Bullies or demonstrators? How court records are describing Portland’s ICE protests

As protesters and federal law enforcement have clashed outside the Portland offices for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Mindan Ocon has had a front row seat.

Her corner-unit apartment looks down on the frays along the South Waterfront. From her balcony, she’s recorded arrests and fights, which have been happening since early June.

Even though she is not marching in the streets, she has endured some collateral damage — tear gas and other chemical munitions have seeped into her apartment where she stays with her partner and child. She keeps gas masks on her dinner table.

To Ocon, most protesters have opposed ICE “the right way.”

“Yes, there’s one or two (protesters) that are so mad that they want to do this and that. But don’t take that away from the people that are out here using their voice.

“They’re using signs. They’re using flowers. How do you give flowers to somebody that is attacking you?” Ocon said.
 

The federal government has taken a very different view of the protests from Ocon. The Department of Homeland Security has regularly shared images of graffiti and federal officers grappling with protesters to paint Portland like an anarchic warzone.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Friday issued a statement saying “anarchist and rioters” had doxxed ICE officers at the facility and threatened to pursue criminal charges. She said ICE officers were “facing a nearly 700% increase in assaults against them.”

White House “border czar” Tom Homan recently named Portland when describing how the Trump administration would be “doubling down, tripling down” on sanctuary cities, saying Homeland Security wouldn’t be “bullied” as it pursues aggressive immigration arrests.

Todd Blanche, a deputy under U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, has likewise lumped together Portland demonstrations with a reported shooting outside an ICE facility in Texas. Blanche said the U.S. Department of Justice would “bring the full weight of the law against those responsible.”

Despite these Trump administration officials’ claims of chaos, the federal government’s own boots-on-the-ground investigators are less bombastic. Court records show a more nuanced picture of the danger the federal officers have been facing.

Federal vs. local views

At least 20 people have been charged with federal crimes related to protesting at the ICE building. In court filings, federal officers have alleged that crowds of protesters have thrown rocks and bricks, harassed officers and deployed pepper spray.

About five individuals face felony charges. Many of the others face misdemeanor charges and petty offenses, according to a review of cases filed between June 14 and July 6. Federal public defenders representing the protesters declined to comment.

In one of the most serious charging documents, federal officers allege a protester named Ginovanni Brumbelow used the pointed end of a protest sign’s wooden handle to attack the head of a U.S. Border Patrol officer who was trying to make an arrest. The incident cut behind the officer’s ear, federal officials allege.

They also allege protester Julie Winters threw a foot-long knife at approaching officers during a June 24 protest. Video of the incident shows Winters moving away from the federal officers after approaching them. As officers pursued, Winters threw something onto the ground, then ran a short distance before federal officers shocked Winters with a Taser multiple times.

Among more than a dozen other allegations facing protesters, federal officers say one person shined a “high-powered handheld laser” in their eyes and that people have kicked tear gas canisters back at them. One criminal complaint says a protester “fell back and donkey-kicked’ (an agent) in the shin.”

Court documents also show federal officers have been impacted by their own use of chemical munitions. In one case, a person knocked loose an officer’s gas mask, causing the officer to “suck in a large amount of OC spray and pepperball dust.” The agent later vomited and dry-heaved for half an hour.

Another 25-plus people have been charged in local courts — although the Portland Police Bureau has been far less involved in the confrontations. Thirteen of those cases are misdemeanors. There are five individuals facing arson charges locally.

Sameer Kanal, who oversaw police accountability projects as a city staffer before winning election to Portland City Council last year, said he believed the majority of protesters haven’t sought to break laws or hurt anyone.

“With any crowd, the ultimate majority of people are there in the right spirit and are approaching things in a peaceful, nonviolent way,” Kanal said.
 

Kanal noted that federal officers have more power — and firepower — in the dynamic with protesters. A Portland nurse at a June 14 protest was shot with a pepper ball near his eye while merely speaking into a megaphone.

“For federal agencies to say who the bullies are is a complete inversion of what is happening,” Kanal said.

Cases could take months in court

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting the criminal charges, declined to comment for this article.

By comparison to the federal indictments, local charges resulting from Portland police arrests are mostly misdemeanors — often alleging criminal trespass — though there are some felony allegations. Felony cases revolve around fires and assaulted police officers.

Criminal allegations can take months or years to be proven in a court of law.

Lisa Hay, who used to lead the federal defense attorney office, said the court filings after chaotic protests are often written quickly, but she said people shouldn’t completely dismiss the concerns laid out by federal officers.

Hay handled similar cases for years. She led the office during protests of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2018, as well as the social justice protests of 2020, which lasted more than a 100 nights in Portland and drew potshots from President Donald Trump directly.

Hay said she was “happy” to hear that protesters are exercising their constitutional rights to demonstrate.

“There are times when people engage in civil disobedience and intentionally violate the law. You can still be peaceful when you do that,” she said. “The right to peacefully protest is a guaranteed right, and we should exercise it and use it to talk to our government and express our views.”

But she said it’s easier in that context to cross from protected speech into criminal behavior.

Putting hands on federal officers during arrests and throwing things can get a person prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Hay said.

“None of those are legitimate under the law,” she said. “People sometimes don’t realize that you aren’t allowed to reach out and push against a federal officer, even if you think you’re protecting your friend.”