Feds Take Apart ‘Occupy ICE’ Tent Camp in Portland

A barricade crosses railroad track at a protest camp on property outside the U.S. Immigrat
AP File Photo/Don Ryan
Joshua Caplan

Federal authorities on Thursday began taking apart a makeshift tent camp blockading U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters in Portland, Oregon.

Federal officers wearing tactical gear began clearing out protesters demonstrating at the facility against the Trump administration’s now-halted family separation policy

“At approximately 5:30 a.m. today, federal law enforcement officers initiated a law enforcement action to reopen the federal facility at 4310 SW Macadam Avenue in Portland,” a Federal Protective Service spokesperson said.

Photos and videos of the clear-out have begun circulating on social media.

Since Sunday, hundreds of immigration activists have been demonstrating outside the agency’s facility, calling for the abolishment of ICE. Protesters held signs reading “ICE=Trump’s Gestapo,” outside Portland City Hall.

Demonstrators also carried signs reading, “What would Jesus do?” and “Super, Callous, Fragile, Racist, Sexist, Nazi, POTUS.”

Over the weekend, Oregon State Representative Diego Hernandez (D) joined demonstrators to protest ICE and criticized President Donald Trump’s executive action aimed at halting immigrant families from being separated.

“So is the executive order a solution?” Hernandez asked. “No! Hell No! Children and families are still in detention prisons. It did nothing to reunite children, who are already separated and it gives the attorney general a path to detain them indefinitely.”

Self-described Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who defeated ten-term incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) in New York’s 14th congressional district, wants ICE to be abolished.

“As overseen by the Trump administration, ICE operates with virtually no accountability, ripping apart families and holding our friends and neighbors indefinitely in inhumane detention centers scattered across the United States,” says Ocasio-Cortez. “[I] believes that if we are to uphold civic justice, we must abolish ICE and see to it that our undocumented neighbors are treated with the dignity and respect owed to all people, regardless of citizenship status.”

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