Thousands of people took to Denver’s streets taking part in the No Kings protest on Saturday, June 14, 2025. A second march against President Trump’s deportation policies was part of the day’s events.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
The No Kings protests will return to Denver and dozens of other Colorado cities on Saturday.
In Denver, activists and protesters will gather near the Capitol to protest the policies of the Trump administration from noon to 4 p.m.
The protest will be anchored at Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park, with a rally from 12-1 p.m. and a march from 1-2 p.m.
The Denver march will go through downtown. The Denver Police Department will monitor the protest for safety purposes, a spokesperson said.
The protest’s organizers also say there will be music and sign-making on the west steps of the Capitol throughout the afternoon. They’re expecting 10,000 attendees, according to a permit filed with state officials.
This is the second installment of the “No Kings” protest. The first was in June, when thousands of people gathered throughout the state — and many more across the country.
For that protest, police shut down Lincoln Street near the Colorado State Capitol as protesters spilled onto the street. Marchers also walked on roads around downtown Denver, including Speer Boulevard and Colfax Avenue, among others.
A spokesperson for the Regional Transportation District said the agency will monitor the protest and enact contingency plans in case services are disrupted.
“While RTD is focused on being prepared for large events and gatherings that have the potential to disrupt its services, it can be difficult to predict crowd actions in the moment. Agency staff will actively monitor upcoming events to support the safety of customers and, to the greatest extent possible, minimize service disruptions,” a spokesperson wrote in an email.
RTD suggests riders download the RTD app and sign up for alerts.
Not just Denver
Over 50 rallies are planned across the state, according to the national No Kings website, from Fort Morgan to Cortez. Events are planned in many of Denver’s suburbs, as well as in Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Grand Junction and other cities and towns.
The rallies are designed as a catch-all for people to protest a wide range of policies from the Trump administration, from the immigration crackdown to worries around free speech and LGBTQ rights.
The last protest brought together a broad spectrum of liberals, leftists and others. While the main thrust of the protest was against President Donald Trump, many people were protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement, celebrating Pride Month and supporting Palestinians.
“But the fight isn’t over. President Trump has doubled down—sending masked agents into our streets, terrorizing immigrant families, silencing voters, dismantling protections, and handing our future to billionaire allies while everyday people struggle,” reads the online description for Saturday’s protest. “He wants us to believe his rule is absolute. We’re here to remind him: it’s not.”
More than 100 rallies are planned across Michigan on Saturday as part of the nationwide “No Kings” movement, a day of action that organizers say is intended to defend democracy and draw attention to the growing threats to civil liberties and democratic principles.
“The founders fought a war to ensure that America would never have a king,” said state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, D-Livonia, who helped announce the Michigan events. “Yet we are watching a president claim unchecked power, punish critics, and deploy troops against our citizens. The only way to stop it is through massive, peaceful, non-violent protest and resistance.”
Jay Gibbs, an organizer of the Lansing rally, said residents are alarmed by the presence of U.S. troops in cities.
“These deployments aren’t about public safety — they’re about domination and intimidation,” Gibbs said. “No politician should use our soldiers as pawns against other Americans. […] Because in America, we have no kings.”
Dr. Isa Azaria, a Detroit-based Indivisible leader, said the protests are also meant to highlight concerns about immigration raids and political intimidation.
“Our neighbors are being disappeared in militarized raids and held in secret,” Azaria said. “Tyrants always start with the most vulnerable. If we don’t stand up for immigrants now, those same abuses will come for the rest of us.”
The “No Kings” movement began in June in response to the Trump administration’s attack of democratic principles, and earlier events have drawn millions of participants. At Clark Park in Detroit in June, about 5,000 demonstrators showed up for a peaceful but passionate protest.
“The administration is trying to turn political disagreement into a crime,” Christy McGillivray, of Voters Not Politicians, said. “They’re investigating and prosecuting their opponents, like in any dictatorship. The best way to defend our rights is to use them — to speak, to organize, to march.”
