Federal officers take three into custody outside Portland ICE facility

abc6onyourside.com · By Steve Benham and Victor Park, KATU · 2025-10-10T04:34:16.000Z

PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Federal officers took three people into custody outside the South Portland ICE facility on Thursday night during a sometimes-intense protest against the Trump administration's immigration policies.And the Portland Police Bureau said its officers arrested two people around the facility. One person was arrested on a harassment charge, and the other one had a warrant for his arrest.It was not immediately clear why the federal agents arrested the three people.Two of the federal arrests happened shortly before 9:30 p.m. The gate to the ICE facility opened, and federal officers came out into the street. Someone started playing “The Imperial March,” Darth Vader’s theme song in the “Star Wars” movies.Protesters and agents faced off in the street as a helicopter circled overhead, and then several agents took the two people into custody.As federal agents led a man away, he yelled, “I’m innocent. I didn’t do anything.”As the federal officers went back into the facility, officers fired pepper balls from the roof.KATU was live streaming outside the facility as part of its "24 Hours Outside ICE" initiative and captured the federal agents taking the three people into custody. Watch the recorded stream below.Later, federal agents appeared to try and arrest another person, but they were unsuccessful. That happened at about 11 p.m. Federal officers came out of the facility and then a group of them chased someone about a block east, but they did not catch up to that person. At about 11:45 p.m., federal officers came out again and made their third arrest. The officers also took the man's guitar. Other than during the arrests and the agents' unsuccessful apprehension of the other person, it was a party atmosphere outside the facility most of the night. People danced to music in inflatable costumes, like frogs, a polar bear, and other characters.KATU reached out to ICE for additional information about the arrests.Portland police have increased presence There was a noticeable increase in the number of Portland police officers Thursday.Protesters like Bianca Barrett took notice of the increased presence by Portland police."Yes, it definitely got a lot more aggressive and more cars and like patrols and bike police," she said.One man, who would only give his first name, Horace, was a counter-protester from Illinois. He thought Portland police are taking sides."Sometimes I feel like they do let stuff get out of hand on some occasions. They don't pay attention that much to situations," he said.Portland Police Chief Bob Day told reporters earlier there is "no cover-up or collaboration.""Our job doesn't change. It's the same today as it was yesterday as it was six months ago," he said.According to Portland police, officers have made 47 arrests since the protest began in June. Twenty-eight of those were in June. Day said the police bureau has increased enforcement."So we have more officers in the area. We're also working closely with the state police," he said.Earlier this week, Day met with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. He told KATU he agrees with her that the behavior and environment need to change outside the ICE facility.