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() The state of Oregon is fighting back against the Trump administration’s plan to move National Guard troops into the city of Portland.
State officials filed a lawsuit against the administration, saying they do not have the legal right to make that decision. President Donald Trump has called the city “war-ravaged” and said troops would be empowered to use “full force,” without defining what that means, to deal with antifa, a group he said has domestic terrorists.
There have been peaceful protests outside of an ICE facility in Portland, but they quickly turned tense on Sunday after crowds and agents had a heated confrontation that led to pepper bullets being fired. Two people were arrested in the aftermath of the protest.
Within hours of receiving notice that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered 200 Oregon National Guard troops to be deployed under federal authority, the state of Oregon moved to block it. Democratic Oregon Gov. Gina Kotek called the move “unnecessary and an abuse of power by the Trump administration.”
“Local law enforcement has this under control,” Kotek said. “It is not clear where folks are going to go, what they’re going to do, why they have to do it, or how long they’ll be here. All of that is up in the air, and that is not how this should be happening.”
Kotek added that the deployment should not be happening at all.
It has been a week since Trump declared antifa a “domestic terrorist organization” and his authorization for the use of full force in Portland.