Portland mayor calls for ICE to leave after tear gas used on protesters
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The mayor of Portland, Oregon, is calling on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to leave his city after federal agents fired tear gas into a crowd of demonstrators, including young children, outside an ICE facility over the weekend.
Mayor Keith Wilson described Saturday’s protests as peaceful; Federal agents reportedly used tear gas, pepper balls, flash grenades, and rubber bullets against anti-ICE demonstrators.
Wilson condemned their “use of violence” and “trampling on the Constitution” and called for ICE agents to resign and for the agency to leave Portland.
“Today, federal forces deployed waves of heavy chemical munitions, impacting a peaceful daytime protest where the vast majority of those present violated no laws, posed no threat, and posed no danger to federal forces,” he said in a statement Saturday.
CHICAGO MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON ‘GIVEN NOTIFICATION’ WITH EXECUTIVE ORDER DEMANDING THE TRIAL OF THE AGENTS
Mayor Keith Wilson called the protests in his city peaceful while calling for ICE to go away. (Ali Gradischer/Getty Images)
“To those who continue to work for ICE: Resign. Those who control this facility: Leave. For your use of violence and trampling on the Constitution, you have lost all legitimacy and replaced it with shame. To those who continue to make these sickening decisions, go home, look in a mirror, and ask yourself why you are gassing children. Ask yourself why you continue to work for an agency responsible for murder on America’s streets. No one is forcing you to lie to yourself; the bosses continue to lie to the American people,” the mayor continued.
The mayor added that this nation “will never accept a federal entity where agents use lethal force against the people they are sworn to serve.”
“I share my impatience with those who demand that we use every legal tool at our disposal to push back against this inexcusable, unconscionable and unacceptable violence against our community,” Wilson said. “I share the need for action. Actions that can withstand the scrutiny of the justice system take time, and we cannot afford to lose this fight.”
CBP/BORDER ACTIVATION AGENTS PLACED ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE AFTER FATAL CONFRONTATION WITH ALEX PRETTI
Federal agents fired tear gas into a crowd of demonstrators, including young children, outside an ICE facility in Portland. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The mayor said Portland officials are working to implement an ordinance that took effect last month and imposes fees on detention centers that use chemicals.
“As we prepare to implement this law, we are also documenting today’s events and preserving evidence. The federal government must and will be held accountable,” he wrote.
“Portland will continue to stand firmly with our immigrant neighbors who deserve the safety, dignity, and full protection of the communities they help build,” he continued. “We are also proud of Portlanders who showed up in peaceful solidarity today and demonstrated the strength and clarity of these shared values in the face of federal overreach.”
This comes amid national unrest and bipartisan scrutiny of immigration enforcement tactics following two killings of U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis last month.
The Trump administration has faced bipartisan scrutiny over its immigration enforcement tactics following two killings of U.S. citizens by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis. (Washington Post via Demetrius Freeman/Getty Images)
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Renee Nicole Good was shot to death by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis on January 7, and Alex Pretti was shot and killed by Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez on January 24 while recording immigration enforcement operations in the same city.
Pretti, a critical care nurse, appears to be trying to help a woman who agents had knocked out, pushed to the ground and beaten when they sprayed her with an irritant, according to video and eyewitness accounts. An agent was then seen removing Pretti’s legally owned firearm from his waistband, and other agents fired several shots, killing him.
