President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media before boarding Marine One in Washington, DC, on September 20. Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg/Getty Images

When President Donald Trump announced he was sending troops to “protect war-ravaged” Portland, his administration cited the need to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities from persistent demonstrations.

But behind the scenes, White House officials say, Trump also had another goal in mind: he wanted to use the military to advance his federal crime crackdown, and he saw protecting ICE facilities as a good pretext.

“You can kill two birds with one stone,” a person familiar with the talks said.

That strategy is notable given the president shelved his plans to target crime in Chicago last month, at least for the time

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