FILE - Oregon Army National Guard soldiers with Company G, 1st Battalion, 189th Aviation Regiment, stand in formation during a demobilization ceremony honoring their return from overseas deployment, March 4, 2018 in Salem, Ore.
Sgt. 1st Class April Davis / Oregon Military Department Public Affairs
The Trump administration is seeking the help of state and federal officers as it pushes to deport large numbers of migrants in the country without legal status.
The Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, asked the Defense Department for 20,000 National Guard members to assist with immigration enforcement, according to the New York Times. This comes a week after President Trump made a similar request to DHS.
It’s not clear whether state National Guard members would be involved in efforts to round up migrants.
Here’s what we know.
What does this mean for Oregon?
So far, Gov. Tina Kotek and the Oregon Military Department say the federal government has not asked for help in the form of state National Guard resources.
“The National Guard’s primary role is to respond to federal missions and its secondary mission is to support the state,” Lt. Col. Stephen S. Bomar, of the Oregon Military Department, said in a statement.
What is the National Guard’s presence in Oregon?
The National Guard simultaneously serves both state governors and presidents. There are about 2,300 members of the Air National Guard in Oregon, and about 4,800 members of the Army Guard. It has multiple bases across the state, including air bases in Klamath Falls, Portland and Warrenton.
If a president demands Oregon National Guard deploy, do they have to?
Either the president or governor can mobilize these troops, but there are certain circumstances when a president can do so, such as in the case of a war, a national emergency or an invasion.
The president typically mobilizes National Guard troops to handle national issues like natural disasters, Bill Hughes, a political science professor at Southern Oregon University, said in an email to OPB.
Hughes said governors can refuse a president’s request to mobilize their state’s National Guard troops in certain cases, and some have.
In 1986, Maine Gov. Joseph Brennan refused to send Army Guard members to Honduras out of opposition to the Reagan administration’s actions in Central America, prompting other governors to say they would do the same.
In 2019, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered her state’s National Guard troops to withdraw from the border, saying communities in the area were safe and rejecting “the federal contention that there exists an overwhelming national security crisis at the southern border.”
What might happen next?
Hughes noted that President Trump might seek to expand his authority under the law by declaring a national emergency.
Since his term began, the president has sought to justify his administration’s deportation efforts by citing a centuries-old law called the Alien Enemies Act and saying the country is facing an “invasion” of migrants. The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the administration could not use the law to deport a group of Venezuelan detainees while their cases are moving through the courts.
“The challenge for trying to interpret the actions of the current administration is the unusual propensity to challenge precedent and accepted interpretations of existing statutes,” said Hughes.
What is Gov. Kotek’s response?
A spokesperson for Kotek said in a statement Thursday that Oregon’s sanctuary laws — which forbid the use of local resources on federal immigration enforcement — “do not obstruct the immigration efforts which are the responsibility of the federal government.”
“As the Commander in Chief of the Oregon National Guard, the Governor prioritizes the needs and values of Oregonians,” press secretary Roxy Mayer said in a statement. “She does not believe mass deportations in Oregon or elsewhere meet those criteria. Oregonians have been clear that Oregon must remain a place where immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are welcome and safe.”
How is the Oregon National Guard typically used?
More than 16,000 members of the Oregon National Guard have been deployed for missions in the state since Sept. 11, 2001, and more than 28,000 for federal missions.
Members are specially trained for a number of roles, from engineering and medical help to air and security support. They respond to natural disasters and combat zones. They help public safety agencies, such as law enforcement and search and rescue.
In recent years, the Oregon National Guard has been mobilized under a variety of circumstances. They helped battle wildfires last summer and provided support during floods and ice storms. They also responded to the protests in downtown Portland in 2020, providing crowd control as riots ensued.
FILE - Oregon National Guard members wait for training before the start of the vaccination clinic being held at the Oregon Convention Center, Jan. 27, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
During the pandemic, guard members helped run COVID-19 vaccination centers and supported hospitals. They helped aid the Oregon State Hospital as it dealt with staffing shortages.
“It’s good to note that the Guard is normally the last in, first out to provide support for domestic operations,” said Lt. Col. Bomar, of the Oregon Military Department.
How is the Oregon National Guard serving the federal government currently?
The federal government has ordered about 850 members of the Oregon National Guard to work in various countries overseas. The National Guard recently sent about 200 people to the Horn of Africa, helping with security and defense on bases in Djibouti, Kenya and Somalia.
There are also National Guard units in Egypt, Syria and Kosovo. Lt. Col. Bomar said the National Guard expects they will return this summer and fall.
