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The South Dakota governor, currently serving as the DHS secretary, conducted a tour the federal immigration enforcement facility in the city of Portland on this week. While there, she observed a limited demonstration outside, which contrasts sharply to the intense "encirclement" claimed by former President Donald Trump.

Accompanied by Right-Wing Media Figures

Governor Noem was escorted by a trio of MAGA-aligned personalities who were transported from the Portland airport to the facility in her official convoy. Her department has recently produced escalating social media content featuring federal agents conducting immigration raids and deploying crowd control measures at demonstrators.

Gathering Outside

Local law enforcement established a perimeter outside the facility in the city’s south waterfront neighborhood before the secretary’s arrival. A handful demonstrators, including one dressed as a bird and another as a shark, were held back.

Music was audible from a protest encampment down the street, with lyrics mentioning Donald Trump and controversial documents. One protester shouted to a government videographer filming from the facility's roof, questioning whether the DHS had been referred to as the "propaganda department".

Media Access

Journalists from nonpartisan media organizations were also held behind the barrier outside, while the conservative personalities in her party—the conservative trio—posted social media updates of the Noem participating in federal agents in a prayer session inside, offering a pep talk, and advising a member of the state guard to "Prepare".

Legal and Political Context

Governor Noem has repeated the former president's claims that the handful of protesters—who have assembled in their dozens outside the office since the summer, including one in an frog outfit—are "terrorists" who have placed the building "under siege", making the deployment of government forces essential.

Yet, on last weekend, a U.S. judge in Oregon blocked his effort to bring under federal control local militia, determining that the his claims that the mostly calm city was "burning to the ground" were "not based on reality".

The next day, the court official, Judge Immergut—who was nominated to the bench by Trump—broadened the ruling to prevent state militia from other states from being deployed in Portland. The judge ruled after he reacted to her previous decision by attempting to deploy members of the another state's militia to Oregon.

Escalating Tensions

After the former president highlighted the limited yet ongoing gathering outside the site and made inaccurate statements that Oregon is "in a state of war", a growing number of his followers, including right-wing figures, have arrived to face the demonstrators.

A number of these clashes have caused scuffles and brawls, leading to apprehensions by the officers. Nick Sortor was taken into custody after he sought to enter a demonstration site on a sidewalk near the office and was involved in a scuffle over an U.S. flag. He had earlier taken the flag from a protester who was setting it on fire.

Legal accusations against the influencer were eventually dismissed after an outcry in conservative media led the head of the legal unit of the DOJ, Harmeet Dhillon, to suggest a review of the Portland Police Bureau over claimed political bias.

Two individuals he was detained over a conflict with still face charges.

Government Statements

On Sunday, the state's governor, the governor, accused DHS agents in the ICE facility of trying to provoke the protesters by using unnecessary levels of chemical irritants in a residential neighborhood and bringing in conservative social media influencers to film the crowd from the upper level of the site. "Their actions are meant to provoke," Kotek said.

Several of those conservative influencers were referred to in a police report last month as "counter-protesters" who "frequently reappear and antagonize the demonstrators until they are confronted or pepper sprayed" and decline "frequent warnings from law enforcement to stay away from" the demonstrators.

Influencer Activities

One influencer, a former journalist who changed careers as a partisan figure after being fired from his previous employer for ethical violations, posted video of Governor Noem looking down from the upper level of the office at the handful of demonstrators below, including a protest organizer who dons a chicken costume to mock Donald Trump. He labeled the footage of Noem observing the peaceful setting below: "DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stares down army of Antifa and a guy in a chicken suit".

Regardless of the contrast between the assertions from the former president and the secretary that this ICE field office is "under siege" from "domestic terrorists" and obvious footage of a limited group of protesters in harmless costumes, the figures with Noem continued to describe the group as threatening extremists.

Meeting with Police Chief

During her visit, Noem also engaged with the city's top cop, the chief, who has been depicted as "politically correct" in conservative media for allowing his personnel to detain Sortor. In a digital announcement on the engagement, the influencer claimed that the police head had "aligned with violent ANTIFA militants confronting journalists and officers outside ICE facility".

Noem’s motorcade then drove out the office past a few of demonstrators on the nearby road, including one dressed as a animal wearing a sombrero.