Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered 200 Oregon National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, under federal authority, an order the state is challenging in court.
President Donald Trump announced plans to send troops into Portland on Saturday to protect federal immigration facilities against “domestic terrorists.”
Hegseth’s memo, which was dated Sunday and posted online by Oregon officials, said that “200 members of the Oregon National Guard will be called into Federal service effective immediately for a period of 60 days.”
A defense official who spoke to Military Times on condition of anonymity said the Guard is currently in the process of identifying which troops will deploy.
The Pentagon memo said the new orders “further implements the President’s direction” in June, when thousands of Guard troops were deployed to Los Angeles to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. government personnel amid ongoing protests in the city.
The service members will be under the command of the U.S. Northern Command chief because they are being deployed under Title 10. A U.S. Northern Command spokesperson declined to comment on the deployment and referred Military Times to the Pentagon.
Oregon’s suit was filed against Trump, Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in federal court in Portland on Sunday by Democratic Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield. The suit accuses the administration of exceeding its executive powers and basing its actions on a “wildly hyperbolic pretext.”
“The President says Portland is a ‘War ravaged’ city ‘under siege’ from ‘domestic terrorists.’ Defendants have thus infringed on Oregon’s sovereign power to manage its own law enforcement activity and National Guard resource,” Oregon officials said in the lawsuit.
Violent crime in Portland has dropped in the first six months of 2025, with homicides in Portland falling by 51% compared to the same period a year earlier, according to data released by the Major Cities Chiefs Association in its Midyear Violent Crime Report.
Since August, National Guard troops have been deployed in Washington, D.C. Crime had also been on the decline in that city prior to the Guard’s deployment.
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