PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — The White House shared a press release on Tuesday in response to President Donald Trump sending the National Guard to Portland. “The Radical Left’s reign of terror in Portland ends now, with President Donald J. Trump mobilizing federal resources to stop Antifa-led hellfire in its tracks,” the press release said.
Last week, President Trump authorized 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to perform federal functions for 60 days, including protecting federal property amid ongoing or potential protests.
“The fact of the matter is, and it’s been highlighted so many times so well, but I just want to emphasize, this is one city block. City of Portland is about 145 square miles. This is one city block,” Portland Police Bureau Chief Bob Day said during a press conference on Monday. “Even the events that are happening down there do not rise to the level of attention that they are receiving.”
According to the release, the administration says since June, there have been “Antifa militants” causing destruction to the ICE Facility building in South Portland. It also goes on to say the people involved have “violently breached the facility by using a stop sign as a battering ram, hurled explosives and other projectiles, burned an American flag, repeatedly assaulted, attacked, and injured officers with pepper spray, rocks, bricks, and trash, doxed officers, berated neighbors, and even rolled out a guillotine.”
The administration also goes on to note the dozens have arrests that have occurred in relation to these protests. The release also cites the following incidents in Portland as reason for the National Guard’s assistance:
- In May 2024, an “Antifa anarchist movement” took credit for burning more than a dozen Portland Police Bureau training vehicles.
- In May 2022, Antifa members deployed smoke grenades, paint-filled balloons, and fireworks to break up a campaign event for a Republican political candidate.
- In August 2021, Antifa terrorists violently attacked right-wing demonstrators with explosives and chemical spray.
- In January 2021, more than 100 Antifa demonstrators attacked Portland police and vandalized property, with some armed with knives and long poles.
- In October 2020, Antifa terrorists sparked a riot at an “Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage” event, toppling statues of Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt and vandalizing multiple buildings.
- In August 2020, a self-described Antifa militant shot and killed a Patriot Prayer supporter during a riot in Portland.
- In 2020, Portland Antifa terrorists led 100 days of carnage and violence in Portland — in which they rioted, looted, burned buildings, bludgeoned federal officers, deployed power tools and commercial-grade fireworks as weapons, and attempted to destroy a local courthouse.
- In November 2019, an Antifa terrorist was sentenced to six years in prison after “using a weapon against a conservative demonstrator who suffered blows to the head that the victim claims left him with a concussion and cuts that required 25 staples to close.”
- In June 2019, Portland Antifa terrorists were arrested after assaulting rightwing demonstrators and police with quick drying cement and bear spray.
- In August 2018, a Bernie Sanders voter was beaten by Antifa militants “for carrying an American flag.”
- In 2017, Antifa terrorists attacked and injured law enforcement and attendees of a pro-Trump free speech rally.
- In 2017, Antifa threatened organizers of the annual Avenue of Roses Parade for including a Republican-themed float — prompting organizers to cancel the event altogether.
- In 2016, Antifa-led rioting caused more than $1 million in damage in Portland after President Trump’s election.
On Tuesday, President Trump called Portland a “war zone” and a place that resembles “World War Two” during a speech to military brass in Virginia.
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