Portland’s mayor said Jan. 31 that federal officials should depart Oregon’s largest city after immigration agents launched tear gas at protesters there.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) components have been in major cities carrying out immigration enforcement operations.
“Today, federal forces deployed heavy waves of chemical munitions, impacting a peaceful daytime protest where the vast majority of those present violated no laws, made no threat, and posed no danger to federal forces,” Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said in a statement. “To those who continue to work for ICE: Resign. To those who control this facility: Leave.”
Wilson said that there needs to be a response to ICE operations and that any actions must be able to withstand scrutiny if they are challenged in court.
“The City of Portland is moving swiftly to operationalize an ordinance that went into effect this month, imposing a fee on detention facilities that use chemical agents. As we prepare to put that law into action, we are also documenting today’s events and preserving evidence. The federal government must, and will, be held accountable,” Wilson stated. “Portland will continue to stand firmly with our immigrant neighbors, who deserve safety, dignity, and the full protection of the communities they help build. We are also proud of the Portlanders who showed up today in peaceful solidarity, demonstrating the strength and clarity of those shared values in the face of federal overreach.”
The Portland Police Bureau said in a Feb. 1 statement that officers monitored protesters near the ICE building in the city on Saturday after a large crowd gathered in the area.
Officers watched as federal agents deployed tear gas and “facilitated medical treatment of patients by firefighters and paramedics summoned to the scene,” the bureau said. Local officers made no arrests.
ICE and DHS did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
Under instructions from President Donald Trump, federal agents have deployed to a number of cities, including Minneapolis, in recent months.
The Trump administration’s push for strict immigration enforcement comes against a backdrop of tensions in Minnesota, where two 37-year-old U.S. civilians were killed in recent weeks in confrontations with federal agents.
On Jan. 24, Alex Pretti was fatally shot by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent in what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) described as an act of self-defense. In another incident, Renee Good was killed by an ICE officer during a separate immigration operation.
The incidents ignited protests and deepened public scrutiny of the federal immigration enforcement operation, dubbed “Operation Metro Surge,” which deployed thousands of agents across the state. Demonstrators have called for greater accountability and an end to the operations, with protests extending to cities beyond Minnesota.
Officials in Minnesota have resisted the administration’s demands and the presence of federal agents.
Trump said over the weekend that he had instructed DHS Secretary Kristi Noem not to help Democrat-run cities with protests or riots unless city officials requested assistance.
“We will, however, guard, and very powerfully so, any and all Federal Buildings that are being attacked by these highly paid Lunatics, Agitators, and Insurrectionists,” he said. “Please be aware that I have instructed ICE and/or Border Patrol to be very forceful in this protection of Federal Government Property. There will be no spitting in the faces of our Officers, there will be no punching or kicking the headlights of our cars, and there will be no rock or brick throwing at our vehicles, or at our Patriot Warriors. If there is, those people will suffer an equal, or more, consequence.”
Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Saturday that people who attack law enforcement protecting federal property “will have to suffer” and “will get taken care of in at least an equal way.”
Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
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