USA: Criticism of Democrats: Military Use would be “abuse of power”

US Democrats criticize the military operation announced by President Donald Trump in another city – and question his authority. Any use of US soldiers would be “abuse of power,” said the democratic governor of Oregon, Tina Kotek, at a press conference on Saturday (local time). In her view, Trump is not authorized to use US soldiers in her state, she emphasized. Trump had announced hours earlier to appoint the military in Portland in Oregon because of alleged threats from “domestic terrorists”.

Oregon did not request support from the national level and do not need it either. According to her own information, the governor Trump said in a direct conversation. “There is no uprising, no danger to national security and no need for soldiers in our big city.”

Kotek, according to his own information, coordinates Oregon’s Attorney General to clarify whether a reaction is necessary. You will be ready to react if necessary, she emphasized.

Trump: protect the city and ICE facilities from “terrorists”

Trump wrote on Truth on Truth, Defense Minister Pete Hegseth, who has recently been officially “war minister”, should provide as many soldiers as necessary to protect the city of Portland and to defend institutions of the immigration authority ICE against Antifa supporters and “other domestic terrorists”.

The US President also signaled that he gave the military far-reaching powers to the use of violence. At first, what exactly these include remained unclear. Trump also gave no information on which military units should be used when.

Newsom: “Trump wages war against American cities”

Oregon’s governor is not the only democrat who criticizes Trump’s advance. “Donald Trump wages war against American cities,” wrote California’s governor Gavin Newsom on the platform X. Trump is not about folding violent organizations. Rather, he wanted to fuel violence and chaos to consolidate his power.

Newsom, who is considered the possible candidate of the Democrats for the next US presidential election, also said that Trump’s courts had already declared an illegal procedure. At the beginning of the month, a judge had ordered that soldiers stationed in Los Angeles were not allowed to do any police tasks for prosecution and that such an assignment was illegal. The decision was not about the overarching question of whether the soldiers can be in the city at all.

The California city of the million was the first of several democratically ruled cities in which Trump had recently sent soldiers.

Senator from Oregon: “Authoritarian takeover of Portland”

The democratic US senator Ron Wyden from Oregon criticized that Trump started an “authoritarian takeover of Portland”. “I urgently ask the residents of Oregon to reject Trump’s attempt to stir up violence in a city that – as we know – is alive and peaceful.”

The mayor of Portland, Keith Wilson, also rejects a military operation. “The number of soldiers required is zero, in Portland and any other American city,” he said. He spoke of a “short, expensive and indignant demonstration of power”.

Portland is part of cities that refuse cooperation with ICE

Portland has more than 600,000 inhabitants and describes itself as “Sanctuary City”. The term is used for cities that refuse to cooperate with ICE in different ways.

Last week, the city had announced that it wanted to investigate whether an ICE facility in Portland violated regulations. For example, people may have been held overnight or more than twelve hours – although that was not allowed.

The Ministry of Homeland Protection in turn mentioned in a message about violence practiced by Antifa supporters on Friday rioters in Portland, which would have attacked an ICE facility there several times. It listed several cases that are said to have happened in June.

According to US media, there were some protests around an ICE facility in the city that was directed against Trump’s controversial immigration policy. Most demonstrations were peaceful, but some would also have ended with the use of tear gas and the facility was closed for several days in summer, reported the CNN transmitter.

Los Angeles, Washington, Memphis, Portland

When Trump sent soldiers to Los Angeles months ago, he justified this with alleged chaos and resistance to civil servants of the immigration authority ICE, whose raids often trigger protests in the USA. He also ordered the use of soldiers in Washington to contain allegedly excessive crime in the US capital. Critics warn that the president uses the cities as an experiment field for an authoritarian government style.

Trump also announced a deployment of soldiers in the city of Memphis, which was also re-established in the US state of Tennessee. Again and again he threatened to use the national guard in Chicago. Both the democratic mayor there and the democratic governor of the state of Illinois rejected this.