The crowds amassing on Portland’s South Waterfront on Sunday, Sept. 28, outside the city’s ICE processing facility, featured activists from nearly every community in the city, including volunteers handing out water and food from a mutual aid table and healthcare professionals nearby to offer onsite first-aid treatment. A cloud of tension sat over the metro region as residents waited to see exactly what President Trump’s latest pronouncement would mean.
Just one day earlier, Trump took to social media to loudly declare that he was “directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.” Perhaps most chillingly, Trump added that “I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary.”
While it has remained unclear if troops would ultimately touch down in Portland, 200 National Guard troops were authorized by Hegseth into federal Title 10 service on Sept. 28.
The notion that Portland is “War ravaged” came as news to people who actually live there.
The notion that Portland is “War ravaged” came as news to people who actually live there. As residents have repeatedly pointed out, Portland is far from the war zone Fox News, Trump, and the MAGA right claim it to be. The city is not facing destructive mass demonstrations; rather, there has been a small, ongoing, largely nonviolent demonstration happening outside of the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility south of downtown.
This was the 113th day of protests at this location. A permanent protest encampment was established here shortly after high-profile immigration raids and confrontations began dominating news coverage in the spring. Such encampments are not new for Portland: a similar one surrounded the facility in 2018 as a part of the nationwide Occupy ICE protest.
The organizations involved with the current protest encampment, including Stop ICE PDX, have asked for the city contract with ICE to be severed, a demand that progressive city councilors say they are investigating. Because Portland has the most advanced and protective sanctuary law in the country, some immigration rights nonprofits opposed efforts to close this processing facility for fear that such a move would lead arrestees to be sent directly to detention centers in states with less generous laws. But as the protest continued and federal officers frequently used aggressive crowd control and arrest methods, a consensus started to form about the need to rid the city of ICE’s site of operation. Also contributing to that growing consensus is the fact that this particular processing facility is not supposed to house detainees for more than 12 hours, yet detainees are routinely kept on site for days and in numbers that exceed its limits.
The organizations involved with the current protest encampment, including Stop ICE PDX, have asked for the city contract with ICE to be severed, a demand that progressive city councilors say they are investigating.
“We believe people power—that’s going to really be able to push back the government… so we’re really focused on mass mobilizations, where we can really show our force and also build our rapid response network,” says Holly Brown of the Portland-based anti-deportation group Portland Contra Las Deportaciones (Portland Against Deportations). The organization has grown as part of a growing anti-ICE coalition, building up the infrastructure to support community responses to deportation arrests, and is now launching a rapid response network aimed at bringing community members out to intervene wherever an ICE arrest is taking place. This follows models used around the country by groups like the Coalition for Community Self-Defense, the LA Tenants Union, and Grupo Auto Defensa, which employ community patrols, alert systems, and rapid mobilizations to deter ICE captures, while also creating sustainable mutual aid networks for the communities and families directly affected by immigration raids.
“We believe people power—that’s going to really be able to push back the government… so we’re really focused on mass mobilizations, where we can really show our force and also build our rapid response network.”
Holly Brown, Portland-based anti-deportation group Portland Contra Las Deportaciones
As I stood in front of the ICE processing facility on Sept. 28, I witnessed hundreds of people surrounding the building, holding up signs directing ICE to “GTFO” as well as Mexican and Palestinian flags. One sign read, “Obeying Trump makes you a war criminal.” As the demonstration swelled, federal officers and state police dressed in army fatigues pushed their way into the crowd at several intervals, eventually using aggressive crowd control techniques, including spraying activists with chemical agents at point-blank range.
“There was tension in the air. When the police tried to move into the crowd, my past experiences in street protests took over, and I found myself taking part in trying to force them out,” says Tyler Fellini, the executive director of the Portland labor-community coalition Portland Jobs With Justice. Fellini attended the demonstration, since many of their organization’s coalition partners were also participating, and joined with protesters in civil disobedience, refusing to leave the street as federal officers became more aggressive. Officers then sprayed local labor activists with a chemical agent, and when Fellini ran to their aid, they were likewise sprayed and had to seek medical attention.
As the demonstration swelled, federal officers and state police dressed in army fatigues pushed their way into the crowd at several intervals, eventually using aggressive crowd control techniques, including spraying activists with chemical agents at point-blank range.
