Trump says ‘it’s anarchy’ in Portland. Here’s why locals say that’s far from reality
By Andy Rose, CNN
(CNN) — Most people in Portland, Oregon, don’t mind if you think they’re weird. In fact, it’s practically a trademark.
“We do have a lot of weirdos here,” Sarah Siano, who has lived in the city off and on since 2010, says with a smile.
But to hear President Donald Trump tell it, Portland is the latest city taken over by terrorists and in desperate need of federal salvation, making its weirdness something else entirely.
“It’s anarchy out there,” Trump said last week in the Oval Office, days before announcing the federalization of 200 members of the Oregon National Guard for a period of 60 days.
The president is citing daily protests outside the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility to justify the latest of his troop callups in a major city with a Democratic-led government.
“The Radical Left’s reign of terror in Portland ends now,” the White House said in a news release Tuesday announcing the deployment of federal troops to the Pacific Northwest city.
The Trump administration indicated it was sending in additional resources to “crush violent radical left terrorism.”
“While Democrat politicians deny reality, it’s obvious what’s happening in Portland isn’t protest; it’s premeditated anarchy that has scarred the city for years — leaving officers battered, citizens terrorized, and property defaced,” the news release read.
The anarchy described by the president is strongly disputed by locals who say they don’t want or need federal help.
“It kind of feels like somebody’s trying to rage bait you,” Siano said. “They’re just trying to get that negative reaction.”
The state and the city government took their concerns a step further Sunday, filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration and calling the president’s move “unlawful” and “baseless.”
“There is no insurrection,” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said Saturday.
“There is no threat to national security, and there is no need for military troops in our major city.”
As they await a federal judge’s decision on whether to block the Guard deployment – and continue to emphasize their “sanctuary city” status – Portland officials remain at odds with Trump over their view that the city needs no additional federal presence.
“President Trump has directed ‘all necessary Troops’ to Portland, Oregon,” Mayor Keith Wilson said Saturday. “The number of necessary troops is zero.”
Protests have calmed since summer
Getting an exact record of clashes between protesters and law enforcement is difficult because most of the standoff has been between demonstrators and federal agents, with Portland Police declining to get involved unless there is a safety threat to the general public.
Portland Police Bureau logs show more than 100 calls made to the address of the ICE building this year. Listed reasons include “disorder,” “unwanted person” and shots fired.
The tension reached its peak during one week in June, when a half-dozen protesters were arrested for allegedly starting fires around the building and more were accused of interfering with law enforcement.
On June 14, a protest organized in connection with the national “No Kings” movement turned violent as some demonstrators arrived at the ICE facility. Police declared a riot outside the building – the only time this year – and made three arrests.
Portland Police continued to monitor the area for the following week, resulting in four minor arrests, including one for DUI. Later that month, the building was closed for several days after federal law enforcement forcibly removed protesters who refused to leave federal property.
The area outside the ICE facility has been calmer since the dramatic events of June, but the tan brick and stucco building in an industrial area has more layers of fencing, its lower-level windows have been blocked by plywood and a concrete retaining wall is covered in anti-ICE graffiti.
Still, contrary to the president’s depiction of constant violent lawlessness, neighbors say most of the time there is little to see.
“I live within a thousand feet of the ICE facility,” Lashawnda Shavers told CNN affiliate KPTV on Sunday. “There are no fires, there’s no lynching, there’s no rioting, there’s no looting, there’s no attacks or assaults.”
Neighbors have repeatedly complained about the tear gas periodically being deployed against protesters. It wafts down the street in such a thick cloud that a nearby charter school was moved a mile away earlier this month to get away from the gas.
And some Portland residents say they’re fed up with all of it.
“(Protesters) are making noise constantly, even when nobody from ICE is outside,” David Schmidt told CNN affiliate KATU. “So for hours they would be out here just disrupting the public here that lives here.”
Trump seems to describe 2020 scenes in his criticism of Portland
This isn’t the first time Trump has sent federal law enforcement to Portland to deal with protesters. More than 700 officers were deployed in 2020 to protect federal facilities in downtown Portland as some protests turned violent following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Dozens of those officers did not have sufficient training in handling crowd control, according to a report by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General.
Those frequently violent protests in downtown Portland stretched on for more than 100 days and became a top target for conservative leaders who argued Democratic leaders of major cities were being too soft on criminals.
At the time, Trump called the protesters “anarchists and agitators,” and his view of Portland today appears to be strongly influenced by the protests of five years ago.
“The few shops that are open, they just use plywood … They don’t put store fronts because they know it’s going to be burned down,” Trump said last week, describing a scene that is neither the current state of downtown Portland nor the South Waterfront community where the ICE building sits.
But residents say that depiction of the heart of their city is behind the times.
“For him to start making these comments again when I would say it’s like more of a renaissance of downtown, it’s just really ironic,” Siano said.
The president’s years-old view of the city may be influenced by his own media habits. He first began floating the idea of a Portland deployment weeks ago, on the same day that Fox News – famously Trump’s outlet of choice – aired a story about the protests that mixed recent footage of standoffs at the ICE facility with older footage of the downtown rioting.
“I didn’t know that was still going on,” Trump mused on September 5.
Oregon leaders warn community to avoid ‘conflict’
Local officials believe the deployment is an attempt to provoke demonstrators to violence and before Trump’s announcement, they were already urging them to stay peaceful.
“Their goal is to create an engagement – an engagement that will lead to conflict,” said Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley in a Friday night news conference. “President Trump has one goal. His goal is to make Portland look like what he’s been describing it as. Let’s not grant him that wish.”
At least one prominent politician from Oregon is supporting the move.
“I’ve seen firsthand how lawlessness has transformed Portland from a beautiful place to live to a crime-ridden war zone. Thank you, @POTUS, for taking action to keep our ICE facilities protected and Make America Safe Again!,” Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer wrote in a post on X.
Chavez-DeRemer, a Republican, is a former member of Congress who represented a district that includes a very small section of the city of Portland near the ICE building.
The idea that federal agents can make a tense situation worse appears to be a concern shared by Portland Police.
Assistant Police Chief Craig Dobson said this summer federal agents “have been, night after night, actually instigating and causing some of the ruckus that’s occurring down there,” adding that ICE is “not following best practice,” The Oregonian reported. His testimony was part of a lawsuit filed against the city by a local resident who argued the city has failed to punish demonstrators who violate noise ordinances and disturb the peace of the neighborhood.
Following the announcement of the National Guard deployment, Kotek and Wilson were both part of a march against federal escalation Sunday, KATU reported.
More than 100 people then gathered Sunday outside the ICE building, including counter protesters, which police said led to fights among the crowd. Portland Police made two arrests, their first at the location since mid-summer, according to the city’s lawsuit against the federal government.
Rep. Maxine Dexter, a Democrat whose district includes most of Portland and who also participated in the march, said she hopes demonstrators will avoid confrontation at the ICE building.
“Donald Trump is watching video of what’s happening down there,” she told KATU Sunday. “I would love it if we keep that as quiet as possible. Leave flowers. Walk by peacefully, but agitation down there is just going to backfire on all of us.”
But with the Trump administration determined to make Portland its next test case on ramping up force, some residents wonder if keeping calm will make a difference.
“I’m pissed that this is about to happen because it’s ridiculous,” Shavers said Monday, according to KATU. “If the president actually had been out here and seen what’s really going on, maybe he would change his mind.”
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CNN’s Celina Tebor contributed to this report.
