Mayor of Portland, OregonUS Immigration and Customs Enforcement demanded they leave the city, as federal agents fired tear gas at a crowd of demonstrators outside — including young children. ICE He and others during the weekend protest were described as peaceful.
Agents deployed tear gas, pepper balls and rubber bullets as thousands rallied at the South Waterfront facility on Saturday, witnesses said. Erin Hoover Barnett, a former OregonLive reporter who participated in the protest, said she was about 100 yards (91 meters) from the building when “what looked like two guys with rocket launchers” began dousing the crowd with gas.
“Being in the midst of parents frantically trying to watch over little ones in strollers, trying to navigate while people using motorized carts staggered down the backroads, not knowing how to get to safety, was terrifying,” Barnett wrote in an email to OregonLive.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said the daytime demonstration was peaceful, with “the vast majority of people here breaking no laws, making no threats and posing no danger to federal agents”.
“To those who continue to work for ICE: resign. To those who control this facility: leave,” Wilson wrote in a statement Saturday night. “When you use violence and trample on the Constitution, you lose all legitimacy and replace it with shame.”
The Portland Fire Bureau sent paramedics to treat people at the scene, police said. Police officers monitored the crowd, but no arrests were made Saturday.
The Portland protest was one of many similar demonstrations across the country Trump administrationA crackdown on immigration in cities like Minneapolisfederal agents killed two residents in recent weeks, Alex Pretty And Renee Good.
Federal agents in Eugene, Oregon, deployed teargas as protesters tried to enter a federal building near downtown on Friday. The city police declared a riot and ordered the crowd to disperse.
Donald Trump It posted on social media on Saturday that it was up to local law enforcement agencies to police protests in their cities. However, the president said he has directed Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noem to ensure federal agents remain vigilant in protecting US government facilities.
“Please remember that I have directed ICE and/or the Border Patrol to be very robust in protecting federal government property. No spitting in our officers’ faces, no punching or kicking our car headlights, and no throwing rocks or bricks at our vehicles or our Patriot Warries. wrote that. “If there were, those people would experience equal or greater consequences.”
Wilson said Portland imposes a fee on detention facilities that use chemical agents.
The federal government “must and must be held accountable,” the mayor said. “For those who continue to make these painful decisions, go home, look in the mirror and ask yourself why you hurt children.”
