{"id":274181,"date":"2025-10-03T09:21:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T09:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/274181\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T09:21:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T09:21:13","slug":"feds-blame-cruel-activists-for-need-to-deploy-troops-to-portland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/274181\/","title":{"rendered":"Feds blame \u2018cruel activists\u2019 for need to deploy troops to Portland"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration\u2019s deployment of 200 Oregon National Guard troops to Portland is \u201ctailored to the threat\u201d at the ICE building in the city, where \u201ccruel activists\u201d have used \u201cvicious tactics\u201d to damage the office and harass officers, Justice Department lawyers wrote<\/a> Thursday in their opposition to the state\u2019s challenge.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement building closed for three weeks from June 13 through July 7 after people protesting President Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown broke windows and security cameras, blocked the driveway, spray-painted violent threats on the property, tailed government vehicles leaving the building to homes or hotels, doxed ICE officers and menaced them at their residences, the lawyers<\/a> argued.<\/p>\n

The Federal Protective Service, the regular security force charged with protecting the office, \u201cis stretched to the point of collapse,\u201d providing 24-7 protection due to the lack of Portland police assistance, the lawyers said in their filing.<\/p>\n

The federal code\u2019s Title 10, Section 12406 allows President Trump to call up the Guard to thwart the \u201cdanger of a rebellion\u201d against U.S. government authority by large groups of protesters who are stopping federal officials from enforcing the law, they wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Portland ICE facility has been an especially risky site because of repeated and recent acts of violence, the Portland Police Department\u2019s inability to provide an adequate response, and a history of mob violence dating back to 2020, which has often been tolerated or excused by local and state officials,\u201d the lawyers wrote.<\/p>\n

The federal lawyers will square off with attorneys from the state and city of Portland at 10 a.m. Friday as the state and city urge U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut to issue a temporary order blocking the troop deployment.<\/p>\n

The federal response to Oregon\u2019s lawsuit contends the U.S. government was willing to pay for the National Guard deployment and leave the troops under the control of Gov. Tina Kotek if she had agreed to the president\u2019s directive. Kotek had 12 hours to make a decision last Saturday, the U.S. Justice Department lawyers said. <\/p>\n

Major General Timothy L. Rieger<\/a>, acting vice chief of the National Guard Bureau, said he received an email from Oregon\u2019s Adjutant General Alan R. Gronewold at 10:05 p.m. last Saturday informing him that Kotek had rejected Trump\u2019s offer to stand up the troops under her command. <\/p>\n

When she refused, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday mobilized 200 Oregon National Guard troops into federal service for 60 days under federal law, the response said.<\/p>\n

\"HomelandDepartment of Homeland Security urged more support for federal officers at Portland’s ICE building on Sept. 26, 2025, court records show.Court record<\/p>\n

The filing noted that Homeland Security requested more support at Portland\u2019s ICE facility two days after a sniper fired at a federal immigration office in Dallas killing two detainees and argued that the officers at the Portland ICE office faced an \u201cespecially high\u201d risk. The suspect died by suicide and was allegedly targeting ICE agents, not detainees, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Homeland Security\u2019s Sept. 26 memo requested support for ICE and Federal Protective Service in Portland who have come under \u201ccoordinated assault by violent groups\u201d intent on obstructing lawful federal enforcement. It claimed the groups were aligned with \u201cdomestic terrorist\u201d organizations and were working to impede immigration enforcement and deportations through \u201cviolent protest, intimidation and sabotage of federal operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe facility is subject to nightly protests, which risks escalation at any moment,\u201d Robert Cantu, deputy director of the Federal Protective Service Region 10 that covers Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska, said in a sworn statement filed in court.<\/p>\n

Rieger confirmed in court papers that no National Guard members are active in federal service in Portland as of Thursday but are in the process of being mobilized.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for the state and city have countered that protesters have dwindled in number in the last month and a half, that local police have the area \u201cunder control\u201d and that federal officers face no significant dangers, let alone anything approaching a \u201crebellion.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez filed a brief <\/a>in support of the city and state\u2019s attempt to block the troop deployment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe total number of mass demonstration cases is a fraction of what this office saw in 2020 and less on an annualized basis than we saw last year,\u201d Vasquez wrote. <\/p>\n

\u201cDemonstrations are not out of control in Portland. Portland is not a \u2018war zone.\u2019 \u2026 I believe based on my personal experience on the ground in the 2020 unrest that the deployment of federal personnel not trained in local policing to the streets of Portland risks creating, not mitigating, the very conditions it is alleged to target.\u201d<\/p>\n

California Gov. Gavin Newsom also filed a brief<\/a> Thursday in support of Oregon\u2019s challenge.<\/p>\n

He wrote that his state already suffered from the deployment of 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June \u2013 \u201charm to its sovereign interests and police powers, the physical and economic well-being of its residents, and the morale of its National Guard troops and their families. These same irreparable injuries will befall Oregon and Portland if Defendants\u2019 illegal federalization order is allowed to be carried out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal government argued that Oregon and Portland have failed to show how they\u2019ll be harmed by the troop deployment, noting that the 200 troops represent about 3% of the Oregon National Guard, and is \u201cminiscule,\u201d compared to the troops federalized in California.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Guard will only be protecting federal property and personnel \u2014 not engaging in law enforcement \u2014 and they will certainly not be exercising any police powers customarily performed by the State,\u201d the brief said.<\/p>\n

