Leftist “antifa” activists have forced elderly homeless people to help confront law enforcement during ongoing protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Portland, Oregon, according to local police.
Police have seen “several older transients that are being [coerced] into approaching the gate and causing a distraction or just told to [rattle] the gate” at an ICE facility, Portland Police Sergeant John Edwards warned his colleagues in a Sept. 4 email that was disclosed Thursday in federal court. The civil case centers around state and local officials challenging President Donald Trump’s plans to send National Guard troops to quell rioting in Portland.
In the lawsuit against the President and U.S. government brought by the State of Oregon to stop troops from being sent to protect federal property, one of their exhibits sent to the court inadvertently reveals that Antifa have been coercing homeless people to join in rioting.… pic.twitter.com/RWB1dge8Da
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) October 5, 2025
Leftist “instigators” were seen escorting the homeless individuals up to the building’s gate during the protests, Edwards wrote, citing reports from a colleague who was the assigned officer in charge at the scene. “[On] one occasion, [federal agents] took custody of an elderly man after he asked the agents if he could just come up to the gate and rattle it so the antifa instigators would leave him and others alone,” Edwards alleged.
“He told agents he and several other transients are being coerced to act on their behalf to instigate agent response,” Edwards’ email said. “The subject was given a cite and released.”
The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) and the FBI’s Portland field office declined to comment to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
There have been at least 147 arrests near the Portland ICE facility since rioting kicked off in June, according to the FBI. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged suspects in recent months with crimes such as trying to break into the building, assaulting law enforcement personnel and aiming a laser at a helicopter flown by border agents.
Oregon and the city of Portland sued Trump Sept. 28, calling it “patently unlawful” for the president to send the National Guard to Portland to stop the unrest. A Trump-appointed judge blocked the president from sending the troops on Sunday, two days after a Pentagon official told the Daily Caller News Foundation that National Guard members had begun reporting for duty in the city.
The DOJ is investigating Portland police for arresting conservative journalist Nick Sortor who stopped anti-ICE protesters from burning an American flag, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said Thursday. Dhillon has accused the PPB of going soft on Antifa rioters while singling out Sortor.
Trump also declared the Antifa movement a “domestic terrorist organization” in a Sept. 22 executive order, directing agencies “to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle” its criminal operations.
“It’s an organized campaign of domestic terrorism targeting the core operations of the federal government,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said on X Monday about the Portland protests.
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