State Rep. Carrie Rheinegans, D-Ann Arbor, is calling for unity and civic courage.
“The courts won’t save us. The media won’t save us. Corporate America won’t save us,” Rheinegans said. “That leaves us — the people. Through peaceful resistance and local organizing, we can restore our democracy. This is our moment to lead.”
Other events in metro Detroit are planned for Hazel Park, Ferndale, Oak Park, Wyandotte, Taylor, Dearborn, Livonia, Northville, Novi, Farmington Hills, Lathrup Village, Walled Lake, Waterford Township, Lake Orion, Rochester, Rochester Hills, and Sterling Heights.
A list of all events and times is available at nokings.org.
At California universities Monday, the ceasefire in Gaza — and the accompanying hostage and prisoner exchange — emerged as an inflection point for the future of a student-led protest movement that for two years has roiled campuses.
The activism, along with its contentious aftermath, continues to reverberate as pro-Palestinian organizers and Jewish community leaders reckon with the tumult touched off by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
For months in 2024 — shortly after the onset of the deadliest and most destructive war between Israelis and Palestinians in history — college campuses in the U.S. convulsed in often confrontational protests. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations surged in the spring of that year with encampments where activists demanded campus policy changes, including U.S. university divestment of billions of dollars from weapons companies.
On this front, their activism largely foundered. In California, not one major university agreed to full divestment demands, which included boycotts of partnerships with Israeli universities. And campus policies did change — with university officials cracking down on protests and enforcing zero-tolerance policies against rule-breaking.
But David N. Myers, a UCLA professor of Jewish history, said student protesters appear to have helped change American views on Palestinians and Israel.
“Is the protest movement a failure? Well, if the measure is universities have cracked down, maybe,” Myers said. “But if the measure is general trend lines in American public opinion, I’m not so sure. And that should be a wake-up call to the pro-Israel movement.”
Amid the protests, allegations of antisemitism surged on campuses and Jewish students and faculty protested violations of their civil rights. Their complaints have prompted aggressive investigations by the Trump administration that are at the center of his goal to overhaul higher education to adhere to a sweeping conservative agenda that goes far beyond protections for Jewish communities.
Pro-Palestinian activists vow to continue
In interviews, pro-Palestinian students who participated in last year’s encampments and protests this year said the ceasefire was welcome news, but only fulfilled part of what led them to take to campus greens.
“While the news of a ceasefire is welcome, nothing fundamentally changes at UCLA or colleges in general,” said Dylan Kupsh, a doctoral computer science student at UCLA who was part of an encampment last year that was attacked by pro-Israel vigilantes.
“Our university is still invested in the oppression of Palestine. Students won’t rest until the university divests,” said Kupsh, who has faced student discipline procedures for participating in actions that the university alleges violated campus policies.
Student organizers in California said the ceasefire will infuse new energy into their activism, which has been accused of minimizing the plight of Israeli hostages and being antisemitic.
“We can momentarily feel a little bit of happiness, there is at least momentary end to the genocide,” said Ryan Witt, president of Students for Justice in Palestine at Cal State Channel Islands, which held a campus protest and vigil in support of Palestinians last week.
“There have been pictures of children in Gaza celebrating. I’m not dismissing that. But also recognizing that we need to keep fighting,” said Witt, who is Jewish.
Amanda, a student at USC who participated in pro-Palestinian encampments, said concerns remain on her campus.
“We see that our school, like all the others, is very worried about being seen as antisemitic by the government, so they are even stricter about protests and speech than they used to be,” she said.
Graeme Blair, a professor of political science at UCLA, said the climate for pro-Palestinian activism on campuses had worsened, and the government now aggressively treats pro-Palestinian speech as being antisemitic.
“The Trump administration is using every federal lever from the Justice Department to the Education Department to the State Department to crack down on antisemitism,” Blair said. “Universities like UCLA are, on their own and because of Trump pressure, continuing to arrest, discipline and fire people speaking out.”
