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chairman donald trumpMembers of his administration and conservative influencers painted a bleak picture portland, oregonAt a roundtable event at the White House on Wednesday, he alleged that the city has been engulfed by violence carried out by “Antifa thugs” and is basically a war zone.
“It must be clear to all Americans that the left-wing terrorist threat to our country is very serious, from radicals associated with Antifa, the domestic terrorist group about which you have heard so much recently,” trump Said.
But the reality on the ground in Portland is a far cry from the extremes described at the White House.
Here’s a closer look at the facts.
protests
Trump: “In Portland, Oregon, Antifa thugs have repeatedly attacked our offices and cordoned off federal property in an effort to violently stop the enforcement of federal law.”
Fact: Nightly protests outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland have been happening for months, reaching a peak in June when police declared a demonstration a riot. Smaller clashes have also occurred since then: on Labor Day, some protesters brought a prop guillotine – a display the US Department of Homeland Security dismissed as “unruly behavior”.
The protests at the ICE facility, which is outside the city, have been largely confined to one city block and have attracted many participants. During the day, a handful of immigration and legal advocates meet up to hand out copies of “Know Your Rights” flyers. The daytime march towards the building also includes elderly people and families with small children. At night, other protesters arrive, often using megaphones to shout obscenities at law enforcement.
While the administration claims the protesters are Antifa, short for “anti-fascists”, Antifa is not a single organization but rather an umbrella term for decentralized far-left leaning extremist groups that confront or oppose neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.
In a court filing submitted in response to a lawsuit by Portland and Oregon seeking to block the Trump administration’s deployment, federal officials said the building was closed for three weeks from mid-June to early July due to damage to windows, security cameras, gates and other parts of the facility. National GuardThe main entrance of the building and the ground floor windows have been boarded up.
The protesters have also demanded that vehicles be stopped from entering and leaving the facility. Federal officials argue that this has hindered law enforcement operations and forced them to send more personnel and resources from other parts of the country.
However, in the weeks before the Trump administration’s move to federalize 200 members of the Oregon National Guard on Sept. 28, a few dozen people attended most nights, according to correspondence presented in court by Portland police.
Protests began to grow again after the National Guard was ordered to Portland over the objections of local and state officials.
Since June, Portland police have arrested at least 45 people, with the majority of those arrests occurring in June. Meanwhile, federal prosecutors have charged at least 31 people with crimes committed in the building, including assault on federal officers; By early July, 22 of those defendants had been charged.
Is there a fire in Portland?
Trump: “The amazing thing is you look at Portland and you see fires everywhere. You see fights, and I mean just violence. It’s absolutely crazy. And then you talk to the governor and she acts like everything is completely normal, there’s nothing wrong.”
Fact: Fires outside the building have been observed on a few occasions. A man was arrested in June after he lit a fire and threw it onto a pile of material placed in front of a vehicle gate, according to federal prosecutors, who said the fire was completely extinguished within minutes.
More recently, social media videos of a Labor Day protest showed a small fire burning on the prop guillotine. And in early October, after the National Guard mobilization was announced, video on social media showed a protester burning an American flag on fire — and conservative influencer Nick Sorter extinguishing the fire.
There have also been some high-profile confrontations between protesters and counter-protesters. Police logs show that in late September, conservative media personality Katie Daviscourt was struck with a flag pole and suffered bruising to the face. In early October, Sorter, who has more than 1 million followers on X, was arrested along with two other protesters after a brawl; Local prosecutors ultimately declined to charge him after finding that one of the protesters had pushed him and that “any physical contact he had with other individuals was of a defensive nature.”
While Portland police correspondence presented in court mentions some instances of “active” energy and disturbance between protesters and counter-protesters, several entries describe low energy and “no problems” in the weeks before the National Guard mobilization.
A new word-of-mouth website has also launched in recent days: isportlandburning.com featuring multiple live cameras in the city and near-real-time data from the city fire department.
Shops and sewers
Trump: “I don’t know what could be worse than Portland. You don’t even have sewers anymore. They don’t even put glass. They have plywood over their windows. But most of the retailers are gone.”
Fact: This is false. Portland has sewers – according to the city’s website, its sewer and storm water system “consists of more than 2,500 miles of pipe, nearly 100 pump stations, and two treatment plants”. The largest sewer pipe is the East Side Big Pipe, which has an inside diameter of 22 feet, while the smallest has a diameter of only six inches.
Local and state officials have suggested that many of Trump’s claims appear to rely on images from 2020. There were more than 100 days of mass unrest and violent protests in Portland following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police that year. Police were unable to keep ahead of isolated groups of black-clad protesters who roamed the downtown area, sometimes breaking windows, spraying graffiti and setting small fires.
But Portland has largely recovered from that time. Under the new mayor and police chief, crime has decreased in the city, and the downtown – which has more than 600 retail shops, many of which have glass storefronts – has seen a decrease in homeless camps and an increase in foot traffic. This summer was reportedly the busiest for pedestrians before the coronavirus pandemic, and a recent report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association found that homicides dropped 51% from January to June this year compared to the same period in 2024.
Governor Tina Kotek said she told Trump during a phone call that “we have to be careful that we don’t react to stale media coverage or misinformation.”
allegation of cover up
Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security: “I was in Portland yesterday and I had a chance to meet with the governor of Oregon and the mayor there, and they are absolutely covering up the terrorism that is spreading on their streets.”
THE FACTS: Noem visited Portland on Tuesday and met with Kotek and Mayor Keith Wilson. Both officials disagree with Noem’s story.
Kotek has repeatedly said, including in conversations with Trump and Noem, that “there is no insurrection in Portland”, and that the city does not need “military intervention”. He has consistently called for any protests to be peaceful and has said that local law enforcement can “meet the moment.” After Trump threatened to send the National Guard to Portland, Wilson said in a statement that the city “has protected free speech while addressing the occasional violence and destruction of property.”
Observations on the ground in Portland support Kotek’s statement. While the nightly protests at the ICE facility have been disruptive for nearby residents — a charter school relocated this summer to be away from crowd-control devices — life in the rest of the city has continued as normal. There was no evidence of protests in other areas of the city, including the downtown area about two miles away.
Portland residents have posted photos and videos on social media with the #WarRavgedPortland hashtag against the Trump administration’s statements about their city, showing protesters in inflatable unicorn and frog costumes, as well as people walking their dogs, riding their bikes, and shopping at farmers markets.
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Find AP Fact Check here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.