19 State AGs Back Trump Admin in Fight With Portland Over National Guard Troops

Attorneys general from 20 states have stepped into the dispute between Oregon officials and the Trump administration over the use of National Guard troops to defend Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who have come under assault from protesters in Portland.

Led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, Brenna Bird of Iowa, Gentner Drummond of Oklahoma, and South Carolina’s Alan Wilson, the attorneys general filed an emergency appeal amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Oct. 8, charging that Portland police failed to protect ICE agents from “violent rioters,” and that “President [Donald] Trump’s deployment of a small number of National Guard members to defend against this lawlessness is responsible, constitutional and authorized by statute.”