For Jews on campus, ‘a chapter is ending’
Myers, who is Jewish, said the release of Israeli hostages felt like “the door to a very dark chamber has been opened and light has begun to peek out. At the same time, I can’t help but think of the next frame, which is the frame of pictures of Gaza, which is in a state of complete and total devastation.”
Among pro-Israel Jewish communities on campuses nationwide, there is also a sense of relief.
Jewish student groups had regularly gathered on campuses, including last week, for candlelight vigils, songs and prayer services to honor dead and living hostages in Gaza and their families two years after the Oct. 7 attack.
Many Jewish students have ties to Israel, whether from visiting or through family members who lived there and knew victims of the Hamas attack that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. About 20 living hostages were back in Israel this week, while Israel released roughly 1,900 Palestinian prisoners. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 67,000 Palestinians were killed during Israel’s war.
Sophia Toubian, an information studies graduate student at UCLA, said she hoped the hostages’ release is “actually a chapter ending.”
“I hope that it is a long-lasting peace, and it doesn’t just start right back up again — and that that translates into our experience here, both at school and just in the world.”
Toubian, who is Jewish and pro-Israel, said the pro-Palestinian protest movement had achieved at least some of its objectives.
“Every building that I go into on campus … without fail, I’m seeing something up on the wall about Palestine — supportive of Palestine,” she said.
“It wasn’t there before, and … it’s kind of up there in a way, like, ‘Yeah, of course, we all agree that this is the way that this should be, and so we’re going to show support of this thing.’ In that sense, it does feel like a success.”
And yet, UCLA senior Gal Cohavy, who is pro-Israel, said the tenor in Westwood has improved in recent months.
Cohavy said he hoped that the hostages’ release and the stop in fighting could allow people across the ideological spectrum to find common ground.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see more real conversation going on, and perhaps bridging a gap between the two sides and seeing cultural progress,” he said.
In a statement, Ha’Am, a Jewish student-run publication at UCLA, said now the “atmosphere has changed.”
“Since October 7, 2023, Jewish spaces have been places of grief, quiet, and emotional support for a community in turmoil. Today, as we enter those same spaces, the atmosphere has changed. There is a genuine sigh of relief in the air, a collective exhale, and the comforting knowledge that our brothers and sisters on the other side of the world are finally safe once again,” it said.
Lasting consequences among students
While pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel students expressed approval over the events in the Middle East, both have faced lasting consequences of divisions on campus.
Reports of antisemitism as well as anti-Muslim and anti-Arab incidents have increased at colleges since 2023. Arrests, suspensions and expulsions of pro-Palestinian students and groups have also grown, though the vast majority of Los Angeles students detained by police during last year’s protests did not face criminal charges.
At UCLA, two Students for Justice in Palestine groups were banned this year for vandalizing the Brentwood home of a UC Board of Regents member who is Jewish with imagery that Jewish community leaders said used antisemitic tropes.
Among California universities, Stanford endured one of the more charged episodes.
A group of pro-Palestinian students there face felony vandalism and trespassing charges after they were accused of breaking into and vandalizing the university president’s office during a 2024 protest. This month, a Santa Clara County grand jury indicted the remaining 11 students, which pushes the case toward a trial.
Staff writer Karen Garcia contributed to this report.
People participate in the Naked Bike Ride protest on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Thomas Boyd)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Protesters rallying against the Trump administration in Portland put the city’s quirky and irreverent reputation on display Sunday by pedaling through the streets wearing absolutely nothing — or close to it — in an “emergency” edition of the annual World Naked Bike Ride.
Crowds that have gathered daily and nightly outside the immigration facility in Oregon’s largest city in recent days have embraced the absurd, donning inflatable frog, unicorn, axolotl and banana costumes as they face off with federal law enforcement who often deploy tear gas and pepper balls.
The bike ride is an annual tradition that usually happens in the summer, but organizers of this weekend’s hastily called event said another nude ride was necessary to speak out against President Donald Trump’s attempts to mobilize the National Guard to quell protests.
