Oregon ICE Activity—Weekly Update (1/28/26)
Federal Agents Escalate at Protests, Detentions Remain Low
Reports of ICE detentions in Oregon have remained low compared to previous months. Only 11 reports were made to the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition hotline between January 18 and January 25. To be clear, this does not mean there were only 11 detentions in that week. Not every detention is reported to the hotline, and there’s always the possibility that ICE has changed tactics to be more covert.
After ICE’s execution of Alex Pretti in Minnesota, protests across Oregon grew in size and were met with substantial violence from federal agents. In Portland, DHS deployed tear gas, pepper balls, flashbangs, and more on a crowd of hundreds on Saturday. Multiple sources reported to me that federal agents also used toxic HC smoke on the crowd—more on that here.
In response to DHS’s use of chemical agents at the Portland ICE facility, Portland City Councilors Mitch Green and Angelita Morillo urged Mayor Keith Wilson to act swiftly and impose fees on the building’s landlord—part of a policy passed by city council in December.
In Eugene, protests at the federal building grew in size. On January 27, dozens of federal agents stormed out of the building, firing less-lethals at protesters. Multiple demonstrators were detained and some reported sustaining injuries from the assault.
DHS also shot members of the press with pepper balls despite journalists attempting to identify themselves. I am not aware if there are normally this many agents in the Eugene area, but the numbers appear comparable to what we’ve seen in Portland at different times.
If you have news tips related to ICE activity or protests in Oregon, please feel free to reach out.