DHS Response to Portland Protests Sparks Community Condemnation
On Saturday, January 31, thousands of Portlanders, including union members, gathered at Elizabeth Caruthers square for a rally and march protesting ICE’s presence in Portland and the State of Oregon. What started as a peaceful march from the park to the ICE facility on Macadam Avenue soon turned chaotic when federal agents released clouds of tear gas on the marchers.
The Labor Against ICE Rally and March was organized by local union chapters and progressive organizations, including the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The event was intended to be family friendly. The route was planned so the march would pass by the ICE facility but not stop. There were about 30 unions represented.
As the march made its way from Elizabeth Caruthers Park shortly after 4pm, the crowd began chanting and singing union songs. After only half an hour the songs and chants were interrupted by loud explosions coming from the ICE facility. The crowd closest to the facility immediately began to flee. For the demonstrators farther away from the facility, there was confusion in the immediate aftermath of the release of tear gas. Shortly after, a large cloud of gas became visible. Seth Caddy, a protester marching with the DSA coalition, said he and others didn’t know what to do. “Someone else took over” and instructed the crowd to make room for people to escape. “I’m glad that people took charge and did that because there could’ve been panic,” Caddy said, sharing a common sentiment among witnesses, and noting that there could have been a panic or stampede after agents released tear gas into a crowd of thousands.
After the gas was released people could be spotted for blocks around the facility pouring water in their eyes, doubling over, and sitting down. The Portland Police Bureau noted in a statement issued Sunday that paramedics and firefighters were summoned to the scene to provide medical treatment. There were also several individuals with less severe injuries scattered around the area who were receiving treatment from volunteer medics. According to Nikolai, a Reed student in attendance at demonstrations around the facility both Saturday and Sunday, one of the medics reported elderly people having asthma and panic attacks from the gas.
John Wasielewski, who is running to represent the district where the ICE facility is located in the Oregon House, was back near the DSA coalition when the gas was released. He ran forward to help carry people out. “It was the thickest cloud of tear gas I have ever seen,” said Wasielewski, who often goes by Waz. After escaping, Wasielewski helped a teenager he estimated to be around sixteen clear gas out of his eyes. Wasielewski has a protest bag that he usually brings to protests at the facility, but on Saturday he was wearing a dress shirt and slacks without any of his usual gear. “I didn’t think they would gas a crowd of two or three thousand people.”
Many union members and non-union protestors brought their families and young children. A co-chair for the Portland DSA, Olivia Katbi, was in attendance at the march with her husband and one year old daughter. Many of the young children were among those caught in the tear gas. A friend of Katbi’s was at the march with her friend and their five-year-old daughter, who was taken to the hospital for an assessment after the gas was released. Portland resident Mark Remy posted a video to social media of a young girl crying while medics and other protestors help wash tear gas out of her eyes. She also appears to have a large bump on her forehead as a result of a blunt impact.
One of the gas canisters struck the window of a residential unit in the Gray’s Landing apartment complex across the street. A woman attending the protest, who wished to only be referred to by her first name, Jennifer, said she was standing under the window when the canister hit. The impact caused the window to shatter, raining glass down on Jennifer and those around her. The window the ICE agents broke was part of a residential unit in an apartment building, and still had a large hole and glass shards covered the sidewalk underneath in the following day. ICE continued to release tear gas near the building. Residents of Gray’s Landing have been subjected to tear gas and other chemical munitions from the ICE facility for months, and filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in December along with the manager of the complex. Jennifer said she witnessed “nothing” that would cause federal agents to deploy gas on the crowd. It was “for nothing, for no [expletive] reason,” she repeated.
In their statement, the Portland Police Bureau clarified that they did not use any crowd control munitions at the protest but witnessed the use of “irritant gas” from federal officers. On top of the tear gas, officers also utilized other crowd control munitions including flashbang grenades and pepper balls. The crowd of thousands, including young children and elderly people, received no warning that agents were releasing gas. Witnesses at the scene said there was no clear reason for ICE agents to deploy gas and no obvious incidents that led to the gas being released. Videos circling social media appear to show a small group of protestors making their way onto the driveway of the facility, which is federal property, before the gas was deployed.