People in the crowd, visibly incensed by the assault, formed a ring surrounding the ICE officers, who eventually retreated behind the fortified walls of the facility. By this point, said walls were covered in graffiti featuring anti-deportation slogans and images of arrestees whom protesters say have been “disappeared” by federal officers.
From what I could see on the ground on Sept. 28, the violence that took place in front of Portland’s ICE facility was one-sided—and it came from the officers. Demonstrators said that had very much been the norm for the over 100 days of protest.
“People of all ages showed up on Sunday, some of which had a small picket line going, others blowing bubbles and using their voices to condemn [law enforcement’s] behavior. But it doesn’t matter what people are doing or not doing; their violent response is always the same,” says Alissa Azar, an independent journalist who has been covering the encampment. Azar says this behavior from officers is commonplace, especially when a vehicle that could have a detainee inside is attempting to enter the ICE facility. In moments like these, violence has frequently been used to clear protesters out of the way, which demonstrators say is often unprovoked or radically out of proportion to the nonviolent demonstrations.
“Every day, the formula is the same: The feds come out to clear the driveway, pushing nonviolent protesters out, they get in a stand-off with protesters, and eventually unleash a ridiculous amount of munitions—typically pepper balls and tear gas—and make brutal arrests,” says Azar. “I don’t think I’ve seen a single arrest or detainment there that didn’t have at least four feds on one person.”
This is the kind of behavior that activists worry could accelerate if military troops touch down in the neighborhood, many of which would be untrained in civil law enforcement and directorially positioned to view the city’s residents as enemy combatants.
But residents showing up to the protests are resolved not to be intimidated into silence.
“I’m here not only to continue standing against ICE and their presence in our city, but more so against this incursion from the federal government on our city,” Omar Gil, another member of Portland Contra Las Deportaciones, told me. “The legal system, at this point, is becoming a fetter on the will of the people. And that’s why we have to be out here en masse, protesting against ICE, [and] understanding and realizing that we’re much more united than we are divided.”
Gil also emphasized that this moment requires state officials to take significant action—and some are.
At the same time troops were being amassed under Hegseth’s Title 10 authorization, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek called President Trump to try to disabuse him of his misconceptions about the state of the city, and to dissuade him from sending troops.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield filed a lawsuit in an effort to hold off Trump’s troops for at least 60 days, the same timeframe the troops were supposed to be deployed for. “This violates the Tenth Amendment by seeking to coerce Oregon into abandoning its own statutory prerogatives and instead adopt the President’s policy priorities,” reads the lawsuit, suggesting that Hegseth’s order was not constitutional.
Rayfield’s lawsuit was followed the next day by a “motion for temporary restraining order” filed by both the State of Oregon and the City of Portland, warning that “Oregon residents will suffer irreparable harm” from the presence of troops. Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley then made a statement demanding Trump “stay away” from the city and that it would be the President causing massive unrest if he went through with his threats.
The impact of the government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1, on the National Guard order remained unclear, even with 200 troops starting training for their deployment in the coastal Oregon town of Warrenton. Given that the deployment comes with a $3.8 million dollar price tag, many argue that this is a poor use of public funds in a moment of austerity.
The controversy was on full display when Brigadier General Alan R. Gronewald, Oregon National Guard adjutant general, wrote to troops about to deploy to acknowledge that they may have mixed emotions about the job at hand. According to that letter, their function will be to “protect federal facilities and the federal employees working in them.”
“You are citizens first, but you’re also service members who took an oath to support and defend the Constitution and follow the orders of the President and the Governor,” wrote Gronewald. “That oath doesn’t come with an asterisk that says, ‘only when I agree with the mission.’”
From what I could see on the ground on Sept. 28, the violence that took place in front of Portland’s ICE facility was one-sided—and it came from the officers.
Despite mixed messages from Trump, on Sept. 30, he told military leaders that Portland looked like “World War II” and a White House press release said that “the Radical Left’s reign of terror in Portland ends now,” implying that the troops will be intervening. That press release also advanced the conspiracy theory that “antifa,” which Trump is now attempting to label a terrorist organization, is behind a litany of various crimes and protest activities that he believes are “premeditated anarchy that has scarred the city for years.” This has been a rallying cry for the right since the racial justice and anti-police brutality protests of 2020, in which Portland’s participation—part of a long tradition of activism in the city—is framed as a sign of society-destabilizing violence and a pretext for state intervention.
