Hundreds of people packed the sidewalks and streets outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in South Portland Saturday, to protest increasingly hostile US immigration policies.

With momentum from a massive No Kings rally Saturday afternoon, a jubilant, sometimes raucous crowd chanted and held up signs and middle fingers at federal agents surveilling the crowd from the roof of the ICE building. People in costumes spilled off into the street and up the block. As people continued to pour in and the size of the protest grew, so did the use of force by federal agents.

Around 3:30 pm, agents shot pepper balls into a crowd outside the ICE facility. It’s unclear what prompted the use of munitions. 

An hour later, a protester in a fleece animal costume spotted a formation of federal officers, then turned around, shouting “mace!” Moments later, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) agents rushed through the facility gates and attempted to arrest a protester dressed like a mime who was standing across the street. More federal officers bolted down the street, firing pepper balls and hurling canisters emitting a yellow pepper gas as they shot at retreating demonstrators, some of whom were shot in the back as they tried to run away from the haze. The chemicals caught many who were new on the scene by surprise.

"Somebody has to say what's really happening in Portland"

Despite frequent use of less-lethal weapons on protesters by federal police, Portland’s protests have become notable for a rotating ensemble of demonstrators in inflatable costumes. Throughout the afternoon and into the evening, clusters of inflated animals and children’s show characters banded together to dance and pose for photos as a speaker blasted techno music. Anti-ICE protesters alternated between chants of “F*ck you fascists!” and “Whose streets? Our streets!”

At irregular intervals, a Portland Police Bureau bike squad and state troopers on bikes rode down South Bancroft, occasionally reminding people to stay on the sidewalks and out of the street. 

According to PPB, multiple law enforcement agencies assisted Saturday night, including Gresham Police, Oregon State Police, Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, and the Port of Portland Police, though the bulk of traffic control was done by dutiful protesters who stepped in to direct cars.

PPB arrested three people on scene Saturday, two of whom were booked on fourth-degree assault charges and another who was charged with second-degree harassment and bias crime.

By 6:30 pm, crowd numbers held steady, if not gaining, despite rainfall. More people in inflatable costumes emerged.

 

The scene looked more akin to a street fair or block party, interrupted by intermittent storms of militarized agents hurling gas and firing crowd control munitions.

Autumn Rose, an independent radio station DJ, strutted up and down the street with a megaphone next to a sidewalk filled with people.

“This is probably my sixth night out here in the past 10 days,” Rose said, undeterred by rain and occasional blasts of burning gas. “Basically what they do is wait for you to step on the street or step over the [painted] line, and they use that as an excuse to come out and use violence.”

Despite the risks, Rose said she’ll continue to attend anti-ICE protests. 

“Somebody has to say what’s really happening in Portland. There’s so much media out there saying Portland is a war zone and that our city’s on fire,” Rose said. “We have ICE attacking innocent protesters on a daily basis, and there’s a lot of us coming out here as often as we can, recording, and putting it on social media and on the internet, so people will see the truth.”

Portland leaders speak out about aggressive behavior from federal officers

Things escalated at 7:20 pm, when ERO agents cleared the driveway for cars to exit the building. Agents pushed the costumed activists back with their presence, while pepper balls were fired from the roof. When demonstrators cleared the driveway, but still stood in the road, agents threw canisters of gas that further dispersed the crowd. A storm of canisters, flash bang grenades, and pepper balls continued for a solid 10 minutes, engulfing the block in gas clouds.

At the South Portland ICE facility, after pushing back the crowd to let some vehicles leave, agents gassed the street for approximately 10 minutes solid. S Bancroft was opaque with gas; agents also threw flash grenades and shot pepper bullets.

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— Suzette Smith (@suzettesmith.bsky.social) October 18, 2025 at 7:56 PM

Federal agents at the ICE building have been documented using increased and excessive force on demonstrators since September, as President Trump repeatedly tries to send National Guard troops to Oregon, and his cabinet continues to suggest using cities like Portland as "training grounds” for the US military.

As city leaders take steps to minimize the risk and impacts of federal overreach from the Trump administration, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson is urging the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and other immigration agencies, to clean up its act.

In a pointed opinion piece published in Newsweek, Wilson described Portland’s ICE facility as “a mess of overflowing dumpsters, loose body armor and crowd control munitions and a broken HVAC air conditioning system that raised both temperatures and tempers in the aging building.” Wilson, the former CEO of trucking company Titan Freight Systems, said DHS’s false, harmful rhetoric about Portland and the ICE facility here represent an “accident chain” that could lead to disaster if not managed.

The mayor said a recent visit to Portland by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem yielded no productive outcomes or solutions. Wilson characterized her stop in the Rose City as “a blindly expensive, taxpayer-funded and ultimately unconvincing whistle-stop tour intended to prop up a ludicrous fable of domestic terrorism and conspiracy.”

“The path this administration is on, however, is deadly serious, and the number of links in the accident chain grows daily,” Wilson wrote in Newsweek.

As agents retreated back inside the gate Saturday night, a protester in an inflated lobster costume with red plastic pinchers danced to Chumbawamba's "Tubthumping." Activists returned to the driveway in numbers, seemingly reinvigorated by the barrage. 

Only after heavy rainfall did the crowd start to thin out over the next few hours.