Officials in Portland have pushed back against the announcement, saying there is ‘no need for military troops’ – key US politics stories from Saturday 27 September
Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of the national guard to Portland, Oregon, authorizing “full force, if necessary”, ignoring calls from local and state officials who say the president has been misinformed about the scale of a protest outside a federal immigration office.
The president says that he has directed all necessary troops to be deployed to protect “war ravaged Portland”, claiming that immigration facilities were “under siege from attack by Antifa and other domestic terrorists”.
Officials in Portland have pushed back against the decision and rejected the president’s characterization.
“There is no insurrection. There is no threat to national security and there is no need for military troops in our major city,” said Oregon’s Democratic governor, Tina Kotek.
Here are the key stories at a glance.
Donald Trump made the announcement on social media, where he claimed that the deployment was necessary “to protect war ravaged Portland,” and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) facilities he said were “under siege by antifascists and other domestic terrorists”.
Oregon’s governor, Tina Kotek, rejected the president’s characterization. “In my conversations directly with President Trump and secretary [of homeland security, Kristi] Noem, I have been abundantly clear that Portland and the state of Oregon believe in the rule of law and can manage our own local public safety needs,” Kotek said at a news conference in Portland on Saturday.
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A visit to downtown Portland on Saturday, hours after Donald Trump falsely declared the city “war ravaged” to justify the deployment of federal troops, made it plain the US president’s impression of the city, apparently shaped by misleading conservative media reports, is entirely divorced from reality.
There were just four protesters outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) field office in an outlying residential neighborhood that the president had claimed was “under siege” by antifascists and “other domestic terrorists”.
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Donald Trump fired a top federal prosecutor in Sacramento just hours after she warned immigration agents they could not indiscriminately detain people in her district, according to documents reviewed by the New York Times.
Michele Beckwith, who became the acting US attorney in Sacramento in January, received an email at 4.31pm on 15 July notifying her that the president had ordered her termination.
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Immigrants locked up in California’s newest federal detention center have described the facility as a “a torture chamber”, “a zoo” and “hell on earth”, saying they were confined in filthy cells and suffered medical crises without help.
Six people detained at the California City detention center, which opened in late August and is now the state’s largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention center, shared accounts with the Guardian of poor conditions and alleged mistreatment by staff.
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US military officials are reportedly bracing for possible firings or demotions after the Trump administration’s Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, abruptly summoned hundreds of generals and admirals from around the world to attend a gathering in Virginia in the upcoming days.
The event, scheduled for Tuesday at Marine Corps University in Quantico, is expected to feature a short address by Hegseth focused on military standards and the “warrior ethos”, according to the Washington Post.
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Federal authorities in Texas have arrested a man for allegedly threatening to shoot people at a pro-LGBTQ+ parade, to avenge the murder of Charlie Kirk.
According to court documents viewed by the Guardian, on 18 September, the FBI’s field office in Dallas was notified by Abilene, Texas, police about online threats from a local resident.
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Northwestern University students blocked from enrolment after refusing controversial antisemitism training.
‘Free speech for me, not for thee’: how Trump’s censorship blitz is splitting the right.
Trump is flaunting his corruption. Is it changing what the US thinks of scandal? The Guardian’s David Smith on Trump’s brazen approach to the presidency.
Catching up? Here’s what happened 26 September 2025.