Portland police ‘refused to respond to TWO 911 calls from ICE employees inside their offices while protests against Trump’s immigration policy raged outside’
Union representing ICE agents sent letter to Mayor Ted Wheeler
Wheeler didn’t allow Portland police to come to ICE’s aid during Occupy protest
Protests were launched in response to Trump’s separation of migrant families
ARIEL ZILBER
DAILYMAIL.COM
1 August 2018
A union representing agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement is accusing Portland, Oregon’s mayor of ordering his police force to deny help while they were faced with violent demonstrators occupying their offices.
Portland police have been accused of refusing to respond to at least two 911 calls from employees in the ICE offices in the city.
The accusation was reported by The Daily Caller.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Portland Police Bureau seeking comment.
Sean Riddell, a lawyer for the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, wrote a letter to Mayor Ted Wheeler demanding to meet over what he perceives to be the city police’s lax policies.
On June 17, a large group of people identifying itself as Occupy ICE PDX began a protest in front of the Southwest Portland ICE holding facility.
The demonstrations were a response to the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the southern border.
The protesters set up camp in mid-June and stayed around the clock for nearly 40 days.
The protests grew in intensity to the point where the ICE office was shut down for two weeks due to concerns over the safety of employees, according to KGW-TV.
On the day that the facility was shut down, Wheeler, who in addition to his duties as mayor is also the police commissioner, said he would not involve his bureau.
‘I want to be very clear that I do not want the Portland police to be engaged or sucked into a conflict, particularly from a federal agency that I believe is on the wrong track,’ he wrote.
‘If they are looking for a bailout from this mayor, they are looking in the wrong place.’
Riddell accused Wheeler of creating ‘a zone of terror and lawlessness’ that is putting ICE employees at risk.
The lawyer threatened to take Wheeler to court.
‘The Council and I assert that your current policy forbidding Portland law enforcement agencies from assisting employees of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (“ICE”) who request law enforcement assistance while at or away from work is a violation of the United States Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause,’ Riddell wrote.
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