‘Portland will continue to stand firmly with our immigrant neighbors,’ Mayor Keith Wilson said.
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.
