BY MIRABEL ODETA
The mayor of Portland, Oregon, demanded that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leave his city after federal agents launched tear gas at a crowd of demonstrators — including young children — outside an ICE facility during a weekend protest he described as peaceful.
Witnesses said federal officers deployed tear gas, pepper balls, and rubber bullets as thousands of marchers arrived at the South Waterfront facility on Saturday. Erin Hoover Barnett, a former OregonLive reporter who joined the protest, said she was roughly 100 yards from the building when she saw “what looked like two guys with rocket launchers” spraying the crowd with chemical agents.
“To be among parents frantically trying to tend to little children in strollers, people using motorized carts trying to navigate as the rest of us staggered in retreat, unsure of how to get to safety, was terrifying,” Barnett wrote in an email to OregonLive.
Messages were sent on Sunday to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, seeking confirmation of the incident and clarification on the use of tear gas against demonstrators.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said the daytime demonstration was peaceful, noting that “the vast majority of those present violated no laws, made no threat, and posed no danger” to federal agents.
“To those who continue to work for ICE: Resign. To those who control this facility: Leave,” Wilson said in a statement Saturday night. “Through your use of violence and the trampling of the Constitution, you have lost all legitimacy and replaced it with shame.”
Paramedics from the Portland Fire Bureau were dispatched to treat those injured or affected by the chemical agents, while police officers monitored the crowd but did not make any arrests on Saturday.
The ICE facility in Portland functions as a field office and includes a processing center where federal officers detain and interview individuals to determine their legal status as U.S. residents, according to the city’s website.
Saturday’s protest in Portland was part of a broader wave of demonstrations across the United States in response to the Trump administration’s immigration policies. Similar protests have occurred in cities such as Minneapolis, where federal agents in recent weeks were involved in incidents that resulted in the deaths of two residents, Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
In Eugene, Oregon, federal agents also deployed tear gas on Friday after protesters broke windows and attempted to enter the Federal Building near downtown. City police declared a riot and ordered the crowd to disperse.
President Donald Trump commented on social media Saturday, stating that local law enforcement agencies are primarily responsible for managing protests in their cities. He also emphasized that federal agents should remain vigilant in protecting government facilities. “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,” Trump wrote. “If there is, those people will suffer an equal, or more, consequence.”
Mayor Wilson added that Portland would impose fees on detention facilities that use chemical agents in managing detainees. He emphasized that federal authorities “must, and will, be held accountable” for their actions. “To those who continue to make these sickening decisions, go home, look in a mirror, and ask yourselves why you have gassed children,” he said.
Original article
Comments