President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to begin reviewing federal aid to Portland, targeting funding streams that could be slashed in response to ongoing anti-ICE unrest that has gripped the city for over three months, according to the White House.
“I just spoke with the president about this, and he has directed his team here at the White House to begin reviewing aid that can potentially be cut in Portland,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced during a rare Friday briefing. “We will not fund states that allow anarchy. There will also be an additional surge of federal resources to Portland immediately. Law and order will prevail and President Trump will make sure of it.”
The move comes just days after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was ordered to mobilize “all necessary troops” to secure the “war-ravaged” city, where federal authorities say chaos around an ICE facility has spiraled out of control.
Since early June, nightly protests in south Portland have escalated into violent confrontations. Antifa-aligned demonstrators, many clad in bizarre costumes or carrying makeshift shields, have targeted the local ICE detention center with bottle rockets, bricks, and laser beams, according to immigration officials. Federal ICE agents have endured over 100 consecutive nights of attacks, while local police have reportedly been instructed by city leadership to stand down.
“This is not peaceful protesting,” Leavitt said. “This is left-wing anarchy that has been destroying this great American city, leaving police officers battered, citizens terrorized, and business properties damaged. President Trump will end the radical left’s reign of terror in Portland once and for all.”
Cammila Wamsley, the ICE Office Director for Portland, told Fox News’ Bill Melugin that the situation has gone far beyond typical protest behavior. She described smashed windows, barricaded roads, officers blinded with lasers, and ICE employees being stalked to their homes and doxxed online.
“These people are not fighting injustice — they’re attacking civil society,” Wamsley said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice is also stepping in. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a federal investigation into the Portland Police Bureau after conservative journalist Nick Sortor was arrested while covering the protests. Sortor, who has documented nightly unrest in the city for months, was charged with second-degree disorderly conduct.
Another journalist, Katie Daviscourt of The Post Millennial, was reportedly injured on Tuesday night after a masked protester hit her in the face with a flagpole. She later accused police of standing by and refusing to intervene.
The DOJ investigation is also probing whether the city of Portland has attempted to use local zoning laws to stifle ICE operations. In a letter addressed to Portland’s police chief and city attorney, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon warned that the federal government is monitoring whether the city is weaponizing local ordinances to suppress political viewpoints.
“While we have not reached any conclusions on these allegations, we note a consistent theme in these three allegations — all three would choose one viewpoint over another,” Dhillon wrote.
On Saturday, President Trump announced he is deploying 200 National Guard troops to Portland to support federal immigration agents and restore order. “Domestic terrorists are running wild,” Trump said. “We’re going to use full force, if necessary, to end it.”
However, Oregon state officials quickly pushed back. On Sunday, the state attorney general filed a lawsuit to stop Trump from sending active-duty troops into the city, setting up another legal clash between federal and state authorities over the future of public safety in Portland.
The post Trump Directs Admin to Review Federal Funding to Portland Amid Anti-ICE ‘Anarchy,’ Leavitt Says appeared first on Real News Now.
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