FILE - Texas Army National Guard members talk while patrolling behind razor wire on the banks of the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas, seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, late Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024.
Andres Leighton / AP
While a panel of judges deliberates over whether President Donald Trump can deploy the National Guard to Portland, some members of the state’s National Guard are heading to the Texas border.
About 60 members of the Oregon National Guard are heading to Texas to support military operations along the border. These soldiers are currently under federal authority and volunteered for the mission. They will provide logistical support at the border, according to the Oregon Military Department, such as vehicle recovery and maintenance.
Members of the National Guard have been caught in the legal and political battles waging across the country as Trump attempts to deploy them to Democratic-led cities like Portland and Chicago.
There are currently about 8,100 members of Oregon’s National Guard, according to Lt. Col. Stephen Bomar, director of public affairs for the state’s military department. Of those, 5,800 are part of the Army and 2,300 are part of the Air National Guard.
There are roughly 200 Oregon National Guard troops under federal control stationed at Camp Rilea, outside of Astoria, whose future depends on a ruling expected soon from a three-judge 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel. Those troops are currently under federal control, but hundreds of other troops in the National Guard remain under the governor’s control.
Gov. Tina Kotek could deploy other members of the guard if she saw fit to do so.
Kotek said in an interview with OPB recently that she is waiting to see what the panel of judges decides.
“I don’t know if this will go up to the [U.S.] Supreme Court,” Kotek said, but her mission to ensure people are able to express themselves without military intervention remains.
The governor said Oregon State Police are working with Portland police to keep the peace at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency building in South Portland.
“OSP was on the ground last week providing some relief for Portland police officers who needed a break from having been down at the ICE building so long,” Kotek said.
