Donald Trump has announced his intentions to send troops to Portland, Oregon, and one local senior police official is worried the president will just be making matters worse.
Politico on Saturday published an article called Why Donald Trump is obsessed with Portland, in which the outlet attempts to explain the president's "fixation" on the city.
"Five years ago, rioters in Portland set fire to government buildings, epitomizing for many on the right the lawlessness and chaos that swirled around the George Floyd protests," according to the report. "President Donald Trump never forgot."
After elaborating on Trump's motives, Politico shares pieces of an interview with a senior police official in Oregon. The official was not allowed to speak about the issue, so was left with anonymity.
"But a senior police official at the Portland Police Department, who was granted anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about police operations, said sending in additional federal forces would escalate the situation," according to the report. "'It will increase the number of protesters,' he said. When asked what the PPD would do if that happens, he added: 'I truly don’t know.'"
The report goes on the shed some more light on the current ICE protests.
"The senior police official said the situation continues to escalate as federal officers are doxxed, threatened or physically hurt — and then in turn take a more adversarial approach to the late-night protesters," the report states.
“It is a political nightmare,” he said, according to Politico.