ICE agents detain Bend men as angry crowd protests - oregonlive.com

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A crowd of activists surrounded two buses outside Crane Shed Commons about noon Wednesday in Bend, angry that federal immigration officials had detained two men.

An armed officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a flack vest said he would not comment on the actions as he hid his badge. But City of Bend spokesperson Anne Aurand confirmed the presence of the federal officers.

About 200 people — faith leaders, supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement and bystanders — gathered to keep the buses from leaving with the men. Luke Richter, founder of Central Oregon Peacekeepers, stood in front of a bus and refused to move. Two women with the Central Oregon Diversity Project were also there.

“The only resolution that we’re accepting is that they show us documentation that the men were allowed to be detained, and there’s nothing we can do legally, or the ACLU files an emergency motion that gets them off,” Richter told The Bulletin.

Richter, who said his group is willing to spend the night if necessary, yelled at protesters who were banging on a bus window.

“As long as we don’t slash any tires or mess with anybody, they will not take us,” he told the crowd. “If anybody does anything like that, from here on out, they are going to be dealing with me, and I am 100 times scarier than those police over there.”

He said police told him as long as they don’t break the law, police will not sweep out the protesters.

Bend City Councilor Barb Campbell joined the protesters by parking her car in front of one of the buses.

Gus Juarez, an activist who addressed the crowd with a microphone, said one of the men was picked up at work and the second while returning home from work. Juarez said both men are longtime Bend residents.

Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz, the former Portland Police Bureau officer who started as the top cop in Bend on Monday, did not respond to multiple phone calls for comment.

Bend Mayor Sally Russell said Bend Police Department sources told her the actions were not part of an immigration sweep.

“I’ve been told that the men they are after are two criminals who have warrants out for their arrest,” she told The Bulletin.

Bend Police were at the scene “because of volatile crowd,” Russell said.

“The city does not use funds or personnel or equipment to enforce federal immigration laws or to detain people based on immigration status,” the mayor said.

Russell hoped the activists would leave peacefully, she said.

“I understand their concerns,” she said. “I feel fortunate that Oregon is a sanctuary state. I feel fortunate that we have a passionate and good police department. This is not what it looks like.”

Late in the afternoon, a protest organizer stood with a bullhorn and asked “Where is our mayor?” She then gave the protesters Russell’s phone number and urged all of them to call the mayor.

Baltazar Chavez, owner of Baltazar’s restaurant, employs one of the men being detained and was alerted Wednesday morning that the man had not arrived at another job he held. So Chavez called the man’s wife, who told him her husband had been detained.

The activists heckled media and yelled at a photographer who took a photo of them attempting to flatten a tire on one of the buses.

A line of activists stood in front of the families of the detainees so their photos couldn’t be taken.

“Hispanics lives matter,” one protester sign read.

“It ain’t right,” read another.

Throughout the afternoon, the crowd joined in chants led by various organizers.

“No justice, no peace,” a common refrain of the recent Black Lives Matter protests, spread through the parking lot.

“Get them food,” became the call as the day wore on.

Inside the buses, the drivers sat quietly, looking between the protesters and their phones as activists held signs in front of their windshields and tried to catch their attention.

“If you’d just open the door, this would all be over,” one person shouted.

Pizzas arrived around 4:30 p.m. and spread through the crowd. By that point, organizers had set up piles of donated water bottles, snacks and beverages for protesters.

A drone flew overhead the whole time, observing the scene, and more supporters continued to file in under the hot sun — retirees, students, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel and other community leaders.

“I don’t know what happened,” Hummel said. “I want to figure out what’s going on.”

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