Portland City Council forcefully ejects activists demanding city shut down ICE facility
Portland, OR – On Friday, June 17, the immigrant rights organization Portland Contra las Deportaciones (PDXCD) held a rally outside of city hall and attended the city council meeting to demand the council and the mayor revoke the permit for the ICE facility. Over 30 community members were forcibly removed from the meeting while exercising their First Amendment rights.
The city has allowed landowner Stuart Lindquist many delays and extensions to appeal the land use violation issued to the Macadam Facility in September of 2025. Most recently, he appealed to a Multnomah County Circuit Court to claim the hearings officer in the case is biased. The appeal hearing was granted to Lindquist willingly by this hearings officer after the city failed to begin the revocation process or enforce the fine for the land use violation.
While preparing for the protest, activists encountered Mayor Keith Wilson walking towards city hall. Several tried to speak with him, asking what the city is doing to push forward the currently stalled land use violation hearings. Some chanted “Keith Wilson, do your job!” as he walked by ignoring their questions. Wilson rarely attends Portland City Council meetings, but was present to discuss the upcoming budget renewal.
The rally outside city hall was met with violent right-wing agitators who have historically assaulted and pepper-sprayed protesters unprovoked. The crowd chanted and maintained their energy over the sounds of the right wingers’ megaphones. Protesters then packed the first floor of the chambers, holding signs in the front row that read “Revoke the permit!” and “Shut down the Macadam facility!”
Protester Holly Brown also encountered Eric Kutch, director of Portland Permitting and Development. This is the department authorized to officially begin the revocation process. When questioned about the extremely slow movement of the administrative review that spanned from September to February, he claimed that was due to “following the legal process,” despite ICE’s terror on Portland and the surrounding neighborhood.
Kutch then stood up and walked out of the chambers. When Brown attempted to follow him, they were physically blocked from moving through a public building by a plainclothes private security officer.
Because Portland City Council meetings don’t allow opportunity for public comment, community members stood up and spoke out to condemn the council’s inaction and call for emergency legislation to be put forth. Activists repeatedly stood up one by one to disrupt the council proceedings and were swiftly removed. When speaking, Ivan Vargas said, “The clock has been ticking for over a year now regarding the revocation of the permit, while immigrants have been wrongfully and violently put in jail cells in this so-called ‘sanctuary city.’”
City Council President Jamie Dunphy ordered Vargas’ removal and the other activists who dared to speak out. Private security officers paid by the mayor’s office and a cop attending the meeting forcefully ejected more than 30 speakers.
The majority of Portland City Council are self-proclaimed progressives who routinely use the mayor’s private security and the Portland Police Bureau to repress immigrant rights activists.
As to why the city claims they are powerless over the ICE Facility, Democratic Socialist and reactionary councilor Angelita Morillo said, “Laws are enforced through force or through the legal court system and if the legal court system does not support our findings, then we don’t have any standing.” The legal system would have supported permit reconsideration if the city started it when they had the chance, and legal enforcement of city code would also be supported legally at this time.
Violent right-wing streamers cheered on this statement, with one shouting gratitude to the councilors for allowing the permit to keep the facility open.
Later, PDXCD member Taylor Goss countered the council’s hypocrisy in public comment when he said, “Councilor Morillo, you mentioned earlier this evening that Portland doesn’t have an armed force to enforce laws, but in May on May Day, the PPB was sent to defend the ICE facility and officers brutalized and arrested activists. In February, they were sent here, to city hall, to silence protesters who were exercising their First Amendment rights.”
Private security and PPB had also forcefully removed protesters earlier that evening, showing the city government does have power to use violence and force. However, they refuse to enforce city laws over private land leased to the federal government.
This was the first time PDXCD returned to a council meeting after their protest during a meeting in February after the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good led to the city sending every available officer to the chambers to violently remove and arrest protesters.
PDXCD will mobilize to the next hearings in the land use violation appeals process to keep up public pressure on the city to move forward and fight back.