Ribbit! Frogs For Freedom: Portland, Oregon Demonstrations Against President Trump’s Deployment of National Guard

Portland frog protest sticker. Courtesy of Redbubble.

On September 27, 2025, President Donald Trump announced  his executive decision on Truth Social to deploy “all necessary troops to protect war-ravaged Portland, and any [...] ICE facilities under siege from attack by Antifa,” emphasizing the potential exertion of presidentially-authorized “full force” against protestors. Portlanders, acutely aware of the city’s blighted portrayal across the nation, have taken it upon themselves to contradict this image, dressing up in jocular costumes during demonstrations. 

As expressed by one protestor, Seth “The Protest Frog” Todd, “it [is] just to contrast the narrative that we are violent extremists. The best way to show that for me is being in a frog costume.” However, attempts to protest in a strategically unproblematic manner still face challenges in Portland. In a video originally posted to Tiktok, a federal agent can be seen opening the air vent of Todd’s inflatable frog suit, intentionally spraying chemicals into the costume. 

Nationally remembered for its chaotic protests turned riots in 2020, Portland, Oregon is a rhetorical cornerstone for the Trump administration’s deployment of national troops in major cities across the nation. This decision comes from the President’s expressed belief that heavily left-leaning and racially-diverse cities across the United States, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and Memphis, are in need of federally-implemented reform. Throughout the past few weeks, large numbers of ICE agents and National Guard soldiers have been active in detaining ostensible illegal immigrants and physically deterring demonstrations against such detentions.

The specifications concerning what authority President Trump has in deploying the national guard to cities such as Portland are contained in United States Code, Title 10, Section 12-406. Under three discrete circumstances, the President can legally call members of the National Guard into action: (1) A foreign invasion, or a legitimate threat thereof, (2) An insurrection, (3) The inability to enforce federal law. 

Where the situation becomes nebulous, is applying this code to the situation in Portland and examining its legitimacy. A statutory provision under the Insurrection Act alludes to instances in which the state itself is responsible for the inability to enforce federal law, hence potentially warranting deployment of federal troops. Tung Lin, a professor of law at Lewis & Clark University, expresses the following interpretation: “At some point, the judge assigned to the case will have to determine, if we’re operating under 12-406, does this actually satisfy the inability to enforce federal law? Or is this either just legitimate protesting or maybe legitimate protesting plus some degree of street violence, but not of the sort that obstructs federal law?”

As referenced  by Professor  Lin, Oregon has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, concerned by the presence of federal agents throughout the state. On October 4, 2025, Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut granted the state’s initial request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against President Trump’s aim to federalize and deploy 200 federal troops to Portland. Less than 12 hours later, 100 troops were federalized from Los Alamitos, California and deployed to Portland. On October 5, Judge Immergut granted a second TRO, meant to prohibit the deployment of National Guard forces for two additional weeks.

From the demonstrator’s perspective, current protests against President Trump’s perceived unlawful deployment of federal troops are relatively calm and mainly non-violent; Portlanders such as Todd are turning to light-hearted mobilization strategies. On October 12, organizers of the Portland World Naked Bike Ride, a nudist event held annually in the summertime to protest car-centricity, called for an emergency bike ride to protest the presence of the National Guard and ICE. Echoing Seth Todd’s sentiment, biker Desiree Argento explained the rationale that motivated their participation: “Since Portland is allegedly on fire and burning down and it’s like a war zone I figured the best way we could show who we really are is by expressing ourselves completely and being naked is a wonderful way of saying F-you.”

Historically, Portland has spearheaded the spread of large-scale demonstrations across the nation. In 2020, following the rousing murder of George Floyd, protest consumed the city. Large, predominantly peaceful mourning marches paraded through the streets during daytime, and extremists took to expressing discontent with the system via crimes such as arson and looting during nighttime. Many Oregon leaders have also alluded to how President Trump’s contributions influenced demonstrations in 2020. Activists, policy-makers, and law enforcement agents have all expressed that criminal activity became intertwined with demonstration following the President’s order to send federal forces to Portland; rallies for racial justice devolved into protests against ICE, DHS, and CBP federal agents.

At a news conference on October 7, just over a week after President Trump’s announcement regarding National Guard deployment to Portland, Chief Bob Day of the Portland Police Bureau expressed the following: “Certainly over the last 10 days, the energy level has gone up, and the amount of conflicting points of view have increased greatly. This has created an environment that is equally if not more challenging for us because of the dynamics in the crowd.” U.S. District Judge Immergut wrote in her ruling on October 5, that Oregon officials were able to “provide substantial evidence that the protests at the Portland ICE facility were not significantly violent or disruptive in the days, or even weeks, leading up to the President’s directive on September 27.”

As of October 22, 2025, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has allowed for the deployment of the National Guard to Portland, giving President Trump the green light to potentially recreate an atmosphere resemblant of 2020.

Although at large, Oregon leaders are against the presence of federal troops in Portland, there are voices echoing the beliefs of Dan Mason, Oregon’s Republican National Committeeman. Mason, in an interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), said that in 2020, it was a mistake to not deploy the National Guard to Portland. Emphasizing that his viewpoint is shared by the 720,000 registered Republicans in Oregon, Mason expressed a positive perspective regarding the situation at hand. He believes the National Guard will not arrive with the intent of attacking protestors, but instead aid Portland Police in handling non-peaceful demonstrations, so that local law enforcement can prioritize separate issues that demand attention.

Portlanders’ past sentiments towards federal troops becoming involved with protest have evidently manifested in destructive ways, which, five years later, should encourage caution and concern surrounding the role of ICE and the National Guard in law enforcement. If Portland maintains the current culture of whimsical resistance, reclaiming false narratives that it is plagued with warlike violence, an avenue for change may emerge. Governor Tina Kotek of Oregon has told Oregonians to not bite the bait, and remain peaceful as tensions rise in the City of Roses.