Justice Department lawyers and federal officials criticized the Portland Police Bureau for refusing to help federal officers at the immigration office.<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Protective Service requested help from the Portland Police Bureau to no avail, Cantu said.<\/p>\n

The Federal Protective Service typically would rely on the Police Bureau to assist with large-scale law enforcement operations at federal facilities in Portland, Cantu wrote. But police informed the agency that they would respond only to \u201clife\/safety\u201d situations and not immigration issues, he wrote.<\/p>\n

As a result, the Federal Protective Service brought in 115 officers to Portland to help \u201ccontain the violence\u201d and has spent more than $2 million in overtime pay and expenses to respond to protests since June 5, according to Cantu.<\/p>\n

Portland police have said their Central Precinct command has monitored events at the ICE building but hasn\u2019t sent officers there regularly because the situation didn\u2019t require it.<\/p>\n

Craig Dobson, a Police Bureau assistant chief of operations, also said federal agents were \u201cinstigating and causing some of the ruckus\u201d outside the ICE building and described federal officers using force that had no apparent purpose or substantially escalated tensions.<\/p>\n

Under Oregon\u2019s \u201csanctuary\u201d law, no state or local law enforcement agencies are allowed to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n

According to the federal government, Homeland Security\u2019s separate Portland Special Response Team, a tactical unit that does high-risk operations and responds to dangerous situations, has \u201cbeen depleted\u201d by having to reassign many of its officers to protect the ICE building seven days a week. The Federal Protective Service has relied almost exclusively on the ICE\u2019s Special Response Team for help.<\/p>\n

Instead of working with the federal officers, the city has demanded the removal of some of the boards covering the ICE building to protect its windows and presented a notice of a zoning violation for boarding up the building without design review approval, the federal filing said. <\/p>\n

Portland police records obtained by The Oregonian\/OregonLive do show they have turned down some of the requests to help federal officers at the ICE building. <\/p>\n

A Portland police activity log from June 17, for example, reads: \u201cICE Tom Persad requests PPB assist with clearing the street and driveway so they can exit the facility with their vehicles. I declined the request and explained our policy prohibiting us from helping with their operations. He understood, and will take appropriate measures to make this movement without PPB assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another police activity log entry on June 25 says:\u201d IF IT WERE NOT ICE, WE COULD ASSIST DIRECTLY CITY COUNCIL POSTURING AND MESSAGING AND NO PPB PRESENCE HEAVY HANDED FED RESPONSE FIRED UP AND GALVENIZED CROWD.”<\/p>\n

Cammilla H. Wamsley, the Seattle-based field office director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u2019s Enforcement and Removal Operations, said there are about 30 officers at the Portland immigration building responsible for enforcing immigration law. <\/p>\n

She said her officers have been assaulted with rocks, bricks and incendiary devices, including a lit flare thrown at the building in June. Protesters spray painted direct threats against ICE officers on the building, and have assembled at times a mock guillotine outside, she wrote in a sworn declaration<\/a> filed in court. <\/p>\n

The local Homeland Security Investigations office also received a tip that someone planned to detonate an explosive at the ICE office on Sept. 19, according to Wamsley. That month, Homeland Security Investigations sent three special response teams of agents to the Portland building as support.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department lawyers made the argument, as they did in the case of Guard troops deployed in California, that the Posse Comitatus Act is a criminal law, not an administrative law, so the state and city can\u2019t raise it as part of a civil claim. The act outlaws using the military to execute laws without congressional authorization.<\/p>\n

Regardless, the government reiterated that the troops in Portland are restricted to protecting federal officers and property and not authorized to execute any federal laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed, Plaintiffs brought this suit and seek extraordinary relief before the Guardsmen have even been deployed, and thus necessarily have no basis for their contention that the Guard will engage in law enforcement prescribed by the (Posse Comitatus Act,)\u201d they wrote. <\/p>\n

While the federal lawyers argue that the Guard members won\u2019t be involved in any law enforcement actions, Cantu of the Federal Protective Service wrote that the troops will provide his officers with \u201cdirect support related to federal facility protection, access control and crowd control measures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe National Guard members supporting FPS will be instructed to call an FPS officer anytime a law enforcement response at a federal facility is necessary and to wait for the FPS officer to respond, to the extent practicable,\u201d he wrote. \u201dFPS is very familiar with this type of arrangement, as it is similar to the relationship that FPS has with the contract security guards who do not have any law enforcement authority but provide facility protection, access control and crowd control.\u201d <\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer of San Francisco in his September injunction against the federalizing of California National Guard troops, said they were restricted from any crowd, traffic, security or riot control. His injunction is on hold, awaiting a full appeal before the 9th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals. <\/p>\n

The Justice Department lawyers, in their filing, said if a judge is inclined to grant any of the state\u2019s and the city\u2019s motion, it should be limited and bar \u201conly specific activities\u201d of the National Guard troops, not their full deployment to Portland. <\/p>\n

If an order is issued, they also urged it to be in the form of a longer-lasting preliminary injunction, and put on hold as the federal government likely would appeal, according to their filing.<\/p>\n

— Fedor Zarkhin of The Oregonian\/OregonLive contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Trump administration\u2019s deployment of 200 Oregon National Guard troops to Portland is \u201ctailored to the threat\u201d at…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":274182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[50,141949,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-274181","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-portland-ice-protest","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115309503542360840","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274181","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=274181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}