Portland, OR – Over 100 protesters rallied in front of Portland Mayor Keith Wilson’s home on Saturday February 7, to demand he take immediate action to shut down the Portland ICE Facility. The protest was called by the immigrant rights organization, Portland Contra Las Deportaciones (PDXCD).
“Federal agents are terrorizing Portland. Whether it is immigrants living under the threat of deportation by ICE or residents of the South Waterfront neighborhood subject to constant chemical warfare from DHS attacks, there are so many who don’t feel safe in their own homes. That is why we protest at the mayor’s house today, to show him how urgent this situation is,” said protester Cami Saunders.
The action began at a nearby park with speeches calling out Mayor Wilson’s performative statements and lack of action.
The weekend prior, DHS gassed a march of thousands of people organized by labor groups. In response, the mayor put out a statement telling ICE to “leave” and “resign.”
Yet, despite these words, he has put forth no legislation or orders to make this happen. In fact, a few days after this statement, he put out an editorial telling mayors to “stay the course” and stated, “Know that public frustration with the limitations of our offices will continue to invite provocateurs and opportunists. They’ll insist that local police can impede or arrest federal officers at will, or that wielding civil land use laws and implementing fines can effectively remove ICE from our communities.”
The protest marched to the mayor’s house and held the street in front of his home for over an hour with chants of “Keith Wilson shame on you! Immigrants are people too,” “Revoke the permit” and “Do your job!”
A land use violation was issued in September 2025 against the Portland ICE facility for holding detainees past a 12-hour limit, and the city has yet to take any action to enforce this violation, much less revoke the permit, despite it being fully within their power to do so.
On February 5, PDXCD members went to Portland Permitting and Development Offices and interrupted a meeting with department director Eric Kutch to demand to know what he will be doing to shut down the Portland ICE Facility. They were kicked out of the building by police.
This follows a pattern of activists being shut down and refused conversation.
PDXCD has sent over 1000 emails to the mayor requesting action, and prior to this past week heard nothing back. It was only after the protest at his house was announced that his staff reached out to set up a meeting. PDXCD is working on setting up this meeting where they will bring forth their demand to shut down the ICE Facility.
After the protest at the mayor’s house many protesters stated they felt ready to continue to ramp up the pressure on the mayor and city in general to shut down the facility.
#ImmigrantRights #PDXCD #PortlandOR #OR