Rider Janene King called the nude ride a “quintessentially Portland way to protest.”
The 51-year-old was naked except for wool socks, a wig and a hat. She sipped hot tea and said she was unbothered by the steady rain and temperatures in the mid-50s (about 12 Celsius).
“We definitely do not want troops coming into our city,” King said.
Bike riders made their way through the streets and to the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. Authorities there ordered people to stay out of the street and protest only on sidewalks or risk being arrested.
The city is awaiting the ruling of an appeals court panel on whether Trump can send out the federalized troops after a federal judge on Oct. 5 ordered a temporary hold on deployment.
“Joy is a form of protest. Being together with mutual respect and kindness is a form of protest,” the ride’s organizers said on Instagram. “It’s your choice how much or little you wear.”
Fewer people were fully naked than usual — likely because of the cool, wet weather — but some still bared it all and rode wearing only bike helmets.
Naked bike rides have thronged the streets of Oregon’s largest city every year since 2004, often holding up traffic as the crowd cycles through with speakers playing music. Some years have drawn roughly 10,000 riders, according to Portland World Naked Bike Ride.
Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters in London marked two years since the War in Gaza. However, the British government has seen enough. Haley Ott reports that police have been given sweeping powers to curb repeated demonstrations.
BROADVIEW, Ill. — The streets were quiet just a block from the ICE processing facility where the National Guard deployed Thursday to protect federal agents and property.
Residents walked their dogs. Kids went to and from school. An Amazon delivery driver parked his van on the side of South 24th Street, turned on his hazard lights and dropped off a few packages — seemingly unhurried or concerned about the dozen people chanting and carrying signs outside the facility on South 25th street.
Broadview, a suburb of roughly 8,000 people 12 miles west of downtown Chicago, has become a focal point in President Trump’s immigration crackdown in Illinois. It’s where in the last couple of weeks Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot a peacefully protesting Presbyterian pastor in the head with a pepper ball, and where dozens of protesters and journalists have been tear-gassed and hit with pepper balls.
Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson, 55, shook her head when asked about the military presence, and said the whole situation seemed unnecessary and overblown.
Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson.
(Mayor Katrina Thompson FB)
“It’s calm in the city of Chicago. It’s no different than most major cities. Sure, it has issues. They all do. But they don’t call for the National Guard,” she said. “The last time I remember a National Guard coming in to a city was with Rodney King. But that was different. People were enraged. There were riots in the streets. People were looting shops and businesses. There is nothing like that happening here.”
Thompson grew up in Inglewood and graduated from Inglewood High School in 1988. She was in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots and keenly remembers the rage, violence and fear.
She’s adamant that what happened then has no comparison to what’s happening in Chicago now.
This week, about 200 Texas National Guard troops and 300 Illinois National Guard troops were deployed to the Chicago area by Trump to protect federal agents and property from protesters. About 20 California National Guard troops were also pulled into political battle, deployed to provide “refresher training,” the North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement. “These California National Guard soldiers will not be supporting the Federal Protection Mission in Illinois.”
On Thursday afternoon, a federal judge in Chicago entered a 14-day temporary restraining order preventing the federalization and deployment of the National Guard in Illinois. U.S. District Judge April Perry said she had “seen no credible evidence that there is a danger of rebellion in Illinois” and described the Trump administration’s version of events as “simply unreliable.” She said National Guard troops would “only add fuel to the fire.”
In downtown Chicago, people are shopping. Going to work. On Wednesday night, after a protest had formed downtown near the Trump International Hotel & Tower, the streets were nearly deserted. A few young men were seen going into the Elephant & Castle pub near the Chicago Board of Trade building, while a happy-looking couple strolled along the Chicago Riverwalk, holding hands and giggling.
Thompson said she is not interested in jumping into the national political fray and is focused on the things that are important to her constituents — such as making sure that the streets are clean, that Broadview’s police and firefighters have the resources and support they need, and that her residents feel safe.
