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Dear friends,
Today, federal forces deployed heavy waves of chemical munitions, impacting a peaceful daytime protest where the vast majority of those present violated no laws, made no threat, and posed no danger to federal forces.
To those who continue to work for ICE: Resign. To those who control this facility: Leave. Through your use of violence and the trampling of the Constitution, you have lost all legitimacy and replaced it with shame. To those who continue to make these sickening decisions, go home, look in a mirror, and ask yourselves why you have gassed children. Ask yourselves why you continue to work for an agency responsible for murders on American streets. No one is forcing you to lie to yourself, even as your bosses continue to lie to the American people.
Our nation will never accept a federal presence where agents wield deadly force against the very people they are sworn to serve. I share the impatience of those who demand we use every legal tool at our disposal to push back against this inexcusable, unconscionable, and unacceptable violence against our community. I share the need to act. Actions that can withstand the scrutiny of the justice system take time – and we cannot afford to lose this fight.
The City of Portland is moving swiftly to operationalize an ordinance that went into effect this month, imposing a fee on detention facilities that use chemical agents. As we prepare to put that law into action, we are also documenting today’s events and preserving evidence. The federal government must, and will, be held accountable.
Portland will continue to stand firmly with our immigrant neighbors, who deserve safety, dignity, and the full protection of the communities they help build. We are also proud of the Portlanders who showed up today in peaceful solidarity, demonstrating the strength and clarity of those shared values in the face of federal overreach.
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