U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Portland’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility Tuesday and met with Gov. Tina Kotek in Portland, as tensions between local leaders and President Donald Trump remained high.
Speaking to OPB’s “Think Out Loud” shortly after they talked, Kotek said she and Noem had a “good conversation.”
“I am not a pushover. We had a very direct conversation, cordial,” the governor said. “She’s going to be meeting with local law enforcement later today, hearing from them about the efforts they have made to maintain calm.”
The Department of Homeland Security has been focused on Portland’s ICE facility for months due to protests that often draw small crowds, but at times have seen hundreds show up to demonstrate against Trump’s push for more aggressive deportations and immigration law enforcement. In reaction to some of those protests, federal officers have used crowd control weapons like tear gas and pepper balls on demonstrators, inflaming tensions.
Kotek said she specially asked Noem that federal officers follow state laws around tear gas use and crowd control weapons, including limiting use in residential neighborhoods, where people who are not participating in protests can be affected.
When the secretary arrived at the ICE facility in South Portland just after noon on Tuesday, Portland Police Bureau officers had blocked off streets and cordoned off observers and protesters.
“In the interest of public safety, Portland Police will provide the same routine support they would for any visiting dignitary,” a statement from the city of Portland said Tuesday.
Speaking to KGW upon her arrival, Noem said she was in the city to “secure partnerships that will keep our officers safe.”
Portland police spokesperson Mike Benner confirmed that Noem met with Chief Bob Day, as well as Oregon State Police Superintendent Casey Codding and Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell.
Since the president turned his focus on Portland a month ago, saying life in the city is “like living in hell,” counter-protesters who support Trump’s push for aggressive immigration enforcement have had a more frequent presence as well. That presence has further escalated disputes between differing groups of demonstrators outside the ICE building and led to several arrests unrelated to federal operations.
City officials, business leaders and residents have contested the White House’s claims that Portland is “war ravaged” due to protests. Those protests have been largely contained to the sidewalk on a single city block in front of the ICE building.
Oregon’s senior Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, was quick to criticize Noem’s visit.
“Kristi Noem is cosplaying as a public official,” Wyden said. “In reality, she’s been sent by Trump to incite violence.”
The Homeland Security secretary’s arrival came days after Portland was thrust into the national spotlight when the Trump administration attempted to federalize and deploy the Oregon National Guard to the city.
That effort was stopped by a Trump-appointed federal judge who said there were no conditions in Portland that warranted the involvement of Oregon military personnel. The president then attempted to deploy California and Texas National Guard members to Portland — an effort that drew further ire from U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut and another court order halting the measures. The Trump administration appealed those orders and the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to weigh in as early as Thursday.
“Recent court decisions have affirmed that Portland does not need federal military intervention, and that our local public-safety approach stands on firm legal ground‚” Portland city staff said in a statement Tuesday.
When explaining her decision to block the president’s National Guard deployments, Immergut said the federal government had failed to prove its assertions that demonstrations outside the ICE facility had disrupted functions at the building or posed a significant enough risk to federal employees that military personnel were needed.
“This is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law,” Immergut wrote in her initial court ruling on the Oregon National Guard deployment. “Defendants have made a range of arguments that, if accepted, risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power — to the detriment of this nation."
Despite those rulings, conservative activists and media have streamed nightly from the protests, asserting that federal intervention is required to quell the demonstrations.
Video posted by conservative activist David Medina to his Instagram on Tuesday showed him on the tarmac as Noem’s plane arrived in Portland and then riding in the motorcade that escorted her.
“We’ve arrived at the Portland ICE facility with @sec_noem,” Medina posted.
Medina was convicted for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and was later pardoned as part of Trump’s blanket clemency order for his supporters that day. He has since rebranded himself as a Trump-aligned social media influencer.
Requests by OPB and other local media to tour the ICE facility had not been granted as of Tuesday.
Alex Zielinksi and Kyra Buckley contributed to this story.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
