I’m home after a couple of days at the hospital with my youngest daughter — FWIW, she’s doing much better now — & saw this story on the local news for the first time. For those of us (like me) who don’t like to get their information thru video files, OPB offers another take on this story which includes these paragraphs:
Following two days of raucous heckling and disruption from Portland demonstrators, a regional office for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has temporarily shuttered, the agency announced Wednesday.
…
The announcement comes amid a growing protest calling itself Occupy ICE PDX. The impromptu demonstration began Sunday evening, following a vigil to protest hardline federal immigration policies that separate immigrant parents from their children.
It’s continued to grow ever since. On Monday, protesters began blocking vehicles attempting to enter and leave the facility, an unassuming structure in Southwest Portland that bears no outward signs it’s an ICE facility.
The KGW story also reports demonstrators at the Federal prison at Sheridan Oregon, where Senator Merkley toured conditions for 123 adult asylum seekers are kept as common criminals.
Since I’ve been largely out of touch with the news for understandable reasons, I have to ask: have any other cities seen direct action like this? Have any other ICE installations been targeted by demonstrators who remember the words, “Never again”?
I can’t believe people in only one city — known more for its eccentric and hipster reputation — would be mobilizing direct action against this criminal organization.