Hundreds protest at ICE building after Trump’s announcement of troop deployment to Portland

Several hundred people gathered outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland Sunday afternoon and into the evening to protest the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops to the city.

Federal agents armed with long-barrel firearms patrolled from nearby rooftops.

Families, including grandparents and children riding bikes, filled the streets alongside the longtime protesters clad in the “black bloc” style of ski masks and sunglasses who have been outside the Portland ICE building off and on for the past several months.

Chants and bucket drumming rang in the air during an afternoon demonstration that was raucous but largely free of confrontation.

An armed escort of about two dozen agents would move into the crowd whenever vehicles passed through the street. The protest also shut down bus service through the area. Several members of Portland police were also present, mostly directing traffic.

Later in the evening, there were more encounters between protesters and federal agents. Several protesters were hit with pepper balls as ICE agents attempted to escort a car into the building.

More than a dozen counterprotesters attended the event, an increase from previous nights, and many clashed verbally with demonstrators.

One protest organizer, Dina, described herself as the wife of a veteran, and said Trump’s deployment of the guard to U.S. cities was a “moral injury” to her husband. She gave only her first name out of fear for her family’s safety.

“We are not going to stand for people following illegal orders,” she said.

Related: Trump administration authorizes 200 National Guard members for Portland deployment

The memorandum deploying 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to Portland, as part of a larger deployment of troops to cities across the country, stated it was “to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. Government personnel” carrying out the actions of the administration.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the demonstration.

In a statement to OPB on Saturday about the increased presence of federal agents in Portland, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin at the Department of Homeland Security cited “weeks of violent riots at ICE facilities” and the threat of domestic terrorists attacking law enforcement, neither of which have occurred in Portland.

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When the presence of federal agents reportedly began ramping up in Portland, city and state political leaders urged people to stay calm and told them, “don’t take the bait.”

Dina, the protest organizer who is also a deacon at a Portland-area church, said many protesters took issue with the sentiment, saying it “perpetuates the Trump administration’s posturing about how we are dangerous protesters.”

“We are not. We are average, everyday citizens who are tired of the illegal actions of this administration and we are out here protesting well within our constitutional rights,” she said.

Related: ‘Portland is doing just fine’: Oregon governor rejects Trump’s plan to send troops to the city

The city and state’s Democratic leadership decried Trump’s decision to send the National Guard to Portland. They said the president’s characterizations of the city did not match reality and that there was no need for federal troops.

Prominent Republicans from Oregon cheered the decision.

The state’s House minority leader Christine Drazan said characterizations of Portland as doing fine were “tone-deaf,” and Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a former Oregon representative serving as Trump’s labor secretary, said she’d witnessed Portland transform “from a beautiful place to live to a crime-ridden war zone.”

Oregon and the city of Portland filed a federal lawsuit arguing the administration had overreached and acted unlawfully.