Oregon and the city of Portland have filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump, seeking to block his decision to deploy National Guard troops to the state’s largest city. Trump announced Saturday that he ordered federal troops into Portland, citing what he called threats from “domestic terrorists” amid ongoing protests at a local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.
“President Trump is using his lawful authority to direct the National Guard to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following months of violent riots where officers have been assaulted and doxxed by left-wing rioters,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement Sunday evening. “The President’s lawful actions will make Portland safer.”
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson strongly pushed back, saying city leaders never requested federal intervention. “Rather than engaging in a show of force, imagine the good that could be accomplished if the federal government sent engineers, teachers, or outreach workers to support our progress. This deployment is unwanted, unneeded, and un-American in the city we call home,” Wilson said.
The lawsuit, filed Sunday in U.S. District Court in Portland, argues the president’s directive was illegal. It states that after Trump’s order, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum “calling 200 members of the Oregon National Guard into federal service for a period of 60 days” — a move the suit calls “patently unlawful” reports Axios.
“Far from promoting public safety, Defendants’ provocative and arbitrary actions threaten to undermine public safety by inciting a public outcry,” the filing states. It further argues that the administration’s “heavyhanded deployment of troops threatens to escalate tensions and stokes new unrest,” adding that local officials will now have to divert more resources to respond to the fallout.
The suit names as defendants Trump, the Defense Department, Hegseth, the Department of Homeland Security, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
The Portland Metro Chamber also weighed in, releasing an open letter Sunday warning that a troop deployment would set back the city’s recovery. The letter, signed by 110 community leaders and co-signed by Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, House members, and Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, urged the Trump administration to “cease outdated narratives and disparagement of the city.”
The letter claimed that homicides and gun violence have been decreasing, which leaders argue shows “local law enforcement and community partnerships are delivering results without federal overreach.” It warned that sending troops could hurt Portland’s economy and drew comparisons to 2020, when the Trump administration’s deployment of federal agents “inflamed and extended the protests” and “compounded the harm to Portland.”