The scene outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in South Portland remained calm again on Tuesday night, with anti-ICE protesters, some in inflatable animal costumes, periodically breaking out into dance.
Police made no arrests Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, the Portland Police Bureau said.
Meanwhile, the legal fight over a potential National Guard deployment to Portland remains ongoing. A federal judge on Wednesday is expected to consider extending her order blocking troop deployment to Oregon’s largest city.
Here’s what we know at this hour.
Landlord challenges city finding that Portland ICE officials violated permit
The landlord of the building that houses Portland’s ICE facility has asked for an administrative review of a land use violation notice issued by the city last month.
Attorneys for developer Stuart Lindquist, who owns the South Macadam Avenue property that’s been a flashpoint for protesters and federal law enforcement over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, made the request Oct. 3, according to a memo obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Last month, city officials said that U.S. immigration officials had held detainees overnight or longer than 12 hours in the South Portland facility, a violation of its conditional land use approval that could put the facility on track to be closed.
The request from Lindquist effectively pauses any potential enforcement action that the city could take against the building, including fines, Deputy City Administrator Donnie Oliveira wrote last week to members of the Portland City Council.
U.S. House Speaker calls Portland naked bike ride ‘threatening’
More than a thousand people, many mostly in the nude, rode their bikes through Portland on Sunday to protest ICE.
While reporting and videos indicated that the bicyclists peacefully rode through the city, the protest appears to have concerned U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson.
On Tuesday, Johnson told the press that he had not seen federal law enforcement “cross the line yet,” and he added: “What I’ve seen is the abuse of law enforcement by radical leftist activists.”
“The most threatening thing I’ve seen yet was the naked bicyclers in Portland who were protesting ICE down there,” Johnson said. “I mean, it’s getting really ugly.”
Johnson went on to say that protesters in Portland have attacked officers and people have been arrested.
Federal agents have arrested about 30 people outside the Portland ICE facility since June, including about 15 people who have been accused of assaulting or attempting to assault federal officers. Portland police have made 50 additional arrests, including for reckless burning, assault, harassment and disorderly conduct.
Dance party at Portland ICE facility
Anti-ICE protesters, many in inflatable animal costumes, gathered at the South Portland ICE facility Tuesday night, with the crowd growing to a peak of around 100 people by 7 p.m. The group danced outside the facility, swaying to “Hokey Pokey” and other songs.
Federal officials periodically exited the building to allow cars to go in and out of the facility. In those moments, the dancing stopped as protesters gathered in front of the federal officials but allowed cars to pass. Several counter-protesters stood a block away.
Earlier in the evening, a small group of people gathered for a book club discussion on George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.”
Joel Turgesen, a counselor from Medford, said it was his first time visiting the site of the protests.
Turgesen holds a weekly meditation session and decided to call in to Tuesday’s meeting from a folding chair across the street from the ICE facility.
“The idea of meditation is to transcend our us/them sort of mindset, and get to more of a unity consciousness,” Turgesen said. “What a great place to practice that.”
What we’re watching for today
Oregon U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut will hold a phone conference Wednesday with lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice and the city of Portland and Oregon to discuss whether she should extend her temporary restraining order barring President Donald Trump from deploying Oregon National Guard troops to Portland for another two weeks.
Without further action, her order would expire Saturday.
The phone conference comes as lawyers from both sides are awaiting a ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on whether to put a more lasting hold on Immergut’s temporary restraining order pending the federal government’s appeal. Last week, the three-judge appellate court panel ruled that Oregon National Guard members could remain under federal control but couldn’t deploy to Portland while the court considered the merits of the case. It is not yet clear when the 9th Circuit will issue its next ruling.
Federal government lawyers contend that Immergut has no authority to hold a hearing to consider a longer-lasting injunction to block the deployment or preside over a trial on the lawsuit Oregon and the city of Portland filed against the Trump administration to block troop deployment until the 9th Circuit appeal runs its course.
Lawyers for the state and Portland oppose any delay and contend Immergut can proceed on their Sept. 28 lawsuit, regardless of how the 9th Circuit rules on the judge’s temporary restraining order.
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