Original article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

“We won’t be cowed, and we can’t let this president normalize military and armed federal policing in our country. This is not how a healthy democracy works.”

Calling a move by President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard soldiers to the city of Portland, Oregon, completely “unlawful,” state and city officials on Sunday filed a lawsuit to block the effort as they accused the Trump White House of overstepping its authority.

The 41-page federal lawsuit challenging the “unlawful deployment” order was filed in the US District Court of Oregon and names Trump as well as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

A statement from the office of Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield says the lawsuit, backed by Gov. Tina Kotek and Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, argues that Trump “lacks authority” under Title 10 of the US code, which only permits federalization of National Guard troops, typically under the command of state governors, “only in circumstance of invasion, rebellion, or when federal laws cannot otherwise be executed. None of those circumstances exist in Oregon.”

The suit, which states that the “heavy-handed deployment of troops threatens to escalate tensions” and foment “new unrest” in the city, asks the court for immediate relief by declaring the Trump administration’s order unlawful and halting any such deployment.

“Oregon communities are stable, and our local officials have been clear: we have the capacity to manage public safety without federal interference,” said Rayfield. “Sending in 200 National Guard troops to guard a single building is not normal.”

“What we’re seeing is not about public safety,” he continued, “it’s about the President flexing political muscle under the guise of law and order, chasing a media hit at the expense of our community.”

The ACLU on Sunday characterized Trump’s claim that Portland was “war-ravaged” as false on its face and condemned the order as illegal and dangerous.

“This major escalation from the President and the federal government has no place in our politics or our communities,” said Sandy Chung, ACLU of Oregon’s executive director. “Oregonians have for months been exercising their constitutional right to criticize cruel federal policies. A forcible deployment of federal troops and armed law enforcement violates our right to govern ourselves and endangers our families and freedoms.”

In a news interview on Sunday, Rayfield denounced the numerous and “absurd” things Trump has both said and done in the name of “public safety” that are wholly counter to what’s needed.

“If you really wanted public safety, you wouldn’t threaten to send the United States military into any city. What you’d do is pick up the phone and work toward collaboration—finding out what resources a community actually needs,” Rayfield said.

“I know for a fact, from talking to cities across Oregon and across the country, that if you pick up the phone and ask, ‘What do you need? What could be helpful?’ The answer would not be the United States military.”

Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, put the situation in Portland in a broader context, as it’s not the first city where Trump has aimed National Guard soldiers, and it’s unlikely to be the last.

“Like for other cities, President Trump’s justification for deploying troops and armed federal agents to Portland is blatantly false and inflammatory, as well as jeopardizes residents’ fundamental liberties,” warned Shamsi.

“After a harrowing week for our First Amendment freedoms, we see the President’s strategy for what it is—an attempt to create conflict where there is none, sow fear in our communities, and intimidate people from exercising their constitutional rights,” she added. “But we won’t be cowed, and we can’t let this president normalize military and armed federal policing in our country. This is not how a healthy democracy works.”

Original article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

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