Heavily Armed Federal Officers Move in To Close Down Portland's #OccupyICE Camp

Department of Homeland Security officers, some decked out in full riot gear, moved in early Thursday morning to shut down an encampment of protesters who had been posted outside Portland’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters for more than a week to protest child detentions.

The protest—which has organized under the banner #OccupyICEPDX—began as a candlelight vigil for undocumented children who had been separated from their parents at the U.S. border. Some protesters eventually decided to stay, building a makeshift camp to physically bar officials from entering the building to continue carrying out the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

After more than a week of this, Federal Protective Service officers on Monday demanded the protesters leave ICE headquarters, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. Shortly after 6 a.m. on Thursday, dozens of officers reportedly arrived to make good on that order.

Shortly before 10 a.m. ET, an OPB reporter tweeted that the entrance had been cleared. A Department of Homeland Security official told local station KATU2 that “several protesters” had been arrested and one man taken into custody because he didn’t follow officers’ demands.

Still, activists on the ground were defiant in their mission, and tweeted that tents remained on the grounds.

The movement has also spread across the country, with Occupy ICE protests in Tacoma, WA, Los Angeles, New York City, Detroit, and beyond.