ICE operations to 'ramp up' in Portland and Seattle as raids set to intensify

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations are expected to heavily intensify in the Pacific Northwest after Labor Day, particularly in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, two sanctuary cities accused by the Trump administration of refusing to cooperate with ICE in violation of federal immigration laws.

Border Czar Tom Homan told reporters outside the White House on Thursday that ICE operations are going to "ramp up" in several Democratic-run sanctuary jurisdictions that have a history of releasing "public safety threats" into the community after failing to comply with ICE detainers. ICE detainers are an official request for local jails to notify ICE before an illegal immigrant charged and/or convicted of a crime is scheduled to be released from custody. This allows the federal agency to apprehend the subject, rather than releasing the accused back onto the street to potentially reoffend.

"You're going to see a ramp up of operations continue in LA, and you know, Portland, Seattle," said Homan. "All these sanctuary cities that refuse to work with ICE, where we know public safety threats are being released every day into this country, especially those cities, we're going to address that." He also mentioned that increased operations will occur in Chicago, Illinois, and New York.

Homan recently visited Portland and Seattle as part of a trip to the West Coast states. During his visit, he met with ICE personnel to offer his support in the face of the ongoing attacks on ICE facilities and agents. For more than 80 days, black-clad demonstrators have been besieging the ICE facility in Portland, carrying out ongoing attacks that have resulted in more than 20 protesters receiving federal charges for a variety of criminal offenses.

Before his visit to Portland last month, Homan made it abundantly clear that ICE would not be "bullied" by Antifa. He promised to "double" and "triple" ICE raids in the sanctuary city, which appear to be in the works following his Thursday remarks.

"We're going to take the assets we have and move them to problem areas like sanctuary cities where we know for a fact they are releasing public safety threats, illegal aliens, to the streets every day," Homan said. "That's where we need to send the majority of the resources, and that's where we're going."

 

Earlier this week, Trump's Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who previously represented Oregon in Congress, urged the president to increase immigration enforcement operations in her home state, telling Trump during a Tuesday Cabinet meeting, "I hope you will come to Portland." Chavez-DeRemer also asked US Attorney General Pam Bondi to ramp up "prosecutions."

The Department of Justice (DOJ) sent letters to both Portland and Seattle, threatening consequences for self-identifying as a sanctuary jurisdiction, which the DOJ defined as "having policies, laws, or regulations that impede enforcement of federal immigration laws."

After receiving the letters, which demanded termination of sanctuary status, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, both Democrats, doubled down on their respective states' sanctuary policies, saying they would not be threatened by the Trump administration.