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Shortly after the Oregon governor’s office said Wednesday that all federalized National Guard members outside Portland would begin to demobilize within days, a spokeswoman for the U.S. military said this information was wrong.
While 100 Oregon National Guard troops outside Portland are indeed demobilizing, 100 remain in place, U.S. Northern Command spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Teresa Meadows told WW in a phone interview, and she said there is no plan for now to remove those 100 troops.
Meadows confirmed that her information contradicted an announcement put out by Oregon officials early Wednesday afternoon.
In that announcement, Gov. Tina Kotek had said all the troops based outside of Portland would soon be demobilizing, a development which, if true, would have marked the close of another chapter in the state’s thus far successful effort to block the Trump administration from deploying the military in its largest city.
In the initial news release, Gov. Kotek’s office said she was issuing her statement “after receiving a verbal demobilization order from the U.S. Northern Command for the 200 Oregon National Guard members.”
But the military quickly contradicted this, and at a press conference later Wednesday, Kotek suggested the military went back on its word. “Earlier today, we had a verbal commitment from the Northern Command that all 200 National Guard troops were going to be demobilized,” she said. “Now we’re hearing they’re waiting. And so we don’t know if that’s actually happening.”
She added, “I think it’s just an indicator of the confusion and inconsistency and lack of, frankly, protocol, to decide what is happening with our National Guard troops.”
Even if all the troops were sent home, it is unclear whether this would have been the last word in a saga that began in late September, when President Donald Trump said he would send military to protect “War ravaged” Portland.
The ensuing legal battle resulted in a permanent block on the deployment, when a U.S. district judge rejected federal officials’ legal case for the mission. But the Trump administration’s appeal to a higher court remains active. And developments in the courts Wednesday appeared to play a role in the shifting accounts.
Shortly after the governor’s initial news release Wednesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals moved to preserve the status quo, in which troops could remain under federal control as the court put the case on pause until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a similar case regarding the deployment of the National Guard in Illinois.
In the meantime, the court directed the federal government to file weekly status reports regarding the current status of any federalized Oregon National Guard, including updates on the defederalization of any troops.
Later Wednesday, Kotek’s office issued another statement, which it said was in response to the court order.
“The Oregon Military Department received notice from the U.S. Northern Command for mobilized Oregon troops to prepare for one of two outcomes, pending the circuit court ruling to either demobilize or remain in a federal status,” Oregon National Guard Adjutant Gen. Alan Gronewold said in this second news release.
The release also had a statement from Kotek, describing what she said were the implications of the appeals court order: “This ruling means the remaining 100 troops that were preparing to go home, will now remain in limbo. This is deeply disheartening and frustrating.”
As Kotek noted at the earlier press conference, a partial demobilization had already been announced early this week, when Northern Command, which oversees the troops, confirmed that all 200 California National Guard members posted outside Portland would pack up, as would about half of the 200 Oregon National Guard members.
In her latter statement Wednesday, Kotek reiterated her demand for Trump to call off the “ridiculous, unnecessary military intervention” and send the rest of the troops home “once and for all.”
The specific cost of the mission, which in practice has mostly consisted of troops waiting on bases after a federal court blocked their deployment almost from the start, has likely come to around $16 million thus far, according to the Oregon Military Department. (The federal government bears the cost, the OMD says.)
Attorney General Dan Rayfield had also sent out a statement earlier Wednesday based on the premise that all the Oregon National Guard troops would be demobilizing.
“We’re grateful the federal government is finally doing the right thing and sending the Oregon Guard members home, where they belong, with their families and communities in time for the Thanksgiving holiday,” he said, before the military contradicted this premise.
