Portland’s Anti-ICE Protests

PORTLAND—Lined along the entryway of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices of Portland, Oregon, hundreds of protesters were heard chanting anti-ICE slogans and shouting threats on Friday evening as federal agents watched from behind a metal gate.

“That overhang would be great to hang you all,” a woman clad in black said through a loudspeaker while pointing her finger at the building. “We could fit 12 of you on each side … now that would be efficient.”

The federal government’s attempts to deploy the National Guard to the area, first from Oregon and then from California, have both been blocked by a federal judge. 

As the legal wrangling continues, the national guardsmen are on hold as the protests continue.

On Saturday night, the ICE offices in Portland were the scene of an even bigger demonstration, whose participants included Antifa as well as a small crowd of pro-ICE supporters, one of whom held a sign, “God Bless ICE.”

As the protests continued on Sunday, a federal judge—this time from California—again blocked the National Guard deployment by expanding the scope of her order.

President Donald Trump announced on Sept. 27 that he would be federalizing the Oregon National Guard to intervene with the consistent “unrest” and vandalism striking Portland’s federal facilities, which include the ICE offices in the city’s South Waterfront area.

The deployment was halted on Oct. 4, when the order to send the troops to federal facilities was temporarily restrained by U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut.

On Sunday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that 300 troops from the California National Guard were “on the way” to Oregon against his wishes, according to statements shared in a press release.

At the time of publication, there are currently 200 activated California National Guard troops, according to the Pentagon.

Oregon leaders—including several mayors—have denounced the military operation, according to state government officials.

“I am grateful for the coalition of mayors across Oregon standing with Portland to reject the unprecedented militarization of law and immigration enforcement,” Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said in a statement to residents.

On Sunday evening, the troop deployment of the California National Guard was restrained again by Immergut, who released a broadened order that temporarily restricts any National Guard troops from relocating to Oregon.

The restraining order on the troop deployments both in and out of Oregon will remain in effect until Oct. 19.

As news of Immergut’s broadened orders began to circulate on the night of Oct. 5, the crowd of protesters demonstrating outside of ICE’s Portland offices continued to yell explicit comments and death threats towards the federal agents inside the building, some of whom gazed out from the windows.

One protester, draped with the Transgender flag, used a megaphone to shout that the National Guardsmen deployed by the Trump administration would no longer be coming to rescue them. 

Another, wearing black clothing, shouted that “the guillotine would be ready for them.”

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek did not respond to a request for comment.

—John Fredricks; Stacy Robinson

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