But Thompson did find herself in the spotlight last week when she denied Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem access to the Broadview Municipal Building’s bathroom.
Thompson said that it was nothing personal, but that Noem showed up, unannounced, with a camera crew and a videographer.
“She came with a whole bunch of military people dressed in their military gear. And I said I’m not letting you in here. We work here. We don’t know what your intent is. If she had good intentions, you know what professionals do? They call and make an appointment. They don’t show up unannounced with dozens of people carrying guns,” Thompson said.
Thompson is also suing the federal government for erecting a fence around the ICE facility that she fears could prevent her first responders from getting inside should someone — detainee, ICE agent or government official — need help.
“When we talk about people having strokes, every second matters,” she said. “If we can’t get to them, that person could be severely disabled for a lifetime, or lose their life because a decision was made — without consulting us — that that’s the way it should be.”
Outside the facility on Thursday, protesters were outnumbered roughly 4 to 1 by local, county and state law enforcement, as well as local and national media.
Kate Madrigal, 37, a homemaker, said she had come several times to the site to protest. Her husband is a naturalized citizen and together they have four children.
She said they live in fear that someone is going to take her husband or scare her kids, and she’s felt compelled to be bear witness and be present because “if my kids ask me what I did during this period to help, I want to tell them I was here. I did something.”
Next to her were two other women who have also been showing up with sporadic visits — driving from Aurora when their work schedules allow.
Jen Monaco and Maya Willis said they’ve also felt pulled to the site to keep an eye on the troops and show support for those being detained. Monaco said she often cleans up the debris left behind from the day before, and showed a reporter photos of rubber bullets, empty tear gas casements and spent pepper balls that she’d cleaned up.
She said until the media showed up in force Thursday, ICE agents had been harassing, scaring, and shooting at protesters with these kinds of crowd control devices. Agents have also shoved and assaulted protesters, they said.
Cook County sheriff’s police and the Illinois State Police were on scene, occasionally shouting into bullhorns when protesters or reporters crossed the concrete barriers that had been erected to create a protest zone or box.
At one point, a white man wearing a sombrero, poncho and fake mustache walked around and through the small group of protesters, yelling racial slurs and taunting them. He said he was there to represent “Mexicans for ICE” before taking off his shirt and challenging another protester to a fight.
The police moved him away but allowed him to continue calling out and chanting. A man in a Chicago Bears T-shirt egged him on and said the man looked like he worked out a lot.
Two other women showed up around the same time, with wigs, and yelled curses at the ICE officials and National Guard troops on the other side of the new chain-link fence surrounding the facility.
Thompson has instituted a curfew around the facility, allowing protests to occur only between f 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
“We have business in the area and people need to get to work. We’ve got kids who need to get to school,” she said. “Let’s let them do what they need to do, and then you all can come in and protest.”
But some protesters thought the curfew violated their right to free speech. Robert Held, a Chicago-based trust and estate lawyer, received a citation about 7:45 am for having come to the site before curfew was lifted.
“I’m not going to pay it,” he said, suggesting he’d heard the violation could cost him $750. “The ordinance is invalidly based. It violates my 1st Amendment rights.”
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals appears poised to recognize President Trump’s authority to send soldiers to Portland, Ore., with members of the court signaling receptiveness to an expansive new read of the president’s power to put boots on the ground in American cities.
A three-judge panel from the appellate court — including two members appointed by Trump during his first term — heard oral arguments Thursday after Oregon challenged the legality of the president’s order to deploy hundreds of soldiers to Portland. The administration claims the city has become lawless; Oregon officials argue Trump is manufacturing a crisis to justify calling in the National Guard.
While the court has not issued a decision, a ruling in Trump’s favor would mark a sharp rightward turn for the once-liberal circuit — and probably set up a Supreme Court showdown over why and how the U.S. military can be used domestically.
