SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
portland
‘You Have Lost All Legitimacy’: Portland Mayor Demands ICE Leave City After Tear Gassing Kids
"To those who continue to make these sickening decisions, go home, look in a mirror, and ask yourselves why you have gassed children."
Feb 02, 2026
The mayor of Portland, Oregon demanded that federal immigration enforcement officials leave his city after they were seen lobbing tear gas and flash bang grenades at demonstrators.
As reported by The Oregonian on Sunday, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson reacted with outrage after seeing federal agents deploying tear gas and firing rubber bullets at thousands of protesters who on Saturday marched to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in the city's South Waterfront neighborhood.
Wilson called the agents' attacks on protesters a vast overreaction to a "peaceful daytime protest, where the vast majority of those present violated no laws, made no threat, and posed no danger to federal forces" stationed at the facility.
“To those who continue to work for ICE: Resign. To those who control this facility: Leave,” Wilson said. "Through your use of violence and the trampling of the Constitution, you have lost all legitimacy and replaced it with shame."
The mayor also heaped scorn on federal agents for employing such tactics when several children were present in the crowd.
"To those who continue to make these sickening decisions, go home, look in a mirror, and ask yourselves why you have gassed children," he said. "Ask yourselves why you continue to work for an agency responsible for murders on American streets. No one is forcing you to lie to yourself, even as your bosses continue to lie to the American people."
Erin Hoover Barnett, a former Oregonian reporter who attended the demonstration, told the paper that she saw "what looked like two guys with rocket launchers" who started dousing the crowd with tear gas on Saturday.
"To be among parents frantically trying to tend to little children in strollers," she said, "people using motorized carts trying to navigate as the rest of us staggered in retreat, unsure of how to get to safety, was terrifying."
A Portland protester identified only as Robin gave an account similar to Barnett's during an interview with local news station KPTV.
"About eight or 10 of them came out with guns whatever kind of guns they have and flash bombed just started throwing them at the crowd just exploding everywhere," said Robin. "It was like a war zone. It felt like we were under attack. I definitely got hit. I had to run around the corner and pour a bunch of water on my face."
One local protester identified only as Celeste told local news station KOIN 6 that she was out on the streets because she wanted to "fight tyranny."
"What’s happening in our streets with ICE is ridiculous," said Celeste. "It’s illegal. It’s got to be stopped. And no one’s going to stop it. Except we the people. We’ve got a tyrant in the White House, and no one will stop him but us.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
'We Know You Live Right Here': Federal Agents Threaten Legal Observers in Maine
"It's hard to believe that this is our country... that people driving home from their jobs live in that much terror."
Jan 27, 2026
Legal observers in Maine who have been documenting the actions of federal immigration officials say they've been receiving threats from masked agents at their own homes.
In a report published last week by the Portland Press Herald, activists who have been tracking the agents described encounters in which they have been threatened with arrests for conducting activities that courts have repeatedly ruled are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
Liz Eisele McLellan, a resident of Westbrook, told the Press Herald that she opened her door one evening and found a masked agent standing there with at least three vehicles behind him barricading her street.
According to McLellan, the agent told her "this is a warning" and then added, "We know you live right here.”
Bob Peck, a retiree who lives in South Portland, filmed an encounter with a masked federal agent who threatened him with arrest if he continued following them to document their actions.
In a video recorded by Peck and posted on social media, the unidentified agent can be seen accusing Peck of "impeding" federal law enforcement by following them. Peck countered, however, that merely trailing them in his car was not impeding their ability to track and apprehend suspects.
“If you keep doing it, we’ll pull you back out and arrest you," the agent told him.
In an interview with the Press Herald, Peck said he interpreted this action as a threat.
Despite the threats from immigration agents, Maine residents so far appear undeterred in their determination to fight back against the actions of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Maine Public reported on Monday that a group of volunteers has been gathering every day at American Roots, a Westbrook-based apparel manufacturer that employs dozens of immigrant workers, to stand watch for ICE and CBP agents.
Although American Roots says that it has ensured all of its workers have documented legal status, many community members have still expressed concern about agents grabbing them as they arrive at or exit from their jobs.
"We are forming a barrier," Rabbi Rachel Simmons, one of the organizers of the watch sessions, told Maine Public. "We are standing between the workers who are being targeted and those who want to do them harm."
Reverend Jane Field, executive director of the Maine Council of Churches, told Maine Public that she assembled a "God squad" that swooped in when American Roots put out a notice asking for help.
However, Field also said that she and her team cannot look after the factory's workers all the time, and that she worries about them when they drive home at the end of the day.
"I mean, it's hard to believe that this is our country, that that you have to say that, that people driving home from their jobs live in that much terror," she said.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that similar watch efforts have sprung up at schools in Portland, where many immigrant students have been staying home to avoid being apprehended by ICE and CBP.
Katie Mears, a parent who has helped organize a watch at a local elementary school, said her goal is to help families whose kids "no longer feel safe coming to school."
"If we can use our privilege in a useful way, and stand out in the cold for an hour or two to make people feel safer," said Mears, "it’s 1,000% worth it."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Trump-Appointed Judges Give Him Green Light to Send Troops Into Portland
In a dissent, Judge Susan Graber accused her 9th Circuit colleagues of eroding "core constitutional principles."
Oct 20, 2025
Two federal judges are giving President Donald Trump the green light to send National Guard troops into Portland, Oregon on Monday.
The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit granted the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) request to put a hold on US District Judge Karin Immergut's earlier order blocking deployment of the National Guard to Oregon's largest city.
The two judges who ruled in the DOJ's favor were appointed by Trump, while the lone dissenter in the case, Judge Susan Graber, was appointed by former President Bill Clinton.
The court's majority ruled that the protests outside the Portland Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility were sufficiently disruptive to justify deploying the National Guard, despite the fact that demonstrations outside the facility in recent weeks had not disrupted operations.
Judge Ryan Nelson, one of the Trump appointees, went so far as to issue a concurring opinion stating that the president's right to deploy the National Guard, even over the objections of state and local officials, cannot be reviewed by the judiciary.
In a scathing dissent, Graber noted that "the record contains no evidence whatsoever that, on September 27... ICE was unable either to protect its Portland facility or to execute the immigration laws it is charged with enforcing." This is relevant, she said, because the law states that the president may only deploy the National Guard "to repel a foreign invasion, quell a rebellion, or overcome an inability to execute the laws."
Graber then accused her colleagues of eroding "core constitutional principles, including sovereign states’ control over their states’ militias and the people’s First Amendment rights to assemble and to object to the government’s policies and actions."
Graber's argument echoed a ruling made earlier this month by Immergut, who was also appointed to the bench by Trump and who said his declarations that violent protests at the Portland ICE facility prevented the enforcement of the law were "untethered to facts."
Sandy Chung, executive director of the ACLU of Oregon, said in a statement responding to the ruling that "we are very disappointed that the majority on this 9th Circuit panel were unable to see through President Trump's political theater, divisive rhetoric, and extreme abuse of power and misuse of our military."
"The fact remains that Portland is peaceful," Chung added. "Portland protesters have shown a remarkable level of humor, creativity, and community care in the face of this administration's persistent and violent abuses of power. Inflatable frog and unicorn costumes, bike rides, and musical events are hardly a threat or reason to take the extremely dangerous and anti-democratic action of sending American troops into our communities."
In addition to Portland, Trump is also seeking to send National Guard troops to Chicago over the objections of both Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. The administration has appealed that case to the US Supreme Court.
This article has been updated with comment from the ACLU.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular