Troops Deployed to Protect ICE Amid Protests

Protests at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sites have turned confrontational across multiple cities, including Brookview near Chicago, Portland and South Burlington. In Brookview, demonstrators clashed with law enforcement after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s rooftop visit, resulting in at least five arrests on charges including aggravated battery and obstruction. In Portland, the Trump administration deployed 200 Oregon National Guard troops to protect an ICE facility; DOJ lawyers told a court the deployment was “tailored to the threat” after alleged vandalism, doxxing and harassment stretched federal security resources. Portland protests produced arrests on both sides, police charged a right‑wing influencer and others with disorderly conduct, an independent reporter said a masked aggressor threatened him before a DHS sniper targeted the suspect, and law enforcement deployments at times outnumbered demonstrators. Authorities also report politically motivated attacks elsewhere, such as a stun‑gun assault in South Burlington, while analysts warn that rhetoric equating Antifa with a centralized, foreign‑directed menace risks exaggerating threats and deepening polarization.