“I’m sort of trying to figure out how a district court of any nature is supposed to get in and question whether the president’s assessment of ‘executing the laws’ is right or wrong,” said Judge Ryan D. Nelson of Idaho Falls, Idaho, one of the two Trump appointees hearing the arguments.
“That’s an internal decision making, and whether there’s a ton of protests or low protests, they can still have an impact on his ability to execute the laws,” he said.
U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut of Portland, another Trump appointee, previously called the president’s justification for federalizing Oregon troops “simply untethered to the facts” in her temporary restraining on Oct. 4.
The facts about the situation on the ground in Portland were not in dispute at the hearing on Thursday. The city has remained mostly calm in recent months, with protesters occasionally engaging in brief skirmishes with authorities stationed outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building.
Instead, Nelson and Judge Bridget S. Bade of Phoenix, whom Trump once floated as a possible Supreme Court nominee, questioned how much the facts mattered.
“The president gets to direct his resources as he deems fit, and it seems a little counterintuitive to me that the city of Portland can come and say, ‘No you need to do it differently,’” Nelson said.
He also appeared to endorse the Department of Justice’s claim that “penalizing” the president for waiting until protests had calmed to deploy soldiers to quell them created a perverse incentive to act first and ask questions later.
“It just seems like such a tortured reading of the statute,” the judge said. He then referenced the first battle of the U.S. Civil War in 1861, saying, “I’m not sure even President Lincoln would be able to bring in forces when he did, because if he didn’t do it immediately after Fort Sumter, [Oregon’s] argument would be, ‘Oh, things are OK now.’”
Trump’s efforts to use troops to quell protests and support federal immigration operations have led to a growing tangle of legal challenges. The Portland deployment was halted by Immergut, who blocked Trump from federalizing Oregon troops. (A ruling from the same case issued the next day prevents already federalized troops from being deployed.)
In June, a different 9th Circuit panel also made up of two Trump appointees ruled that the president had broad — though not “unreviewable” — discretion to determine whether facts on the ground met the threshold for military response in Los Angeles. Thousands of federalized National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines were deployed over the summer amid widespread protests over immigration enforcement.
The June decision set precedent for how any future deployment in the circuit’s vast territory can be reviewed. It also sparked outrage, both among those who oppose armed soldiers patrolling American streets and those who support them.
Opponents argue repeated domestic deployments shred America’s social fabric and trample protest rights protected by the 1st Amendment. With soldiers called into action so far in Los Angeles, Portland and Chicago, many charge the administration is using the military for political purposes.
“The military should not be acting as a domestic police force in this country except in the most extreme circumstances,” said Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. “That set of circumstances is not present right now anywhere in the country, so this is an abuse of power — and a very dangerous one because of the precedent it sets.”
Supporters say the president has sole authority to determine the facts on the ground and if they warrant military intervention. They argue any check by the judicial branch is an illegal power grab, aimed at thwarting response to a legitimate and growing “invasion from within.”
“What they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles — they’re very unsafe places, and we’re going to straighten them out one by one,” Trump said in an address to military top brass last week. “That’s a war too. It’s a war from within.”
The 9th Circuit agreed to rehear the Los Angeles case with an 11-member “en banc” panel in Pasadena on Oct. 22, signaling a schism among Trump’s own judges over the boundaries of the president’s power.
Still, Trump’s authority to call soldiers into American cities is only the first piece in a larger legal puzzle spread before the 9th Circuit, experts said.
What federalized troops are allowed to do once deployed is the subject of another court decision now under review. That case could determine whether soldiers are barred from assisting immigration raids, controlling crowds of protesters or any other form of civilian law enforcement.
Trump officials have maintained the president can wield the military as he sees fit — and that cities such as Portland and L.A. would be in danger if soldiers can’t come to the rescue.
“These are violent people, and if at any point we let down our guard, there is a serious risk of ongoing violence,” Deputy Assistant Atty. Gen. Eric McArthur said. “The president is entitled to say enough is enough and bring in the National Guard.”
