Most ICE Protesters Leave Camp Ahead Of Midnight Deadline

PORTLAND, OR - Most of the ICE protesters outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Southwest Portland had left Tuesday night before the midnight deadline set by the city, according to multiple media reports. The protesters faced arrest or were subject to citation if they did not leave.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler announced at a press conference Monday that the city wanted protesters camped out in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office to "peacefully disengage" and leave their camp.

"It’s time to move on to the second phase of this. To a more sustainable front that focuses on immigration policy over the next months and years," the mayor said.

The protest started about five weeks ago against President Trump’s immigration policies and the federal immigration enforcement agency, or ICE. The demonstrators began setting up tents and blockades near 4310 S.W. Macadam Ave. in southwest Portland on June 17.

The protest shut down ICE for several days before federal officers moved demonstrators away from the building's entrances. Protesters set up a campsite on a nearby property.

Wheeler has said he supports the protesters' cause, but on Monday encouraged them to voluntarily leave the camp. Last month, Wheeler said Portland Police would not be used "to break up a nonviolent occupation on federal property of a federal agency that has its own police force."

Notices telling protesters to clear out by midnight Tuesday were posted at the camp.

"Persons who have not vacated any campsite will be subject to citation or arrest by police,” the notice says.

Occupy ICE PDX responded Monday on Facebook: "We move when ICE moves, Ted." On Twitter, the protesters said: "Camp consensus: We don’t move until ICE is out of Portland and abolished."

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