But in 2020, when Trump brought in federal officers to intervene in and quell the protests, it was the presence of federal officers themselves that reignited the waning demonstrations. The presence of troops essentially ensured the demonstrations would become a nightly affair, bringing out hundreds of committed activists and creative acts of civil disobedience like the “Wall of Moms” who tried to block federal officers from harming the often very young demonstrators.
With another No Kings national day of protest planned for Oct. 18, Trump could be reigniting the protest movement by placing a startling image of authoritarianism into Portland streets. Since those troops will be stationed in defense of federal buildings, this could even mean that the small protest that has been confined to the ICE facility may expand to federally controlled real estate across the city.
“I stand in solidarity with anyone who is fighting fascism at this time,” Portland Councilor Angelita Morillo told me. Morillo also said that protesters should be careful and deliberate since “we’re not dealing with a normal administration” and the repression against activists has been severe.
“Historically, what has stopped authoritarians from consolidating power is millions of people self-organizing, taking over their workplaces, organizing wildcat and general strikes, being bold and defiant in the streets, being loud and not backing down,” says Paul Messersmith-Glavin, a longtime Portland organizer who was demonstrating at the ICE facility on the 28th. “If tens of thousands of people can be called out to the streets surrounding the ICE building before Thursday, building barricades and physically blocking troop transports, the National Guard can be kept out.”
“What community defense looks like is not backing down… we’re trying to actively disrupt their ability to repress people and to ruin people’s lives,” says Holly Brown.
“Trump is the ultimate bad boss and Portland’s labor movement knows how to fight bad bosses.”
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p class=“has-drop-cap“>The Trump administration successfully pushed U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon to recuse himself from the lawsuit seeking to block the use of National Guard troops in Portland. Simon is married to Democratic Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici, who has been a Trump critic and opponent of the troop deployment. As Trump continues to push back on court decisions unfavorable to him, the recusal was seen as yet another victory in his effort to clear away any obstacles posed by the courts.
“[Trump] has openly talked about declaring war on our city… so I think there is very high concern about what he intends to do,” says Councilor Morillo, but notes that they are still able to push back on his efforts through the court system.
The court ultimately convened on Oct. 3 for a two-hour session, but delayed their verdict, leaving onlookers without an answer. Stewing in anticipation, protests started ramping up at the ICE facility, with numbers of attendees starting to grow and repeated clashes with federal officers in the hours and days before the court hearing.
By Oct. 5, the court results were in: federal judge Karin Immergut, a conservative appointee, applied the injunction to stop the troops from hitting the ground in Portland. The troops would simply have to lie in wait, under federal control and without formal deployment in the state. On Oct. 9, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals began to hear arguments as to the status of the injunction, but agreed that the troops can stay under federal control while their deployment is the subject of legal debate. They are currently waiting at the Oregon National Guard’s Camp Rilea, around two hours away from the city on the state’s northern coast.
Trump’s second term has been unprecedented in his administration’s disregard for accepted civil liberties, in part because many of the legal and governmental appointees ruling on or implementing his policies are Trump allies. In raising the spectre of alleged chaos and radical violence in liberal cities, regardless of how untruthful and inaccurate those depictions are, he has set the pretext for sending in federal officers or even military troops, which he seems to view as an extension of his own uncheckable power. Based on the deployment in DC and attempted incursion in Chicago, his plan appears to be a coordinated strategy to suppress opposition in the urban centers. But in Chicago, mass and local resistance efforts have pushed back the most severe advances of federal power—exactly what the growing coalition in Portland hopes to do as well.
Since Trump’s troop order was temporarily blocked, his administration has continued its virtual war on antifa. This included going so far as to hold an “Antifa Roundtable” at the White House to discuss the supposedly nationwide threat, joined by far-right media figures such as former Pizzagate promoter Jack Posobiec. Attorney General Kristi Noem traveled to Portland to assess the situation, and after meeting with Governor Kotek and Mayor Ted Wheeler, she claimed at a press conference that they were “covering up” for antifa. Her visit drew a range of right-wing demonstrators to the building, who clashed with anti-deportation activists and cheered whenever violence was used against them. As the weekend of Oct. 11–12 approached, the National Guard remained on alert but had not yet been deployed.
Regardless of what comes next, though, activists, organizers, and residents showing up to the protests say they’re prepared to defend their city, their rights, and their neighbors.
“[Our] local history of activism and well-organized strikes give us the tools and experience to fight back and we must leverage them,” says Fellini. “Trump is the ultimate bad boss and Portland’s labor movement knows how to fight bad bosses.”
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