Portland, Oregon — Ongoing protests outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Portland, Oregon, have largely been contained to a single block in the downtown South Waterfront neighborhood, but the perception of Portland as unsafe has created ripple effects across this 135-square-mile city.
On one particular October day, Mother’s Bistro and Bar in downtown Portland was seeing more customers than usual, which is rare, according to longtime owner Lisa Schroeder.
“You know, we have our days where we’re busy, but it’s not like it used to be,” Schroeder told CBS News.
Schroeder says that since the 2020 pandemic and ensuing social justice protests emptied out downtown, business has gone from bad to worse.
Portland has recently been afocal point in President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to quell opposition to ICE activity in blue cities.
On Sept. 28, Mr. Trump announced he would be deploying federal troops to Portland in response to the protests at the South Waterfront ICE facility, describing the city in a social media post as “war-ravaged.” The Trump administration later confirmed it would be placing 200 Oregon National Guard troops under federal control for a period of 60 days.
Speaking to hundreds of generals and admirals on Sept. 30 at the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Virginia, Mr. Trump called Portland a “war zone.”
And on Oct. 5, he told reporters that “Portland is burning to the ground.”
“My business is half of what it was, but it’s certainly not going to get better by somebody telling the world that our city is war-ravaged,” Schroeder said.
On Saturday, in response to a lawsuit from the state of Oregon, a Trump-appointed federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the federalization and deployment of Oregon National Guard troops, and a day later, the same judge blocked the deployment of any National Guard troops to Oregon from other states as the Pentagon said that it planned to send another 200 California National Guard troops to Portland.
On Wednesday, an appeals court temporarily granted a White House request that the 200 Oregon National Guard troops remain under federal control. However, the appellate court noted that National Guard troops are still prohibited from deploying to Portland while the case plays out.
Federal law enforcement officers form a line outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility as both protesters against and in support of ICE gather, in Portland, Oregon, on Oct. 6, 2025.
Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Business owners have submitted legal declarations of support for the state’s lawsuit, saying the president’s rhetoric has been damaging.
Diners here feel it too.
“No, it’s not Portlanders,” one diner at Mothers Bistro and Bar said of the Rose City when asked if the city is a warzone. “It’s not who Portland is, and it’s not the 99.9% of who’s out there.”
Schroeder says that Portland has an “image problem.”
“I feel like Goliath is coming after David,” Schroeder said. “We’re a little city here, just trying to get by, trying to sort out our problems. And we don’t need the big cheese to come here…We are definitely in a state of recovery. We are not there.”
According to data from the Portland Police Bureau, total crime was down 19% in 2024 compared to 2022. But as the protests play out on the national stage, Schroeder says she is losing money. “This does not help,” Schroeder said. “It does not help at all. We don’t need this. And certainly to spend our money on troops to come here for this…This is what our government is spending money on? It’s a shame, a crying shame. And I’m crying.”
President Donald Trump, who is seeking to send the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, said the city is in flames.
“Portland is burning to the ground, it’s insurrectionists all over the place,” Trump told reporters Oct. 5 before heading to a celebration of the U.S. Navy, echoing his previous statements. “It’s antifa …Portland is burning to the ground.”
“All you have to do is look at the television, turn on your television, read your newspapers,” Trump said.
U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut, a 2019 Trump nominee, on Oct. 4 temporarily blocked the administration from deploying the Oregon National Guard. The Trump administration then sought to deploy the California National Guard, and the judge Oct. 5 blocked the administration from deploying federalized members of the guard. The Trump administration is appealing, saying it wants to deploy the guard to protect federal ICE officers and a facility at the center of protests.
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Although dozens of people have been arrested and charged with crimes near the ICE facility since June, it’s not accurate that the city is “burning.”
This isn’t the first time Trump has exaggerated Portland’s protests. In August 2020, amid larger protests over George Floyd’s killing, Trump said, “The entire city (of Portland) is ablaze all the time.” By our count, there were 54 fires set across 95 nights of demonstrations, which largely took place at one of 10 locations.
