"Occupy ICE" Blockades ICE offices in Portland (Tent City sanctioned by Mayor)

Willamette Week ^ | June 23, 2018 | Aaron Mesh

[nwrep]

The occupation of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters on the South Waterfront has over six days expanded from a scattering of chairs to a village of more than 80 tents, four portable toilets, six couches, a commissary and a medic's office.

The protest now closely resembles the Occupy Portland camps that seized two downtown parks in 2011. Once again, a Portland mayor has sanctioned the takeover—but this time, the target is a federal agency, and the goal is to directly impede its work.

Mayor Ted Wheeler has pledged to not intervene with Occupy ICE, saying he considers the work of federal immigration agents "un-American" and doesn't want Portland police to aid ICE's operations.

The blockade would now be difficult to dislodge anyhow.

"We've seen tremendous support," says Mary Ann Warner, an occupation organizer. "We're seeing so much food. I don't think anyone's going hungry."

The protest, blocking the front doors and driveway of ICE's building along Southwest Macadam Avenue, has forced the suspension of agency work since June 18. The Portland occupation, the first nationwide, is an attempt to disrupt President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy that has treated refugees seeking asylum as criminals and separated small children from their parents.

ICE shut down its Portland office after protesters blocked the entrance.

[Freedom of Speech Wins]

Marines, this is war.

[KSCITYBOY]

Time for a train!