PORTLAND– Night after night, outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in southeast Portland, a stark scene plays out. Black-clad Antifa protesters in masks set off fireworks, shouted at federal agents, and chanted “Abolish ICE.”

The walls, layered with fresh graffiti, bounce sound back into the streets. Beneath the noise, a troubling pattern has emerged. Elderly homeless people are being pushed to the front, used as shields and distractions. Portland police warn that Antifa-linked organizers are preying on the most vulnerable, urging them to rattle gates and spark confrontations while others hang back.

Portland Police Sgt. John Edwards set out the concern in a September memo, later disclosed during Oregon’s lawsuit over the Trump administration’s National Guard deployment. He wrote that older rough sleepers had been coerced into walking up to the gate to cause a distraction, or told to shake it for effect.

These are not eager recruits. They are men and women in their 70s and 80s, found near shelters and lured with food or a bed for the night. In one case last week, a 78-year-old veteran in a thin coat was pushed forward to hammer at the fencing while explosives burst overhead.

Federal officers held back, a choice that highlights the cynicism of the tactic and the harm it risks.

Feds Crackdown on Antifa

The pattern is not a one-off. Since June, nightly actions at the ICE site have grown more aggressive. The FBI has recorded more than 147 arrests for offences that include arson and assaults on officers. The Department of Justice has brought several indictments, among them cases over lasers aimed at Border Patrol aircraft and attempted forced entries.

The White House amplified the alarm. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller wrote on X that it was a coordinated campaign of domestic terrorism against federal operations. Nearby residents describe the area as a war zone. One woman said she keeps a gas mask inside her home to cope with tear gas and smoke. Shops close early, families move out, and the city’s homelessness crisis deepens as shelters strain to cope.

Pro-Trump and pro-police demonstrators clashed with anti-fascist counterprotesters on the 87th day of protests against police violence and systemic racism. Despite violence in the streets, police were notably absent and never declared an unlawful assembly.

The city’s response faces further heat. Critics claim the Portland Police Bureau is compromised. Freelance reporters who have covered the clashes for years say there are ties between some officers and Antifa-aligned groups. The dispute flared after the 2 October arrest of conservative journalist Nick Sortor.

He had stepped in to put out a burning American flag during a march. Video shows masked attackers, identified by witnesses as Antifa, jumping him, then PPB officers detaining him for disorderly conduct. The charge was later dropped. Sortor says the police took sides, a claim that has fuelled wider anger.

Portland Police Accused of Working With Antifa

Those allegations helped trigger a federal backlash. On 3 October, the DOJ, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi, opened a civil rights investigation into the PPB. The inquiry is focused on viewpoint discrimination and possible coordination. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said Portland officers had been lenient with Antifa rioters while targeting journalists.

The FBI joined in, seeking unredacted reports, emails, and records related to the city’s zoning enforcement against ICE. Critics argue these moves were designed to hinder federal work. PPB Chief Bob Day rejected the claims as biased from both camps, saying his officers keep to the fairway of neutrality. Yet doubts persist, with 26 federal cases brought since June that link rioters to explosives and assaults.

Momentum built at the White House this week. On 8 October, President Donald Trump hosted an unusual roundtable. He appeared with Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Several independent journalists who have been attacked while reporting joined the meeting, including Andy Ngo, Katie Daviscourt, Savanah Hernandez, and Sortor. Trump praised them as truth-tellers ignored by major outlets. Ngo revisited his 2019 beating in Portland, where he said milkshakes mixed with cement were thrown. Hernandez, who faced bear spray in Seattle, said the press had excused violence as protest.

Feds Focus on Antifa Funders

The discussion pulled back the curtain on alleged funding. Seamus Bruner of the Government Accountability Institute presented research claiming more than 100 million dollars had moved through NGOs such as George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, the Arabella Advisors network, and Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss.

He said the money was laundering taxpayer funds into riot incubation, and cited links to European anarchist groups. Patel said investigators would map every donor, calling cross-border support a line that could reach treason. Noem compared Antifa to MS-13 and ISIS, calling it a sophisticated network that moves from city to city.

Trump moved quickly after the briefing. Building on a 22 September executive order that labelled Antifa a domestic terrorist organization, he told Secretary of State Marco Rubio to consider foreign terrorist organization status. He argued that European roots made the case, opening the door to sanctions, asset freezes, and material support prosecutions. These are tools usually applied to groups like al-Qaeda or Hamas.

The order directs agencies to break up illegal operations, from recruitment to finance. Bondi promised a brick-by-brick takedown similar to cartel cases. DHS says arrests in Portland have surged, including suspects wanted for sex offences, murder, and trafficking, despite street blockades.

Opposition is fierce. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek and Portland Mayor Keith Wilson took legal action to stop the National Guard deployment, calling it a federal takeover in a city where most protests have eased since the summer.

Legal voices warn that an FTO label could chill speech and bring activists under material support laws. Faiza Patel of the Brennan Center said ideology cannot be prosecuted. Trump allies point to Antifa texts that call for overthrowing the government and say that it is enough to act.

Manstream Media Shading the Truth

The media’s role hangs over the debate. Fox News and reporters like Ngo have amplified accounts of injuries and intimidation. CNN and The New York Times have often framed the city’s protests as theatrical but not existential.

At the roundtable, Trump asked which network was the worst. The panel pointed to MSNBC, accusing it of running cover for assaults. A White House statement attacked Fake News for ignoring local voices. It said streets were dirty, shops were closing, and people were suffering. Ngo, attacked several times, accused pundits of deception that lets violence grow.

Federal forces are on standby. A deployment of 200 Oregon National Guard troops, paused by Judge Karin Immergut, is now under appeal. The city holds its breath. A trans activist named Cassandra Rose, who once slept rough, rails against ICE outside the fence with a shepherd’s crook in hand.

For the elderly pressed into frontline roles, ideology is not the point. Survival has been twisted into risk. Trump’s crackdown promises order, but the price for a city already split may be high. In the haze of tear gas, legal fights, and claims on both sides, one fact stands firm. Portland’s scars run deeper than any banner can cover.

Related News:

Historian Victor Davis Hanson Talks on Trump’s Vision for a Safer America