From Fox News: Federal immigration officials say their Portland, Oregon, facility has come under nightly attack, with little help from local police because of political directives from city leaders.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News’ Bill Melugin, Cammila Wamsley, director of Portland’s ICE office, said the facility has faced violence for more than 100 consecutive nights, with Portland police largely absent under guidance from the mayor and city council.
“I just, I can’t figure out what’s happening at the FDA. I’m totally baffled by it,” Wamsley said, describing her frustration at seeing federal staff attacked outside the building while officers inside lack jurisdiction to intervene. “It’s frustrating for us to watch people be attacked on the street and know that we don’t have the authority to be able to really step in unless there’s some nexus to federal law.”
She said nightly protests have escalated beyond chants and signs, with bottle rockets striking the ICE building, rocks shattering windows, lasers targeting officers’ eyes and barricades blocking vehicles.
Wamsley added, “Later, towards the evening and around dark, there are a lot of folks that come up dressed in all black. They are here to wreak havoc. They’ll block our cars, throw paint, damage property and even try to follow our folks home.”
She said at least six ICE employees have been doxxed by the violent activists.
Melugin posted a video of the interview, and wrote:
ICE’s Portland Director tells me it’s like there’s a “bubble” around the ICE building where Portland PD won’t respond to violence due to politics from Mayor & city council. She says it’s frustrating for Feds to watch people get attacked on the street & not have jurisdiction.
Her full answer on this topic:
“So the Portland Police Bureau is is really under guidance from the mayor and the city council and other people that they’re not there. First off, they’re not really supposed to respond to this building. There have been folks that have been assaulted right down here on the street, even across the street. And it takes Portland police a while to respond or sometimes they don’t respond at all, which is unfortunate because, you know, people here deserve to be protected by the police, just as they would six blocks from here. But that is not the stance that PPB has based on what the mayor and the and the city council has has provided the guidance to them. So, no, if there’s any immigration enforcement happening in this building at all, which there is a lot of the time, they will not respond. But more than that, there’s, like I said, like more of a bubble around the building where they don’t respond all the time and if they do respond, it’s afterwards.”
Q: Is that frustrating?
“It is frustrating. It’s frustrating for us to watch people be attacked on the street and know that we don’t have the authority to be able to really step in unless there’s some nexus to federal law. That’s frustrating for us. It’s frustrating to feel that if we have a situation in which our officers are overwhelmed with a number of people, I mean. We’ve seen it before. The folks here can go from a crowd of 50 to a crowd of 1000 in in 30 minutes. Yeah. And then, you know, depending sometimes we only have 20 officers here. We would we would not be able to defend the building with that show of force, if you will, especially if they’re the folks who are intent on on committing violence.”
Her full answer on this topic:
“So the Portland Police Bureau is is really under guidance from the mayor and the city council and other people that they’re not there. First off, they’re not really supposed to respond to this building. There have been folks that have been…
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 2, 2025
Later Thursday night, Melugin announced:
We just witnessed a significant fistfight in front of the ICE building between a pro ICE guy and anti ICE protester. Anti-ICE guy got rocked bad, and minutes later appeared unconscious with huge swelling to face after he collapsed.
ZERO PORTLAND PD HERE.
Feds took injured man in for medical attention and appeared to take the pro ICE man into custody into the building.
This happened on the sidewalk in front of the federal building, and there were no Portland police officers here to intervene or break the fight up. Now a man appears to be significantly injured.
We just witnessed a significant fistfight in front of the ICE building between a pro ICE guy and anti ICE protester. Anti-ICE guy got rocked bad, and minutes later appeared unconscious with huge swelling to face after he collapsed.
ZERO PORTLAND PD HERE.
Feds took injured man…
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 3, 2025
The entire fight was recorded in a livestream video by X user Portland Andy.
ICE director says Portland facility faces violence with ‘little help from local police’ https://t.co/h5QdCvVECG
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 3, 2025
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