President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of “all necessary” troops to Portland to secure the city and protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel.
He added he was “authorizing full force, if necessary,” as daily protests at the federal ICE detention facility — which have intensified since June — continue.
“At the request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, 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,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform. “I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary.”
The president’s announcement follows several high-profile attacks on ICE officers and recent steps by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to increase enforcement against assaults on federal personnel.
Portland has been described by the Department of Homeland Security as a focal point for Antifa activity, where demonstrators have repeatedly “attacked and laid siege” to the federal ICE facility.
DHS said incidents have included an individual aiming a laser at an ICE officer’s eyes, the use of a smoke grenade directed at multiple officers, and attempts to damage equipment at the site, the New York Post reports.
An increased federal presence in Portland has followed weeks of unrest, prompting appeals from local officials for protesters to stay peaceful. On Friday, a grand jury indicted three women accused of following an ICE agent home and livestreaming the agent’s address on Instagram.
Two days earlier, a suspected sniper opened fire at an ICE facility in Texas, wounding at least three migrants; investigators recovered a bullet at the scene that bore the words “anti ICE,” authorities said.
In response to rising violence, the White House has deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and Memphis, and earlier this year briefly sent troops to Los Angeles amid rioting concerns.
The Joint Terrorism Task Forces will investigate “domestic terrorism,” and seek the “most serious available charges against all participants in these criminal mobs,” the AG wrote on X.
“I have witnessed the continued onslaught of violence perpetrated against ICE officers across our country,” Bondi posted. “The Department of Justice will not stand idly by in the face of such lawlessness.” She added: “The rule of law will prevail.”
Bondi also stated that the Trump administration will have a “zero tolerance” policy for any form of political violence.
“If you so much as touch one of our federal officers, you will go to prison,” she warned in a video.
White House chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller — a noted immigration hawk — praised the crackdown on Friday, declaring, “This campaign of terrorism will be brought down.”