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The mayor of Portland, Oregon, is asking US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to leave his city after federal agents fired tear gas into a crowd of protesters, including young children, outside an ICE facility over the weekend.
Mayor Keith Wilson described Saturday’s protests as peaceful, as federal forces reportedly used tear gas, pepper spray, flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets against anti-ICE protesters.
Wilson called on ICE agents to resign and for the agency to leave Portland, denouncing the “use of violence” and the “undermining of the Constitution.”
“Today, the military sent large waves of chemical weapons, which had an impact on the peaceful demonstration during the day where most of the participants did not break the law, did not pose a threat, and did not pose any danger to the troops,” he said in a statement on Saturday.
CHICAGO MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON FILES ICE ‘NOTICE’ IN EXECUTIVE ORDER DEMANDS AGENCIES PROSECUTED
Mayor Keith Wilson said the protests in his city were peaceful, as he said ICE had left. (Ali Gradischer/Getty Images)
“To those who continue to work for ICE: Stop it. To those who control this agency: Go. By your use of violence and trampling on the Constitution, you have lost all legitimacy and instead have shame. To those who continue to make these outrageous decisions, go home, look in the mirror, and ask yourself why you gassed children. Ask yourself why the one American agency continues to work on the streets dealing with murder. Lie, as you are.” they continue to lie to the American people,” the mayor continued.
The mayor added that the nation “will never accept the existence of a government where agents use lethal force against the very people they are sworn to serve.”
“I share the impatience with those who want us to use every legal tool at our disposal to reverse this unprovoked, unconscionable, and unacceptable violence against our community,” Wilson said. “I agree with the need to act. Actions that can withstand the scrutiny of the justice system take time – and we cannot afford to lose this fight.”
CBP/BORDER PROTECTION AGENCIES PLACED IN ADMINISTRATIVE STATE AFTER DEADLY CONTACT WITH ALEX PRETTI.
Federal agents fired tear gas into a crowd of protesters, including young children, outside the ICE facility in Portland. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Portland officials are working to implement a law, which went into effect last month, that imposes costs on detention facilities that use chemicals, the mayor said.
“As we prepare to implement that law, we are documenting today’s events and preserving evidence. The federal government must, and will, be held accountable,” he wrote.
“Portland will continue to stand strong with our immigrant neighbors, who deserve the safety, dignity, and full protection of the communities we are helping to build,” he continued. “We are also proud of the Portlanders who demonstrated peaceful unity today, demonstrating the strength and clarity of those shared values in the face of state exploitation.”
This comes amid national unrest and bipartisan scrutiny of immigration enforcement tactics following the killing of two US citizens by federal immigration agencies last month in Minneapolis.
The Trump administration has faced bipartisan scrutiny over its immigration enforcement tactics following the killings of two American citizens by immigration agents in Minneapolis. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
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Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis, and Alex Pretti was shot and killed on Jan. 24 by Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez while filming immigration enforcement operations in the same city.
Pretti, who is an ICU nurse, was seen trying to help a woman who had hit the ground when she was sprayed with an irritant, and was pushed to the ground and beaten, according to the video and witness accounts. The agent was later seen pulling Pretti’s legally held gun from his waistband before other agents fired multiple shots, killing him.
