By CHRIS MEGERIAN and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN, WASHINGTON (AP):- Two hundred members of the Oregon National Guard are being placed under federal control and deployed to protect immigration enforcement officers and government facilities, according to a Defense Department memo received by state leaders on Sunday.
The deployment is being made over the objections of state leaders and is similar to one last summer in Los Angeles, where protesters demonstrated against deportation operations, but is on a much smaller scale.
There was no immediate comment from the White House. Multiple Pentagon officials were contacted, but none would confirm or deny the authenticity of the memo.
President Donald Trump had announced on Saturday that he would send troops to Portland. The state’s governor, Democrat Tina Kotek, said Sunday that she objected to the deployment in a conversation with the president.
“Oregon is our home — not a military target,” she said in a statement.
Dan Rayfield, the state attorney general, said he was filing a federal lawsuit arguing that Trump was overstepping his authority.
“What we’re seeing is not about public safety,” he said. “It’s about the president flexing political muscle under the guise of law and order, chasing a media hit at the expense of our community.”
The Pentagon memo provided by Oregon leaders drew a direct comparison between the deployment of thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June and the proposed deployment to the state, adding “This memorandum further implements the President’s direction.”
While the memorandum does not specifically cite Portland as the target of the proposed deployment, Trump, in a social media post on Saturday, said he directed the Pentagon, at the request of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, “to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.”
“I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary,” Trump added.
Unlike in Los Angeles, it does not appear that Trump or Hegseth are currently directing the deployment of active-duty troops to the state. The Trump administration deployed about 700 active-duty Marines to Los Angeles though they were withdrawn just over a month later.
The action also would be far less than Trump’s deployment to Washington, D.C., where more than 1,000 National Guard troops, including units from other states, have patrolled the streets for weeks. He also has been suggesting that he will send troops into Chicago, but so far has not done so.