use plywood \u2026 They don\u2019t put store fronts because they know it\u2019s going to be burned down,\u201d Trump said last week, describing a scene that is neither the current state of downtown Portland nor the South Waterfront community where the ICE building sits.\n <\/p>\n

\"Protesters<\/p>\n

\n But residents say that depiction of the heart of their city is behind the times.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cFor him to start making these comments again when I would say it\u2019s like more of a renaissance of downtown, it\u2019s just really ironic,\u201d Siano said.\n <\/p>\n

\n The president\u2019s years-old view of the city may be influenced by his own media habits. He first began floating the idea of a Portland deployment weeks ago, on the same day that Fox News \u2013 famously Trump\u2019s outlet of choice \u2013 aired a story<\/a> about the protests that mixed recent footage of standoffs at the ICE facility with older footage of the downtown rioting.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know that was still going on,\u201d Trump mused on September 5.\n <\/p>\n

\n Local officials believe the deployment is an attempt to provoke demonstrators to violence and before Trump\u2019s announcement, they were already urging them to stay peaceful.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cTheir goal is to create an engagement \u2013 an engagement that will lead to conflict,\u201d said Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley in a Friday night news conference. \u201cPresident Trump has one goal. His goal is to make Portland look like what he\u2019s been describing it as. Let\u2019s not grant him that wish.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n At least one prominent politician from Oregon is supporting the move.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen firsthand how lawlessness has transformed Portland from a beautiful place to live to a crime-ridden war zone. Thank you, @POTUS<\/a>, for taking action to keep our ICE facilities protected and Make America Safe Again!,\u201d Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer wrote in a post on X.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\n Chavez-DeRemer, a Republican, is a former member of Congress who represented a district that includes a very small section of the city of Portland near the ICE building.\n <\/p>\n

\n The idea that federal agents can make a tense situation worse appears to be a concern shared by Portland Police.\n <\/p>\n

\n Assistant Police Chief Craig Dobson said this summer federal agents \u201chave been, night after night, actually instigating and causing some of the ruckus that\u2019s occurring down there,\u201d adding that ICE is \u201cnot following best practice,\u201d The Oregonian reported<\/a>. His testimony was part of a lawsuit filed against the city by a local resident who <\/strong>argued the city has failed to punish demonstrators who violate noise ordinances and disturb the peace of the neighborhood.\n <\/p>\n

\n Following the announcement of the National Guard deployment, Kotek and Wilson were both part of a march<\/a> against federal escalation Sunday, KATU reported<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n More than 100 people then gathered Sunday outside the ICE building, including counter protesters, which police said led to fights among the crowd. Portland Police made two arrests<\/a>, their first at the location since mid-summer, according to the city\u2019s lawsuit against the federal government.\n <\/p>\n

\n Rep. Maxine Dexter, a Democrat whose district includes most of Portland and who also participated in the march, said she hopes demonstrators will avoid confrontation at the ICE building.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cDonald Trump is watching video of what\u2019s happening down there,\u201d she told KATU Sunday. \u201cI would love it if we keep that as quiet as possible. Leave flowers. Walk by peacefully, but agitation down there is just going to backfire on all of us.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But with the Trump administration determined to make Portland its next test case on ramping up force, some residents wonder if keeping calm will make a difference.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019m pissed that this is about to happen because it\u2019s ridiculous,\u201d Shavers said Monday, according to KATU<\/a>. \u201cIf the president actually had been out here and seen what\u2019s really going on, maybe he would change his mind.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most people in Portland, Oregon, don\u2019t mind if you think they\u2019re weird. In fact, it\u2019s practically a trademark.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":267169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[50,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-267168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115294710615657541","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}