A couple of things I want to point out about this morning's DHS raid on the #occupyicepdx camp that highlight the reasons protesting is important right now.
DHS' officers are not identified beyond their affiliation with DHS.
Despite @tedwheeler's and other PDX elected leaders' words, Portland police are assisting in this raid
Even as this DHS raid is happening, one of the other ICE detainment in the area got ordered to allow detainees access to lawyers (and you know, other rights guaranteed to anyone in the U.S. — not just U.S. citizens). portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2018/…
DHS started by dismantling #OccupyICEPDX's veterans camp. As in people who have served in the U.S. military.
This is the sort of fire power DHS thinks is required to break up a peaceful protest (which has maintained a weapons-free zone)
DHS is arresting people for protesting, which means (in this context): providing free food and other support for everyone who cared to join, childcare, providing care (both physical and mental), and legal support to people who needed it.
I've been following all the media about this protest and most of it is missing a few key facts. But nothing is as inaccurate as the Sinclair reports being shared by their affiliates all over the country
Somehow protesting became an argument about civility this week? Because #OccupyICEPDX protestors use profanity and are willing to use their bodies to back up their beliefs against: 1) ICE's landlord hitting a protestor with his car wweek.com/news/courts/20…
2) Getting hit by literal shit (along with chemicals)
3) The force the federal government is prepared to bring against people exercising their right to freedom of speech (provided the protestors aren't conservative). (If you're a conservative, you get acquitted when you occupy federal offices even if armed oregonlive.com/oregon-standof…)
Protesting isn't about civility one way or the other. It's about holding ICE and other government agencies accountable, because left to their own devices, this is the only information FPS would have given anyone about this morning's raid
Oh, and look: DHS now plans to have agents onsite regularly to discourage activists Because an expansion of policing roles is going to make detaining children more legal?
These DHS officers have been brought in from out of state, so they have no background in the local situation. Combine that with a mayor whose conspicuously absent and you're almost guaranteed problems.
Per livestream: ICE almost never has appointments at the Macadam facility and has changed locations of appts to create a false narrative of protestors blocking families from their appts. Prior to #OccupyICEPDX, appts for stuff like documentation were all at the Overton location.
And while ICE has not provided any information to these folks with appointments, #OccupyICEPDX had an information tent up (in multiple languages) on the second day of the protest
FYI you can't assume the suburbs in Oregon won't support this crap, even if Portland is a sanctuary city. Lake Oswego police seem perfectly comfortable supporting ICE
Another thing this morning: DHS is still blocking the street this morning, blocking ambulances and impeding hospital operations at OHSU Hospital nearby. Throughout the protest, though, #OccupyICEPDX organizers made sure OHSU's access remained open
Community access the area around the ICE building is substantially more limited today than it was two days ago. I saw B roll early this week on KATU's live stream of a jogger who was able to jog through the camp unimpeded — wouldn't recommend jogging near DHS's forces, tho.
