President Donald Trump on Saturday announced he had authorized federal troops to go into Portland, Oregon, calling the American city “War ravaged.”
Might the next city be Boston, a city the Trump administration has repeatedly targeted — with Trump’s border czar in February stating “I’m coming to Boston and I’m bringing hell with me”?
Following the announcement about troops being authorized for Portland, a spokesperson for Boston Mayor Michelle Wu referred MassLive to a statement earlier this month.
“I don’t want to give the sense that all of a sudden Boston is under a new kind of target and we would experience new punishments that we haven’t already been seeing in our community,” Wu told WBUR in early September. “Boston has been targeted since before Inauguration Day for this administration. We have already had to be preparing because we’ve already been seeing that kind of enforcement.”
Wu clarified that a troop surge would bring “even more intensity” with respect to needed responses.
A spokesperson for Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey did not immediately return requests for comment on Saturday.
Trump in August sent federal troops to Washington, D.C., a move that was opposed by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and colleagues in nearly two dozen states.
Trump has also sent troops to Los Angeles in June in a move California said was illegal. A federal judge verified earlier this month that the use of National Guard in California was illegal.
In his most recent announcement, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “At the request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, 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 continued: “I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary.”
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren disputed that Portland was “war ravaged,” and called Trump’s move “delusional and dangerous.”
“Sending troops into American cities doesn’t make our communities safer — it just stokes fear and stirs up chaos,” Warren wrote on X. “Trump is plunging further into authoritarianism every single day.”
Trump administration dealings with Boston
Trump administration border czar Tom Homan reacted to Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, seemingly referring to a WCVB interview at the time, in which Cox said state law limits his department’s involvement in federal immigration enforcement.
“I read a story last night. The police commissioner of Boston — you said you’d double down on not helping the law enforcement office of ICE,” he said. “I’m coming to Boston and I’m bringing hell with me.”
Massachusetts’ highest court ruled in 2017 that state and local law enforcement do not have the authority to hold suspects based on an ICE detainer alone.
Boston also has an ordinance that prevents the city’s police from pursuing civil immigration enforcement, though they can work with ICE on criminal matters.
Wu blasted Homan earlier this week after reports he accepted $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents last year.
“It wasn’t even surprising at this point that … someone who has been saying a lot about what following the law means and enacting harms on community members, holding up the language that this is to follow the law, this is to keep people safe, this is to do the right thing when in fact behind the scenes there’s outright bribery and corruption taking place,” she said.
The Trump administration has also set Harvard University across the river from Boston in Cambridge in its sights, enacting a war against the institution since March, seeking to cut its funding and eliminate its ability to accept international students, among other efforts.
The combined policy decisions by the Trump administration, including his trade ware, immigration policies and attacks on higher education, have hit Massachusetts economy “in the gut,” according to Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jim Rooney.
Reactions in Oregon
In a statement Saturday, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson lambasted Trump and his decision to deploy troops domestically, according to OregonLive.
“President Trump has directed ‘all necessary Troops’ to Portland, Oregon. The number of necessary troops is zero, in Portland and any other American city,” Wilson’s statement read. “Our nation has a long memory for acts of oppression, and the president will not find lawlessness or violence here unless he plans to perpetrate it. Imagine if the federal government sent hundreds of engineers, or teachers, or outreach workers to Portland, instead of a short, expensive, and fruitless show of force.”
In a statement on X, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, said her office is reaching out to the White House and Homeland Security for more information following the announcement.
“We have been provided no information on the reason or purpose of any military mission,” Kotek wrote in her statement. “There is no national security threat in Portland.”
Kotek continued that her office would have further comment when more information was available and urged Oregonians to “stay calm and enjoy a beautiful fall day.”