AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman here in New York, with Juan González in Chicago, as we turn to Oregon and Chicago.

In Oregon, President Trump has ordered the deployment of 200 members of the Oregon National Guard. Trump wrote on social media the troops are necessary to, quote, “protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists,” the president said. He went on, “I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary,” unquote. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek denounced Trump’s move.

GOV. TINA KOTEK: There is no insurrection, there is no threat to national security, and there is no need for military troops in our major city. … We do not need or want federal troops in Oregon stoking fear, creating conflict and, frankly, escalating a situation that is under control. Any, any federal takeover with military troops in our state is a threat to communities across Oregon.

AMY GOODMAN: Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and the city of Portland have filed a temporary restraining order against Trump’s move to send in troops.

For more, we’re joined in Portland by Sandy Chung, executive director of the ACLU of Oregon.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Sandy. Explain what’s taking place at this moment. Talk about the troops and Oregon’s response.

SANDY CHUNG: Thank you, Amy. Good morning.

Currently troops are not in Portland or in Oregon. And on behalf of Oregonians, I want to be very clear, before troops arrive: President Trump, we do not need, and we do not want, federal troops on the streets of Portland or in any other city or town in Oregon.

If the president does proceed with sending in the military, he will be abusing his presidential powers. He will be disrespecting and misusing our military and service members. And he will be wasting valuable taxpayer dollars. There is nothing going on right now in Portland or any part of Oregon that requires him to send in the federal military, especially after our governor and our local elected leaders, including Mayor Wilson of Portland, Oregon, has objected and said there’s nothing here that requires federal troops.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Sandy, I wanted to ask you — this president has routinely lied and misrepresented reality to justify these extreme actions of the federal government. What is your sense of how many organizations in the media are reporting these allegations of the president?

SANDY CHUNG: Yes. What I can tell you is the president seems to be focusing on the ICE office, which is in a part of downtown Portland. It’s a couple miles from our offices. I was actually there on Sunday. On Sunday, there were a couple rallies in Portland by everyday people who came out to say, “President Trump, please do not send in the military, because we do not want it, and we do not need it.”

What I can tell you is there have been some protesters outside the ICE office. Those protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful. And there have been images of protests going around, including from 2020, but also from now, that do not accurately reflect what’s going on. Oftentimes the images that people across the country are seeing, and potentially the president is seeing, do not provide the full context. They do not show the calm situation outside the office, where, during weekdays, people are — volunteers are outside the ICE office providing Know Your Rights information to immigrants and refugees who have appointments at the office. They don’t show the members of the clergy, of many different faiths and backgrounds, who are there raising their voices against injustice.

These images oftentimes also don’t show the full context of federal officers at the ICE building oftentimes coming out, without any apparent reason, to physically attack protesters, to use pepper spray against them and to tear-gas them. And, in fact, even Portland police officers have stated on the record that they have seen federal officers at the ICE building coming out, with no apparent reason, to attack protesters.

AMY GOODMAN: [Earlier this month], President Trump told reporters in the White House on television — that on television, he’d watch, quote, “paid terrorists” destroy the city of Portland. This is what he said.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They’re walking in, throwing smoke bombs into store. These are paid terrorists, OK? These are paid agitators. These are professional — I watched that last time. I’m very good at this stuff. These are paid agitators. They get paid money by radical left groups — not radical right groups, radical left groups. And they get paid a lot of money.

AMY GOODMAN: Sandy Chung, executive director of the ACLU of Oregon, please respond.

SANDY CHUNG: Well, Amy, I want to point out that a couple days ago, President Trump told the media that he had spoken to our governor, Governor Kotek, and said he actually was a little bit confused and was questioning whether some of the images that he had seen accurately reflects what’s going on in Portland. And so, there is a question about whether President Trump’s staff is actually giving him accurate information and images of what is going on.

But I can reassure the president and people across America that right now there’s nothing going on at the ICE building that requires federal troops to be sent in. The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful. It has generally been small numbers of people. And people have been at the ICE office because they have been justifiably upset by the cruel, chaotic and unjust actions of ICE. ICE has taken our neighbors, who are beloved family members, who are cared-for co-workers, respected business members. ICE has even detained an Oregonian who is a firefighter and was literally in the midst of fighting a forest fire. So, there are everyday people who have protested outside the ICE building to tell the president, “We strongly disagree with ICE detentions in Oregon and across the United States. Please change course.”

AMY GOODMAN: Sandy Chung, we want to thank you so much for being with us, executive director of the ACLU of Oregon, speaking to us from Portland.