Sept. 27 (UPI) — President Donald Trump ordered troops to use “full force” to stop ongoing assaults against a federal facility in Portland, Ore., and is deploying troops to thwart crime in Memphis.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Friday told media the National Guard, agents from several federal law enforcement agencies and additional Tennessee Highway Patrol officers will begin deployment in Memphis as early as next week.
“We have a generational opportunity to make this city a safe city once again,” Lee said, as reported by The New York Times.
State grants will provide $100 million to support public safety in Memphis, with “lasting safety” being the goal.
In Oregon, the president has said “paid terrorists” are causing civil unrest and have attacked an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee processing facility in southern Portland in recent months.
“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 said Saturday morning in a Truth Social post.
“I am also authorizing full force, if necessary,” he added without defining what such force might entail.
The Portland deployment order comes after the president recently declared Antifa to be a domestic terrorist organization, whose activities have included trying to set the Portland ICE facility on fire in June.
Alleged Antifa militants placed flammable materials against the building and used a flare to ignite the materials, according to the city of Portland.
Another assault on June 14 caused an ICE officer to suffer a serious head injury when he was struck by a rock allegedly thrown by accused Antifa member Robert Hoopes, who is scheduled to be tried on related felony charges on Oct. 7.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson on Friday said armored vehicles and federal agents have entered the city without a “clear precedent or purpose,” Axios reported.
Trump earlier in September called Portland’s Rose City Antifa chapter and others like it “paid agitators” who he said are “very dangerous for our country,” according to CNN.
“We’re going to wipe them out. They’re going to be gone,” Trump said. “They won’t even stand the fight. They will not stay there.”