Portland accuses federal officers of violating demonstrators’ constitutional rights

Portland’s top attorney lambasted the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division Monday, in a letter accusing the department of turning a blind eye to federal officers’ heavy-handed response to protests.

“We appear to be witnessing the federal government engaging in unconstitutional uses of force in violation of the Fourth Amendment against otherwise peaceful demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights,” wrote City Attorney Robert Taylor.

“Many Portlanders and other Americans may have reason to be concerned that the Civil Rights Division will choose allegiance to a president who is ‘untethered to the facts’ instead of the rule of law and the Constitution,” he continued.

Taylor’s letter is a response to a DOJ investigation announced Friday into the Portland Police Bureau and the city for its treatment of right-wing media figures at recent protests outside the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. In the letter announcing that investigation, U.S. civil rights attorneys accused the city of policing “in a manner that may be based on viewpoint discrimination.” Taylor used the same phrasing in his response.

“It appears the federal government is engaging in prohibited viewpoint discrimination by targeting demonstrators based on the content of their speech, while favoring those with whom the federal government agrees,” he wrote.

As an example, Taylor noted that federal officials appear to be granting social media “influencers” who favor the Trump administration access to the ICE facility, while using force against others who use social media to document the actions of the federal officers against protesters.

On Saturday, federal officers guarding the ICE building fired tear gas, pepper balls and flash-bangs toward crowds of protesters gathered outside the South Portland facility without any clear signs of provocation. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said that left-wing protesters had “swarmed” the building, and that the response was needed to clear the building’s driveway for government vehicles.

OPB reporters did not observe any protesters on the ICE property. Some people were hit with pepper balls if they stepped off the public sidewalk into the building’s driveway. OPB observed several right-wing videographers filming the actions from the roof and from behind the throng of officers. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said federal officers arrested 17 people Saturday for charges ranging from trespassing to assaulting law enforcement.

Along with its treatment of some right-wing videographers, the DOJ is also investigating the city’s decision to enforce land use laws that could threaten ICE’s ability to operate out of the South Portland building. On Friday, DOJ attorneys said they’ll investigate whether these incidents warrant penalties for the city in its drawn-out settlement agreement between Portland police and the DOJ for how the city’s officers treat people with mental illnesses.

Taylor wrote that this would be “entirely inappropriate,” and a move driven simply to “score political points.” Instead, he wrote that the federal government is abusing that same agreement through its recent treatment of protesters.

The argument has echoes of accusations made in 2021, after Portland reported more than 6,000 documented instances of Portland police using force against racial justice protesters in 2020. At the time, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonas Geissler raised concerns that the force was potentially unconstitutional and may require DOJ intervention to address. Geissler was one of the two U.S. attorneys who announced the DOJ’s investigation into Portland last week.

Taylor’s letter comes less than 24 hours after a federal judge temporarily blocked National Guard deployments from any state to Portland for at least two weeks. The Trump administration swiftly appealed this ruling.

The U.S. DOJ did not immediately respond to OPB’s request for comment on Taylor’s letter.

Taylor ended his letter with a clear ask.

“Please do not fail Portland and please do not fail America,” he wrote. “Please show that the Civil Rights Division cares about the rule of law and the constitutional protections guaranteed to everyone, including those with whom the federal administration appears to disagree politically.”

This story may be updated.