ICE activity rocks Portland's immigrant communities
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Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Adam Gray/Getty Images and Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Reports and social media posts suggest an increase in the presence of federal immigration agents and detentions across the Portland metro area over the last few weeks, raising concerns among advocates, community members and local lawmakers.
Why it matters: The instances come as the city watches and waits to see if National Guard troops will be sent to quell protests outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.
- It also follows the Trump administration tripling ICE's arrest quota earlier this year.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to Axios' request for information on activity and arrest rates.
What they're saying: The Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition (PIRC) hotline received more than 700 calls over the last month — up from 20-40 monthly calls last year — many of them reporting ICE activity, spokesperson Natalie Lerner told the Portland Mercury.
- U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter condemned the ICE activity and arrests last week: "If you look like you could be from another country, or you speak another language, you run the risk of being kidnapped by unmarked cars, by officers who cover their faces and have no visible ID," Dexter told KOIN.
- "I've never seen this level of fear or anxiety," Bridget Cooke, co-founder and executive director of Adelante Mujeres, told KOIN.
Driving the news: Multiple arrests have been reported in the suburbs surrounding Portland with larger immigrant populations.
- For example, four workers were arrested at a construction site in Gresham on Oct. 14 after being followed by two SVUs from a Troutdale Home Depot. At least one of the men was taken to ICE's Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, according to OPB.
- On Oct. 15, a video shows a group of heavily armed agents entering a Gresham apartment and arresting two men. Family members told Fox 12 that agents were yelling the name of a different man than the two they arrested for over an hour before breaking the gate and entering the home.
- Other recent arrests include a Hillsboro business owner who's been living in the U.S. with a work visa for more than 30 years, a U.S.-born Milwaukie resident outside his work in North Portland and a DoorDash delivery driver who was recorded pleading for air as one agent laid on top of him.
The bottom line: PIRC encourages the community to make note of ICE activity by taking down license plate numbers and location — and if an arrest is taking place, by taking a video and obtaining any information about the detainee so they can connect them to services.