🔗 Share this article

The South Dakota governor, who holds the position of the DHS secretary, inspected the ICE facility in Portland, Oregon on this week. While there, she witnessed a limited demonstration outside, which stands in stark contrast to the fiery "blockade" alleged by Donald Trump.

Joined by Right-Wing Media Figures

Governor Noem was accompanied by a trio of MAGA-aligned personalities who were whisked from the Portland airport to the ICE office in her security detail. DHS has shared increasingly belligerent online posts depicting federal officers performing enforcement operations and firing tear gas at demonstrators.

Protest Scene

Officers secured the area outside the facility in the city’s south waterfront neighborhood before the governor's appearance. A handful individuals, among them one in the outfit of a bird and another as a shark, were maintained behind barriers.

A song blared from a demonstration site down the street, with words about Trump and allegations. One protester yelled to a government videographer filming from the roof, questioning whether the DHS had been dubbed the "ministry of propaganda".

Media Access

Journalists from nonpartisan publications were also held behind the barrier outside, while the conservative personalities in her party—Benny Johnson, Nick Sortor, and David Media—posted online posts of the secretary participating in federal personnel in prayer inside, offering a encouraging words, and instructing a member of the state guard to "Be ready".

Background Developments

Noem has previously echoed the Trump's claims that the group of demonstrators—who have gathered in their dozens outside the ICE facility since recent months, including one in an inflatable frog costume—are "radicals" who have placed the facility "in a state of siege", making the use of DHS agents critical.

Yet, on last weekend, a court official in Oregon prevented the former president's effort to federalize the state's guard, stating that the his claims that the mostly calm city was "burning to the ground" were "without evidence".

A day later, the judge, the magistrate—who was appointed to the judiciary by Trump—extended the decision to block state militia from other states from being deployed in the city. She acted after he responded to her initial ruling by trying to send members of the another state's militia to the state.

Escalating Tensions

Since Trump drew attention the small but persistent gathering outside the ICE facility and made false claims that Portland is "battle-scarred", a growing number of his followers, including right-wing figures, have appeared to challenge the demonstrators.

A number of these confrontations have caused altercations and physical fights, resulting in apprehensions by the local law enforcement. A conservative personality was taken into custody after he tried to force his way a gathering on a walkway near the ICE facility and was engaged in a fight over an American flag. Sortor had before taken the flag from a demonstrator who was burning it.

The charges against him were later dropped after an protest in right-wing outlets prompted the chief of the rights office of the DOJ, Harmeet Dhillon, to warn of a probe of the local police over supposed anti-conservative bias.

The two women the influencer was detained over a conflict with still are under legal scrutiny.

Official Responses

On Sunday, Oregon’s governor, the governor, alleged federal officers in the ICE facility of trying to irritate the protesters by using unnecessary levels of chemical irritants in a residential neighborhood and including conservative social media influencers to document the crowd from the top of the building. "They are clearly trying to antagonize the crowds," she commented.

A trio of those right-wing personalities were mentioned in a official record last month as "anti-protest individuals" who "constantly return and harass the protesters until they are confronted or pepper sprayed" and resist "ongoing instructions from law enforcement to stay away from" the group.

Social Media Updates

One influencer, a previous media worker who reinvented himself as a partisan figure after being fired from a media outlet for plagiarism, published footage of the secretary looking down from the top of the office at the limited number of demonstrators below, including an individual who wears a chicken costume to taunt Donald Trump. The influencer captioned the video of her viewing the peaceful setting below: "DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stares down army of Antifa and a guy in a chicken suit".

Regardless of the contrast between the allegations from both officials that this ICE field office is "encircled" from "domestic terrorists" and obvious footage of a handful of demonstrators in peaceful clothing, the influencers with the secretary continued to describe the group as threatening extremists.

Meeting with Police Chief

During her visit, the secretary also engaged with the city's top cop, the chief, who has been portrayed as "liberal" in right-wing outlets for authorizing his officers to detain Nick Sortor. In a online post on the engagement, the influencer claimed that the chief had "sided with violent ANTIFA militants attacking journalists and officers outside ICE facility".

Noem’s motorcade then left the office past a handful of demonstrators on the nearby road, including one wearing a bear wearing a sombrero.