Councilor Mitch Green, one of the city council members representing the fourth district, which includes the area of the city where the ICE facility is located, was in attendance along with several members of his staff. Maria Sipin, Chief of Staff, estimated that “the gas easily reached 500 ft. in each direction, which affected air quality and safety for blocks around the ICE facility.” Councilor Green was noticeably affected by the gas, according to Caddy. His office provided the Quest the following statement from the councilor:
“Yesterday, our city was attacked. Federal agents deployed chemical weapons against peaceful protesters, including families with children. This was not law enforcement. It was an act of intimidation, and it is inexcusable.
“ICE’s violent presence is a clear and grave danger to Portland. We must stop the violence now, using every tool we have. We must immediately begin enforcing the Detention Facility Fee and fast-tracking the investigation into ICE’s land use violations.
“And we need to go further. We need new policies to unmask agents, document their abuses, and direct our police to identify and record every act of violence by federal personnel. We will use this evidence to prosecute.
“We cannot let this criminality go unpunished. ICE and those directing their operations will be held accountable.”
The following day, on Sunday February 1, another group of protestors made their way to the ICE facility, this time from the Portland City Hall two miles away. Sunday’s protest was organized by Portland Contra las Deportaciones (PDXCD) to demand the City Council revoke the permit for the ICE facility. Shortly after arriving at the facility at around 5:30pm, several dozen protestors made their way onto the driveway and began yelling at a group of ICE agents behind the gate. Agents began shooting pepperballs at the crowd, allegedly in response to a handful of demonstrators throwing unknown objects at the roof.
The protest on Sunday was primarily non-violent, but the crowd was more assertive than on Saturday. It wasn’t until about 6:45pm, over an hour after the march arrived from city hall, that agents opened the gate and began shooting gas canisters and flashbangs at the crowd. The agents continued to launch gas canisters for several minutes. Many of the protestors, especially those closer to the driveway, were wearing some type of gas mask or respirator in expectation of a similar response as the day before, but most people attending still did not have protection from the chemicals. In the aftermath multiple people could be spotted with large bruises and gashes after being struck by canisters and other projectiles. About ten yards west of the facility a small group of people were crouched shouting for a medic. A regular at the Macadam ICE facility demonstrations who was at the protest on Sunday said it was the most he’s ever seen the agents escalate and the entire weekend was “really the worst it’s been.”
After gas caused the majority of the crowd to disperse on both Saturday and Sunday, a group of protestors with respirators and masks immediately began walking around pouring water on still smoking canisters to neutralize them. Tear gas and other chemical munitions being utilized by federal agents at the Macadam ICE facility is not new, and organizers are well prepared to handle the aftermath. Many of the people in attendance had been at several demonstrations around the facility during the summer and fall and described being gassed repeatedly. Others described witnessing agents target protestors with pepper balls, rubber bullets, and other projectiles.
On Tuesday, February 3, in response to the weekend protests, US District Court Judge Michael Simon issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting federal agents from using “chemical or projectile munitions, including but not limited to kinetic impact projectiles, pepper ball or paintball guns, pepper or oleoresin capsicum spray, tear gas or other chemical irritants, soft nose rounds, 40mm or 37mm launchers, less lethal shotguns, and flashbang, Stinger, or rubber ball grenades” unless the target poses an “imminent threat of of physical harm to a law enforcement officer or another person.” The order only applies to the areas “at or in the vicinity” of the building, and will be in effect for 14 days. The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Oregon on behalf of several protestors and journalists who detailed their experiences being exposed to and directly hit by chemical and projectile munitions. It is one of several ongoing legal cases surrounding the use of force and crowd control munitions at the Macadam ICE facility.
A few hours after Judge Simon issued the temporary restraining order on Tuesday, there were about a dozen people scattered around the ICE facility chatting and playing music. Weeknights at the facility are typically pretty calm with only a handful of protestors and little interaction with federal agents. It is difficult to tell if the restraining order will have any effect on the actions of agents once the demonstrations ramp up again over the weekend, but regulars at the facility are skeptical. “There have been previous rulings similar to this in the past and ICE has consistently broken those rulings and local law so I don’t think that is going to change much, at least under this current administration,” remarked a protester who wished to remain anonymous.
Missy has been a regular at the protests for about nine months and hands out baked goods on Tuesday nights. She and her friend Charly, who hands out burritos on Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, both shared that they had never seen the federal agents following the law. “Why would they start now?” Charly, also known as the Burrito Lady, asked. Seth Caddy was similarly skeptical. “Who’s going to enforce it? What ICE is doing is already illegal, it’s already unconstitutional.”