US President Donald Trump says he is directing Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to send troops to protect Portland and federal immigration facilities.

He made the announcement on social media, writing that he was directing the Department of Defence to “provide all necessary troops to protect war-ravaged Portland”.

“I am also authorising full force, if necessary,” Trump said.

Trump said the decision was necessary to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, which he described as “under siege from attack by Antifa [an anti-fasict movement], and other domestic terrorists”.

The ICE facility in Portland has been the target of frequent demonstrations, sometimes leading to violent clashes.

Some federal agents have been injured and several protesters have been charged with assault.

When protesters erected a guillotine earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security described it as “unhinged behaviour”.

Portland mayor Keith Wilson, responding to Trump’s order, said: “The number of necessary troops is zero, in Portland and any other American city.

“The president will not find lawlessness or violence here unless he plans to perpetrate it.”

In a press conference on Friday (local time), Wilson and other local leaders urged calm in the face of an apparent influx of federal officers that the mayor said did not come at the request of the city.

“This may be a show of force but that’s all it is. It’s just a big show,” he said.

Since the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Trump has escalated his efforts to confront what he calls the “radical left” which he blames for the country’s problems with political violence.

Earlier in September, Trump had described living in Portland as “like living in hell” and said he was considering sending in federal troops, as he has recently threatened to do to combat crime in other cities including Chicago and Baltimore.

He deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the northern hemisphere summer and as part of his law enforcement takeover in the District of Columbia.

The Pentagon did not offer any clarification about whether Trump was deploying in Portland the National Guard, active duty troops or perhaps a mix of the two as was the case in Los Angeles earlier this year.

-with Reuters