District Attorney Vasquez Says He Will Pursue Charges Against People Arrested at ICE Headquarters

Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez says he will pursue charges against 10 people arrested Thursday night outside the South Portland headquarters of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as anyone else who damages federal property.

“My team is reviewing every case that’s coming in,” Vasquez tells WW. “And if we can prosecute it, we will.”

The 10 were arraigned Friday in Multnomah County Circuit Court on charges stemming from a protest encampment that has grown around the ICE Building on the South Waterfront in response to the Portland courthouse arrests of four asylum seekers. Portland police arrested people shortly before midnight on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to felony arson.

Vasquez’s statement arrives the day before large-scale “No Kings Day” protests of President Donald Trump are expected to fill the streets of Portland and other U.S. cities, and as Trump sends soldiers to Los Angeles to quell unrest over his deportations there. It’s also locally significant because Vasquez’s predecessor and political foil, Mike Schmidt, famously said he would prosecute only some of the arrests police made at the 2020 protests of George Floyd’s murder.

Probable cause affidavits in the arrests were not immediately available. “The arrests were strictly focused on criminal actions, and not constitutionally protected free speech,” the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement. “As soon as the criminal suspects were transported away, the officers left the scene.”

Activists at the encampment said it was local law enforcement’s response to the protest that escalated what had been a peaceful demonstration.

“There was one person that lit a fire, eight people went immediately, put that fire out, and then the cops and ICE used that as a justification to come out, beat and hit and arrest people,” said Andy Siebe, a protester who has stayed at the encampment on and off since it was established on June 7.

Siebe said the arrests quelled the protests, but things ramped back up when ICE agents started shooting tear gas balls from the facility’s rooftop. According to Siebe, agents fired the less-lethal munitions into the encampment and the adjacent schoolyard, targeting passive onlookers.

“And they would shoot indiscriminately,” Siebe said. “I was down here in my wheelchair on the sidewalk, and they were shooting at my wheelchair for no reason. That’s what we’re up against.”

Activists at the site showed a WW reporter pepper balls and the wounds the projectiles had left. WW placed an inquiry to ICE offices, and will update this story with any response.

In the aftermath of last night’s confrontation, pepper spray was scattered across parts of the sidewalk along South Bancroft Street. About a dozen protesters were stationed at the encampment this morning, some holding signs, others speaking to the ICE facility through a bullhorn. Two protesters stood next to the front steps and sang “Colors of the Wind” by Stephen Schwartz, from Disney’s Pocahontas.

“The song represents unity and the beauty of finding who people are underneath what they look like, underneath the bias and prejudice,” said Jo Nagle, a protester holding an “ABOLISH ICE” sign.

As an intermittent chorus of drivers honked in support of the protesters, an angry man walked by and filmed the group, shouting, “Who’s going to clean this up—taxpayers?” Siebe acknowledged that some of the neighbors’ complaints were justified.

“This is where they live, and this is where they eat, sleep and breathe, and raise their kids and have their pets. I get that they’re upset. And I keep trying to tell them that we’ll be gone the moment that ICE is gone. This is a sanctuary city.”

Briana Nathaniels, another protester, said that the encampment has been given a 72-hour sweep warning from the Portland Police Bureau.

On the eve of the No Kings Day protests, Gov. Tina Kotek issued a statement of support for peaceful demonstrations.

““Violence, harm to public safety workers, destruction of property, or any illegal activity whatsoever will not be tolerated,” she added. “State and local law enforcement have my full support to hold individuals who cross these lines accountable.

“Furthermore, we know these acts undermine the very values we are striving to uphold in Oregon and fracture our communities in the process. We are asking all Oregonians to remain safe, vigilant and to report any criminal activity.”