ICE’s office in Portland is already federally protected. So why is there a need for the National Guard?
Standing above Portland, Oregon, federal agents on the roof of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building scan the crowd below where a few dozen protesters are gathered. The agents are not members of the National Guard. They are the forces actually assigned to secure the building.
But it’s not enough for President Donald Trump. In his latest rule-breaking plan, Trump has used the protests to justify involving the military in his fight against crime, illegal immigration, and what he calls an “invasion from within.”
Demonstrations at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Portland sometimes turned violent Since JuneBut Mr. Trump falsely claimed on Sunday that “Portland is burning to the ground.” Officials in the Democratic stronghold say city police have controlled the protests and blame the federal government for escalating tensions. The president described the demonstrators as “rebels.” He said He will consider invoking the Insurrection Act to override court rulings preventing him from sending National Guard troops into the city.
Why did we write this?
Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Portland, Oregon, is the center of protests and a legal battle over President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard. In the building, Al-Monitor found both law enforcement and protesters grappling with security issues and free speech rights.
Protecting the federal ICE facility and its employees is a major reason why the administration wants to deploy the National Guard to Portland. It’s also the rationale given by Mr. Trump Justifies Guard troops sent to Los Angeles in June. However, a group within the Department of Homeland Security has already been tasked with providing this security for federal sites: the Federal Protective Service (FPS).
In an interview at ICE’s Portland field office with Chris Hayes, FPS’ associate director of field operations, the law enforcement officer gave a more nuanced assessment of the situation — not alarmist, but saying the safety concerns his agency faces are real.
“Officers encounter very angry people every day trying to keep this facility safe,” he says. “We’ve seen assaults on officers…at the same time, we’ve had people on the sidewalk expressing their opinions without violence.”
The interview with Mr. Hayes, and access to the building here, provides a window into the work FPS does nationwide to protect federal facilities and workers from potential harm. FPS staff in Portland “will use that support as much as we can” if Guard troops arrive, Mr. Hayes says. At the ICE facility on Sunday in his navy blue uniform, he said he had no opinion about the temporary restraining order issued by federal Judge Karen Immergut the night before. A Trump-appointed judge in Oregon ruled that the administration could not send in Guard troops because “this is a constitutional law state, not a martial law state.”
At the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, the Observatory witnessed scattered clashes between officers and demonstrators outside the gate, during which officers appeared to detain two people. Inside the building, the conference room’s windows were blackened as agents guarded the roof. Personnel from agencies outside FPS, including the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Customs and Border Protection, were on site for crowd control.
Meanwhile, protesters outside wore pajamas, carried signs and voiced their opposition to the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration enforcement and potential military intervention. As night fell, the crowd became more noisy.
Freedom of expression and safety are at stake
ICE’s field office in South Portland, near the Willamette River, bears evidence of hostility toward the immigration agency. The phrase “MOLOTOVS MELT ICE” was scrawled in graffiti on the concrete ledge of the boxy white building. One sign is intended to reveal a photo and home address to a local ICE agent. Protesters left a fake guillotine behind.
The agency has been detaining immigrants when they come to check in at field offices like this one. Since June, the size of the demonstrations has fluctuated, from a handful of demonstrators to a few hundred, according to court documents and local media reports. Officers sometimes fired into the crowd using irritants such as pepper spray balls. The activity appears to be limited to about one city block and is much smaller than the racial justice protests in this city in 2020 that attracted thousands.
In an October 2 court filing, the Justice Department alleged that protesters assaulted federal law enforcement using “rocks, bricks, pepper spray, and incendiary devices,” damaged portions of property, and obstructed the entry and exit of vehicles.
Stephen Lamm/San Francisco Chronicle/AP
The FPS “has been stretched to the point of collapse,” Justice Department lawyers wrote. However, Mr. Hayes says, “I haven’t had any morale issues” in Portland.
Before Judge Immergut blocked the moves, the Pentagon said it was preparing to deploy 200 Oregon National Guard members — and possibly National Guardsmen in other states — to protect federal property and personnel.
