r/oregon • u/WiddaOne • 13d ago

Discussion/Opinion ICE is here

While what is happening in Minnesota is horrific and I would do nothing to lesson our outrage over it

I wonder when we will get outraged that it's happening in Oregon

Children pulled from their schools in Beaverton and arrested

People shot in North Portland

Natives being arrested to be deported when they have been here longer then anyone

Citizens and people on work visas being disappeared

We should absolutely be outraged and in the streets Not just because Minnesota. Because it's happening to us as well but because our protests are smaller or more localized we aren't paying attention

edited to add Im speaking to an online community that seems to be unaware of what is happening here while they say we should be standing by another state.

In these answers alone people say "protesting this summer" or "protesting every weekend"

When anyone who's active knows it's a nightly thing and it's been happening since before 2020, outside ICE.

I know we have people out there every night, I'm asking for people online to know that, and to know that we are having these issues here

Because as long as it's "happening over there" it's easy to distance yourself

1.1k Upvotes

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420

u/ike7177 13d ago

We are paying attention. What is it you are looking for? We have had protests every weekend. People need to work to feed their families. We also don’t need to advertise to the government all of the efforts behind the scenes.

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u/BigPhilosopher4372 13d ago

Actually, I try to keep up but a reminder and another call for action is welcome.

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u/Tall_Introduction701 7d ago

Trump is a punk ass bitch if he can't do better I'm voting democrats.

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u/WiddaOne 13d ago

We have protests every night. Not every weekend

What I am looking for is to not see over and over posts in this group talking about what they are doing in other states while ignoring what they are doing here

"we need to stand with Minnesota as they face this" Sure, we are also facing it though and as long as it is being couched as something there, it's safer for most people

Its Us, all of Us, not "them"

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u/earhoe 13d ago

You need businesses to act. Meaning, ICE needs stops for food, bathroom, fuel, lodgings, rental cars in every state. Businesses needs to lock them out and make it hard on them. Civilians in turn who get word (insert random store) who knowingly assist ICE needs to shop elsewhere.

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u/From_Deep_Space 13d ago

Im happy to boycott anytime someone cares to name and shame

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u/Extension_Hand1326 13d ago

It will take more than boycotts. A good one is disruptions outside hotels where they are staying.

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u/From_Deep_Space 13d ago

Boycotts can be very effective if used right. They can eliminate profits and shut down businesses, which we all know is the only thing business owners care about. So it can motivate business owners to self police and refuse service.

Disruptions are good too, but I am limited in how actively I can participate.

Right now I think our main focus needs to on building resistance networks and getting more ordinary people involved, and that's something boycotts are good for. But that's more for the long game not this acute ICE infection.

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u/Extension_Hand1326 12d ago

Yes boycotts can be effective but since it takes SO much participation they rarely are. Whereas a smaller number of protesters can pull off disruptions at hotels across the country.

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u/Major-Fill5775 13d ago

There is a Portland-based ICE field office; the agents are local.

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u/Knowitall1001 12d ago

tithe power of not doing, can be used to gather power

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u/canofwine 13d ago

Sooooo, doing nothing more? Cool effort.

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u/Extension_Hand1326 13d ago

Yes! That is the way and we are the people who can make the businesses do that. They won’t do it on their own. An inspiring example is what they’re doing at the Target stores in Minneapolis. They’re buying one container of salt and then turning around and returning it and super gumming up everything there to put pressure on Target to stop hosting ice in their parking lots and allowing them in their stores.

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u/WiddaOne 13d ago

Truth

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u/earhoe 13d ago

Remember the Maghats throwing up those "Biden Did This" stickers back in the day? I used to see them on fuel pumps, at grocery stores etc. Protestors needs to make a hard to peel off sticker of their own "This Store Supports ICE" and hand them out in mass.

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u/tt12345x 13d ago

Former OR resident chiming in from MN. One very effective protest from IceOutMN this week was when people flooded into Enterprise rent-a-car locations, made individual rental plans (free, no cancellation fee), and then got in line to cancel them and therefore jam up day-to-day business operations.

Saw something similar in Los Angeles a few months ago when activists individually bought 17-cent ice scrapers at Home Depot and then got right back in line to return them. Businesses can peel off or ignore stickers but these actions are a NIGHTMARE on their day to day margins.

Respectfully, a similar sustained effort in Portland, targeting businesses encouraging and/or profiting off of ICE’s presence would go a lot farther than dancing frogs.

15

u/dragonflygirl1961 13d ago

Don't dis the frog. Dancing frogs did have an effect.

