Oregonians gathered across the state to join in nationwide protests on Labor Day.
In Portland, a large crowd assembled to rally and march downtown at Tom McCall Waterfront Park as part of the “Workers Over Billionaires” protests taking place across the country in opposition to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, as well as pushing for more workers rights and reinvestment in social services like health care.
The protests were organized by the 50501 Movement. Other demonstrations were set up in East Portland, Salem, Corvallis, Bend, Madras, Hood River and other Pacific Northwest cities.
Many of the demonstrators promoted messages against the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown. Last week, two firefighters — including one from Keizer, Oregon — were detained by federal agents while working at the Bear Gulch Fire in Washington. Several advocacy groups organized a caravan from Portland to the Northwest ICE Processing Center, a detention facility in Tacoma, Washington.
A separate demonstration in Portland is expected to gather this evening in the south waterfront and march to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on South Macadam Avenue, where protests have regularly occurred all summer.
The Labor Day demonstrations come after a weekend of action. In Eugene, more than a hundred people gathered Sunday to protest against President Trump, decrying policy decisions like tariffs and the deployment of the National Guard into Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. On the Oregon Coast, demonstrators came out in Astoria and Seaside over the weekend for a “Blanket the Beach” protest, organized by Indivisible North Coast Oregon.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.