Trump Troops to Protect Portland, ICE From Domestic Terrorism?

In June this year, protests erupted again, this time outside Portland’s ICE Detention Facility. Antifascist activists have reportedly been among the protesters, who have thrown rocks and set off fireworks at ICE agents. As Fox News reported, the ICE building has been vandalized with anti-ICE graffiti. In August, a violent protest showed demonstrators bringing out a guillotine, setting fires, and fighting with law enforcement.

ICE has reported a more than 1,000% increase in assaults against its officers. On Sept. 26, more than 200 rioters blocked access to a gate at the ICE facility in Broadview, IL, while 30 others swarmed another, trying to force their way in. These rioters reportedly arrived with fireworks, gas masks, eye, knee, and elbow protection, and large quantities of food and water. More chilling were their chants: “Arrest ICE, shoot ICE.”

This came just two days after a deadly shooting attack on an ICE facility in Dallas, where alleged sniper Joshua Jahn shot three illegal aliens, murdering one before killing himself. “Anti-ICE” was engraved on the shell casings he used. And these are just a couple of the recent incidents that had intensified over the summer.

Search for Solutions

Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Washington, DC, resulted in a 45% drop in violent crime, as Mayor Muriel Bowser reported. But the situation in Portland may be more complicated. The president is facing a perfect storm: a sanctuary city with a history of disorder, accelerated violence toward ICE agents, and an increase in left-wing mayhem.

The Portland City Council officially declared Portland a sanctuary city in 2017. By its own policy, it will not cooperate with ICE agents but does acknowledge the federal government’s jurisdiction to operate lawfully in Portland. When ICE agents are under siege, will the city police protect the very agents they are not allowed to cooperate with pursuant to the sanctuary city designation? We are about to find out.