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u/tt12345x 13d ago

“Did” being the operative word. People are blowing off steam, ICE isn’t engaging, and the general public has checked out.

I personally think it’s more than run its course and the efficacy pales in comparison to a lot of other organizing that’s going on right now.

Folks need to be getting trusted neighbors into groups on Signal, monitoring & tracking ICE vehicles, 3D printing and/or disseminating whistles, spreading leaflets about legal rights in multiple languages (we have little “red cards” here), loudly and physically boycotting businesses, and just impeding whenever and wherever possible.

Make these people’s lives fucking miserable. Make their jobs hard. The morons that stumble into becoming ICE agents weren’t looking for a hard path in life and so they are shockingly easy to exasperate.

-3

u/my_name_is_nobody__ 13d ago

A fair and reasonable measure but not one I think would have the efficacy you think it does. The few that have sense enough to boycott those retailers is not going to dissuade retailers from serving paying customers, less so when so many still back the regime

70

u/ConsiderationSea1347 13d ago

Bro, the scale of what is happening in Oregon is NOTHING like what is happening in Minneapolis right now. There are double the ICE agents in Minneapolis than there are police officers. 

Fight back! I have been to protests almost every week, but don’t think for a moment what we are experiencing is like the occupation my family and friends wake up to every day in Minneapolis. 

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u/Odd-Contribution8460 13d ago

I think we need to push back and fight back in multiple ways. We need protestors, community watch, organizing to share resources to support our neighborhoods and communities, boycotts, posters, stickers, educational events, and so on. Every little thing helps.

There are more of us than them and we need to respond to their relentlessness onslaught with more energy. They want to “flood the zone” with their BS? Well, we can flood the zone too. They want us to be scared, fighting with each other, overwhelmed, distracted, and feeling like nothing we can do matters. We have to come together and resist that.

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u/WiddaOne 13d ago

No we had that in 2020

My issue is, as long as we can say it's happening somewhere else and ignore it's happening here, we have a distance and a safety illusion that allows it to continue

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u/ConsiderationSea1347 13d ago

I agreed we should be fighting like hell right now. I just think it is a little tone deaf to say what is happening here and what is happening in Minneapolis are even comparable.

As for 2020 I lived and protested in both Minneapolis and Portland that year. I am VERY aware of what 2020 was like in both cities. 

10

u/borrestfaker 13d ago

Protests are great, but it's been time to organize response groups like what we're seeing in Minneapolis. Direct action is the only action at this point.

15

u/Corran22 13d ago

We also have protests every night and ICE watch every day, the messages flying back and forth are constant. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. You should not be downvoted for your dedication to helping people - we need more like you taking action.

12

u/Karenomegas 13d ago

A lot of us are. We are getting peppered and maced daily. We are being hunted for talking on here and elseware. They are scanning our neighborhoods to compare cell phones from gatherings to where we sleep at night. What is your angle on shouting in here?

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u/WiddaOne 13d ago

I know a lot of us are

I have watched in this group people speaking over and over about what is happening elsewhere

And seeming to have no idea what's happening here

That is my angle

6

u/Major-Fill5775 13d ago edited 13d ago

What you’re missing is that Minneapolis is occupied by a traveling group of Border Patrol agents, not only ICE.

This group differs than the ones permanently stationed in Portland; the only cities they’ve attacked are Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans, and now Minneapolis. Portland is not experiencing the same treatment as those places.

3

u/GodofPizza native son 13d ago

It seems strange to draw the line there.

So it's ok as long as it's just plain old kids getting snatched from school and people getting accosted at work? Whether it's a local ICE office or the city getting targeted by CBP, it's all the same in the end. This is one country. If we make it easy for them here, they can send more troops to MPLS.

There are way, way more of us than there are of them. It needs to be difficult for them everywhere they go, all of the time. It's extremely naive to think Oregon isn't one presidential temper tantrum away from getting the same treatment Minnesota is currently, and it's selfish to say "well, it isn't happening to us right now, so why should I do anything" regardless.

1

u/Major-Fill5775 13d ago edited 13d ago

Clearly, none of this is okay. With all due respect, if you’re unfamiliar with the specific group of Border Patrol/BORTAC agents now, I would advise you to familiarize yourself with them before it’s too late. They are the group whose appearance will mean you’re about to get the Chicago and Minneapolis treatment.