President Trump said on Truth Social that the request for military assistance came from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The Observatory asked the Department of Homeland Security to confirm and explain why a military presence, not just additional federal law enforcement, was necessary to protect the Portland site.
“President Trump is using his legal authority to direct the National Guard to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland after months of violent riots where officers were assaulted and defamed by left-wing rioters,” Assistant Secretary of State Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. She also described the protesters as “domestic terrorists” who will not be allowed to attack law enforcement.
On Tuesday, Ms. Noem visited the ICE office in Portland and met with Oregon Gov. Tina Kotick and other local officials. she He said Local media reported that her visit was intended to “secure some partnerships that will keep our officers safe and allow us to enforce federal law.”
FPS’s presence at ICE’s field office in Portland predates the protests. FPS staff screen visitors and manage the entry and exit of vehicles through the gate.
Other federal law enforcement branches are adding more than 20 FPS employees on site, according to Mr. Hayes. FPS also collaborated with a range of agencies over the period Suppression of 2020 protests In portland.
FPS reports more than 8,500 federal properties nationwide are insured. The agency was not affected by the government closure. It is funded through its service fees and receives no direct appropriation from Congress.
Mr. Hayes says there is some communication between the FPS and the Portland Police Bureau. Police department report made 36 arrests In the region “since the start of the night protests” four months ago. Federal authorities manage the ICE building and the corridor, while police are in charge of the surrounding streets, police spokesman Terry Wallow Strauss says in an email.
Stephen Lamm/San Francisco Chronicle/AP
The pace of accusations has escalated at the local and federal levels over the past week. A Ministry of Justice official on October 3 Announce An investigation into the police department over its handling of the arrest of Nick Surtor and the alleged assault by protesters on Katie Daviscourt, both from right-wing media outlets, who were filming the protests and verbally arguing with participants. District Attorney’s Office decreased A disorderly conduct charge was filed against Mr. Surtor on Monday.
On the same day, Portland He responded In a letter to the Department of Justice, the federal government appears to be engaging in viewpoint discrimination by “providing special access to the ICE facility to social media ‘influencers’ who favor the federal administration, while forcibly targeting those who use social media to document federal government conduct.”
The city also asserted that the federal government appeared to be using “unconstitutional uses of force” outside the facility. Social media Screenshots A video that surfaced earlier this month appears to show an FPS officer on the street spraying a protester in the face at close range. The FPS officer has been relieved of law enforcement authority pending an investigation into the incident, according to an agency spokesperson.
Eclectic crowd
Tensions often seem to turn into chaos at night. At daylight on Sunday, a largely peaceful crowd of a few dozen people turned out.
A person who gave his name as Shadow says he has protested here for months “to denounce what ICE is doing — separating families.” He carries a Pride flag, along with a worn-out red first aid kit to care for his fellow protesters.
“My advantage here is knowing I’m helping people,” he says. “I don’t get paid. Everyone thinks that we as instigators get paid.”
Many oppose military intervention. Angie Scripter, who lives in the neighborhood, says the south waterfront area was quieter before the potential forces were announced. Now there were more people, along with “helicopters circling every night.”
Sarah Matousek/The Christian Science Monitor
A mother who was reluctant to bring her child to medical care because of fear of immigration authorities was affected by it, says Vincent Hawkins, an emergency room nurse who protested for months. He supports “following the rule of law” and opposes the government’s methods of enforcing immigration laws, including detentions in court.
Mr. Hawkins says he is less concerned than others about the potential deployment, as a former member of the California National Guard. It was activated in Los Angeles in 1992 during protests over the police beating of Rodney King. National Guard troops, he says, “are members of their community in a way that no active-duty combat person can be.”
Mr. Hawkins sees violence by federal agents as a bigger concern. He almost lost his eye from A shell During the protest in June. Undeterred, he keeps coming back with his megaphone.
“I’m not an anti-FIFA domestic terrorist. I’m a homeowner, I’m a father, I’m a nurse, and I’m someone who cares about my community,” Hawkins says as he wraps an American flag around his neck.
Inside the building, FPS’s Mr. Hayes is the First Amendment expression of many of the protesters below in the street.
“We need to be able to talk and communicate, not just shout at each other,” he says.