Chaotic weekend protests in Los Angeles saw freeway takeovers, waves of law enforcement officers launching crowd control weapons, tense clashes with protesters and self-driving cars set ablaze – all following a call for “law and order” from the Trump administration.

For Oregon, the stark images emerging from L.A. held a familiarity.

In 2020, the deployment of federal officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as other agencies, led to heightened clashes with Portland demonstrators and helped fuel more than 100 days of protests through that spring and summer. An inspector general’s report eventually found the federal officers lacked training and strategy when they came to Oregon.

“It was terrible for weeks,” said Nik Blosser, who served as the chief of staff to then-Gov. Kate Brown. “And a large part of that is because folks at Department of Homeland Security and ICE, they’re just not trained in crowd control.”

Despite that history, President Trump has promised to escalate the federal response in California – and possibly other states – if protests over his immigration policy and related arrests continue. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he opposes the federal deployment of California’s National Guard, describing it as a provocation by the president.

Portland’s relationship with federal officers also came under scrutiny over the weekend, as city officers addressed a protest at an ICE facility Saturday. Police officials insist that they are telling federal agencies to let the city police itself. But city leaders are weighing whether they need new policies to prohibit local and federal cooperation at protests.

OPB reached out to local and state officials in Oregon, as well as Portlanders who protested in 2020, to find out what they learned from the federal law enforcement deployment during that time and what it might mean if tensions rise locally.

A moment of escalation

In the month after Minneapolis police officers murdered George Floyd, thousands of Oregonians gathered on city streets to protest. At times, demonstrations across the country resulted in property destruction, including of statues, leading Trump to issue a June 26, 2020, executive order empowering federal law enforcement to protect federal property from what the order described as “anarchists and left-wing extremists.”

Longtime Portland activist Mac Smiff participated in many of the city’s racial justice protests in 2020. He recalls there being a significant change in atmosphere when federal officers joined local law enforcement.

“It was definitely an escalation in violence,” said Smiff, who now works for City Councilor Sameer Kanal. He remembers the federal officers trying to subdue the crowd much more swiftly and aggressively than Portland police.

“It definitely seemed like the intent was to end this thing, as fast as possible,” he said. “It felt surgical.”

Smiff said it felt like their arrival also reinvigorated local police, who had been worn down after more than a month of nightly demonstrations.

City Councilor Candace Avalos, who attended several protests before the federal officers arrived, identified the day that officers installed a tall fence around the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse as a turning point.

“The protests were starting to die down,” she said. “But all of the sudden, the fences went up and the tensions went up with it.”

Avalos was especially alarmed because the federal officers weren’t beholden to court injunctions that kept Portland officers from using tear gas and impact munitions against the crowds.

“We had oversight and accountability tools at the city, but none of that mattered,” she said. “The feds don’t answer to us.”

At the time, then-mayor Ted Wheeler spoke out against the federal officers’ tactics, calling them “heavy-handed.” In a July 19, 2020, interview, Wheeler told NPR that the officers’ arrival in Portland “blew the lid off” of the city’s attempt to quell the protests.

Wheeler declined OPB’s request Monday for comment on the experience. Mayor Keith Wilson, who did not work in government in 2020, said his office is monitoring the protests in Los Angeles. If Portland sees demonstrations that lead to “federal overreach,” he said, “we will take appropriate legal action to protect our community.”

Avalos wants a firmer commitment. She and other councilors spoke with Portland Police Chief Bob Day on Monday about how Portland police will interact with federal officers if they’re again called in to respond to protests. She is interested in creating policy that restricts Portland police from cooperating with federal officers at protests, similar to how local law enforcement can’t cooperate with federal immigration authorities under the city’s sanctuary city policy.

“Our community is looking to us, as elected leaders, as a line of defense,” she said. “We are operating under a fascist regime. It’s my responsibility to propose new laws and policies to protect our constituents.”

Conditions for de-escalation

Blosser, Gov. Brown’s chief of staff in 2020, said federal authorities and the National Guard are not typically trained in crowd control tactics and could escalate the situation, deepening unrest among Los Angeles protesters.

He fears there could be similar consequences in California as the Portland protests, where injuries sustained by protesters resulted in lawsuits.

“ICE is just not prepared for this and they’re not trained for it,” Blosser said. “The sooner they realize that, the better. I fear it’s going to take a little while, though.”

Blosser helped negotiate an end to the 2020 federal deployment in Oregon, most notably with staffers of then-Vice President Mike Pence, who had forged a bond with Brown. They reached a deal to swap out federal law enforcement officers for Oregon State Police troopers. This time, however, is different, according to Blosser.

“We had a sane vice president in Mike Pence who really wanted to help mediate things,” Blosser said. “There was at least someone in the administration that knew that this violence needed to come to an end. I’m not sure who is there to negotiate with now.”

In addition, President Trump, whose term began less than five months ago, has pushed the boundaries of his authority further in his second term.

“We have a very, very challenging commander in chief right now, and dealing with his personality in this situation is unfortunately a big dimension of this,” Blosser said.

Oregon’s current governor said Monday she’s taking the threat of possible activation of the state’s national guard troops seriously. Gov. Tina Kotek told reporters that recent protests in the state have been peaceful, and that illegal activity could be tackled by local authorities.

“Please know that I will do everything in my power to protect the rights and safety of our residents, including the rights and safety of our immigrant communities,” Kotek told reporters, calling Trump’s activation of the California National Guard unlawful. “But I also want to be clear. Violence, harm to public safety workers or destruction of property will not be tolerated.”

Portland’s next steps

On Saturday, multiple Portland Police Bureau officers helped clear the driveway to an ICE office in South Portland that had been blocked by barriers protesters had placed.

Day, the police chief, said he supported the officers’ decision, but noted that the bureau will not be helping with any more roadblocks in the future. He said the police decided that moving the barriers would de-escalate the situation.

“We traditionally do not clear the driveway,” Day said. “Going forward we will not be clearing stuff from the driveway of the facility and we will not be engaging with any kind of perceived or actual support of vans or transports.”

Day acknowledged that the federal deployment in Los Angeles has heightened tensions in Portland. He hopes to talk this week with the L.A.’s police chief and the Los Angeles County sheriff to “get perspective.”

“We’ve seen this script,” he said. “We know the harm that comes from those kind of interactions.”

Day said he’s been communicating with federal agencies and encouraging them to let the city police itself.

“I do not know the intent of the president or any of his federal resources, but I can tell you the federal partners I am talking to, they support my point of view,” Day said. “They want to see Portland be able to manage Portland.”

About two dozen protesters remained outside the ICE facility Monday afternoon, shouting at the cars coming and going from the facility. The demonstrators sought shade as temperatures climbed into the high 90s.

Dina, an organizer who declined to give her last name, said she remembered federal officers descending on Portland in 2020 and how it further agitated protesters. If federal officers returned, she predicted the results would be the same.

“I don’t think the reaction here would look any different than what it’s looking like in L.A. right now,” Dina said. “And, honestly, that’s what I would hope.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/06/09/la-protests-concern-preparation-oregonians-2020-law-enforcement-portland-police/