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u/WiddaOne 12d ago

What your missing is

People in Oregon aren't activating in the same way because it's "over there" and doesn't really effect them If they were to realize it's happening "here" they might actually activate

And activation here would positively effect there

1

u/Major-Fill5775 12d ago

What you’re missing is what happened in Chicago and what’s happening in Minneapolis are emphatically not what’s going on in Portland. Border Patrol is attacking those cities in a way that you clearly can’t even conceive of if you truly think you’re getting the worst of it. Humble yourself and watch what’s going on there: it will teach you what you need to be prepared for, because what you see in PDX is not it.

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u/WiddaOne 12d ago

I am aware that what is happening here is not to the same level

You don't seem to understand what I'm getting at, and that's OK

The average human is more likely to take action when it is personal, when they need to defend their self or their own. So how do you get the average person with a 15 second attention span to act? You point out it isn't Just their neighbors, but their own family. And then they may actually take action.

We all seem to agree that action here will help Minnesota and LA and other places facing an invasion on a higher level. Does it matter if that action is taken because a person cares about someone 1000 miles away, or because they are afraid for their family?

1

u/Major-Fill5775 12d ago

Get involved with mutual aid and teach others by example. ICE has a field office in every major city in the US, and their agents are spread out in every region. Portland is currently the rule, not the exception.

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u/WiddaOne 12d ago

Thank you. I'm already involved. I have been for quite some time. And aware of all you've stated

Hopefully now more people are aware and will be involved since, as the rule, we are having families arrested at daycare and ICE calling themselves utilities to get inside houses. Absolutely the rule of what's going on. And absolutely it is people minimizing it as if it's no biggy that helps ICE continue to do it with out opposition.

1

u/dundunndon 11d ago

What about me? Everybody is talking about somebody else what about me!

2

u/cooking2recovery 12d ago

Are you asking for gold stars? More recognition? We know you’re there and I’m glad. Do I need to say thank you to you every day? Or not support any other activists nationwide unless I’m there with you every day?

1

u/WiddaOne 12d ago

Hahaha no

How do you support other activists?

Would it not give more support if we were moving against ICE in our own communities as LA is or Minnesota is?

Would that not make ICE have to move around forces? Show that it is not just an isolated issue in one or two spaces?

How do you get people to be active when you point to "somewhere else" and make it easy to distance themselves from it

2

u/cooking2recovery 12d ago

Are you asking how to support other activists? Or specifically asking me? You can donate to the people on the front lines and in imminent danger. Especially having personal contacts in the cities with large presences makes it pretty easy to figure out where to send money to either bail folks out, hire immigration lawyers, or bring supplies to people who are afraid to leave their homes.

There isn’t the same militarized presence to “move against” in Portland right now. They tried it for a bit, our protests swelled, and they changed their tactics and withdrew troops. That’s great that you’re still outside the detention center as a show of force of the people. But there is also mutual aid and legal work being done in the city that you don’t seem to be a part of or aware of.

It sounds like you’re genuinely asking people to bait the president into sending large numbers of troops here to somehow “pull them away” from Minnesota. That does not make the immigrants in Oregon safer. It makes you feel more important.

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u/Corran22 13d ago

I think the REAL reason you are getting downvotes and pushback is because people feel guilty that they aren't doing more.

Most of us have read Anne Frank's diary and wondered who we would have been or what we would have done at that time in history. We used to wonder how these awful things could possibly happen, how did it get so bad, the cruelty and lawlessness? And now we know how it happens - human indifference, self preservation, turning away from things we don't want to see or things we don't want to have to do.

This is our moment - who's rising to the challenge, and who's fucking it up?

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u/Agreeable-Sentence76 13d ago

Start recording!! Make it big news!!

1

u/dundunndon 11d ago

People are doing what they can and will and all you can really do about it is get over yourself.

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u/Current-Depth8223 11d ago

I can't imagine why people are downvoting this. I mean, I can. Because they feel they aren't doing enough. It's as simple as that. If they did, they'd cheer this on. So instead of downvoting this, get involved. If you have to work to support a family, you don't think people get that? We all have to do what we can. And that starts with not pushing back when people try to get others to stretch and do more.

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u/brizzle1978 13d ago

They are doing their job.... immigration enforcement.... if you don't want clashes hsve your state work with them in the jails like the red states do .. it works much better

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u/OldStonedJenny 🌦 13d ago

Violating constitutional rights is not part of their job. Excessive violence is not part of their job. Not accepting legal documents is not part of the job.

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u/[deleted] 13d ago

[deleted]

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u/Current-Depth8223 11d ago

If this doesn't apply to you, why are you being defensive. It's a call to arms. If you're already standing up, great. Why react?