Portland continues to resist Trump's National Guard deployment: 5 organizers arrested

Portland, OR – On Saturday, September 4, 400 people rallied at Elizabeth Caruthers Park and marched to the ICE detention center in Southwest Portland.

The event was organized by Portland Contra las Deportaciones (PDXCD), Portland for Palestine (P4P), Tesla Takedown, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) to protest against the imminent deployment of National Guard troops into the streets of Portland. The troops are supposed to protect the Portland ICE facility.

The rally at Elizabeth Caruthers Park began at noon and speakers from each organization talked about the need to be out in the streets resisting ICE, as opposed to the cowardly “don’t take the bait” rhetoric peddled by city and state officials such as Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and Governor Tina Kotek.

“Trump is sending in the army because he is scared, because what we are doing here is working. As oppression intensifies, so too does resistance,” said Isabella Shepard of P4P, “When ICE and Trump escalate, our numbers increase, because we understand that it is critical now more than ever that we show up for our immigrant communities, precisely because they are under attack right now.”

After the crowd had swelled in size, they began to march through the streets towards the ICE facility, chanting “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here!” and “Our street, our fight!”

The crowd reached ICE around 1 p.m. and occupied the streets in front of the building. At previous protests of this magnitude, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the main force guarding the facility, has been less aggressive because protesters are able to stay safe in numbers. DHS forces occasionally storm through the front gate to clear the way for incoming and outgoing ICE and DHS vehicles, but they don’t often make arrests.

October 4 marked a change in demeanor. Within 20 minutes of the crowd arriving, DHS came through the facility’s front gate and intentionally targeted and assaulted event organizers, arresting five and imprisoning them in the facility. One was a member of P4P, Lora Wilde. The other four were members of PDXCD: Holly Brown, Cass Cano, Elijah Thahir and Leticia Navarro.

After this attack, the remaining organizers announced their intent to continue occupying the streets until their comrades were released from custody. The crowd of hundreds also opted to stay. Over the course of the next eight hours, DHS directly attacked the crowd half a dozen more times and arrested at least four more people. One such attack, around 8:30 p.m., had DHS extensively use tear gas and flashbangs to push protesters several blocks away from ICE, endangering hundreds of people living in the apartments near the facility.

Three organizers and one unaffiliated protester were released from the ICE facility that day. The remaining organizers, Elijah Thahir and Leticia Navarro, were instead transferred 30 miles north to an out-of-county facility, Columbia County Jail in Saint Helens, Oregon. They were transferred around 1 a.m. on October 5, after just under 12 hours, the maximum amount of time ICE could legally detain them.

Members of PDXCD and P4P gathered at Columbia County Jail at 2 p.m. on October 5, for a press conference where they demanded the immediate release of Thahir and Navarro, as well as the dropping of all charges levied against the five organizers.

Holly Brown, one of the organizers who was detained, described the situation inside the facility, “There are harsh fluorescent lights, it’s just concrete and meta.” Brown continued, “And we know that someone was detained in there for 47 days. And that is why we’re advocating for that facility to be shut down.”

Just before 7 p.m. on October 5, Leticia Navarro was released from custody. Elijah Thahir followed at 11 p.m., over 34 hours after being arrested. Thahir and Navarro have yet to be charged with any crimes, but like the other three organizers they are ready and willing to fight the charges when they do come. They have the full backing of their communities and organizations behind them.

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