Photo: Alamy
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday, as demonstrations against federal immigration enforcement continued across the city.
The visit comes amid months of anti-ICE protests sparked by the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigrants accused of violent crimes. Portland has remained a source of controversy over ongoing unrest, drawing national attention since the 2020 riots that targeted a federal courthouse.
State officials said they were notified of Noem’s visit only hours before her arrival. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek confirmed she met with Noem shortly after the secretary landed in Portland.
“I am not a pushover. We had a very direct conversation, cordial,” Kotek told Oregon Public Broadcasting. “She’s going to be meeting with local law enforcement later today, hearing from them about the efforts they have made to maintain calm.”
Kotek said she asked Noem to ensure that federal officers comply with Oregon’s restrictions on the use of tear gas and other crowd-control tactics, particularly in residential neighborhoods.
Noem said her visit aimed to strengthen cooperation between federal and local authorities. The secretary said she was visiting the ICE facility in southern Portland to secure partnerships that “will keep our officers safe,” she told the outlet.
Portland police said they would provide Noem the same security assistance offered to other visiting federal officials.
In addition to her meeting with the mayor, Noem spoke with Jesse Watters on Fox News about an ultimatum to send more federal officers to Portland.
“He did not commit to any of those promises and said he would give me an answer by tomorrow, and I’m hopeful that he will,” she said. “What I told him that if he did not follow through on some of these security measures for our officers, we were going to cover him up with more federal resources and that we were going to send four times the amount of federal officers here.”