This time around, there are fewer fires.
A protester stomps on a burning U.S. flag during a protest near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Oregon, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP)
Recent video clips and images show Portland is generally peaceful
We examined recent TV, newspaper and social media reports about Portland.
The evidence shows that much of the city was functioning normally.
The King Farmers Market, which has been held Sundays since May, showed photos and videos from Oct. 5 of vendors selling cider, mushrooms and cold brew, and adults and children painting their own pumpkins.
On July 26, the Portland Naked Bike Ride said it drew 5,700 cyclists who protested oil dependency, cyclist vulnerability and for body freedom. The Portland World Naked Bike Ride’s Instagram account posted footage of bikers in underwear and naked biking around the city. The naked rides have been common in Portland since 2004 as a statement on cyclists’ rights and a way of protesting pollution.
People protest outside of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Oregon, Oct. 3, 2025. (AP)
Few fires associated with the months-long protests
Most of the tension since June has centered outside of an ICE facility in south Portland. The protesters have set small fires, according to news reports, police and court records.
In its appeal of the order blocking National Guard deployments, the Trump administration said there were a handful of incidents in which protesters set fire, including on June 11 when Portland police said a man stacked flammable material against the ICE building and another man placed a lit flare, starting a fire. Federal officers quickly extinguished the fire. During the arrest, one suspect punched and tried to choke a police officer. Oregon’s KPTV reported in June that protesters set a fire near the ICE building, leading to 10 arrests, including four for arson.
The appeal said that protesters on June 14 launched fireworks at officers, resulting in two fires that federal officers extinguished. Portland police declared a riot and arrested three people.
The appeal mentioned the threat of fires from other incidents that could have led to damage such as flag burning, pouring motor oil or lighting an incendiary device.
PolitiFact found no recent reports about arrests for arson, as of Oct. 6.
Rick Graves, Portland Fire and Rescue spokesperson, said firefighters were dispatched four times to the ICE facility between June 6 and Sept. 30. (A small fire that is quickly suppressed may not be recorded by fire rescue.)
“These were reports of two flags burning, a smoke grenade tossed by ICE agents that ended up beneath a vehicle that confused the caller into thinking a vehicle fire had occurred, and the fourth call was as a result of someone watching a TikTok video and calling 911 thinking what they were seeing was live,” Graves said.
Graves told PolitiFact, “There have not been any significant fires to structures that led to any investigations or arrests as these have not hit my desk or been within my orbit.”
From June 6 to Sept. 30, building fires citywide declined by one-third compared with the same timeframe last year, he said.
In a prominent incident that happened miles away from the ICE facility and is unrelated to the protests, rapper Ice Cube’s tour bus caught fire Sept. 23 after the front wheel of the bus caught fire, according to newsreports. Portland police called the fire, which started with the front wheel, a random act of vandalism.
Portland has had dozens of arrests stemming from protests
Law enforcement agencies have arrested dozens of protesters outside the ICE facility in recent months.
In an op-ed for The Oregonian, Portland Police Chief Bob Day wrote that one city block out of Portland’s 145 square miles has “drawn outsized attention in news cycles. Viral clips — sometimes months or years old — paint a picture that is not consistent with the Portland we see every day.”
AFP Fact Check found that social media accounts have shared images during the past week of Portland as if they were recent, but they are actually from the 2020 protests following Floyd’s murder.
In since-deleted social media posts about Portland, the Oregon Republican Party shared a combination of two photos of scenes that happened in South America nearly a decade apart, The Guardian reported.
Fox News aired a Sept. 4 story that mixed footage of the 2025 protests with videos from Portland’s 2020 protests, including people setting fire to the base of a downtown statue and federal officers using chemical spray on a person. Fox later added an editor’s note addressing the old footage. The next day, Trump described “the destruction of the city” and floated the idea of sending law enforcement.
When we contacted the White House for this fact-check, spokesperson Abigail Jackson sent us a statement that “this summer, rioters in Portland have been charged for crimes including arson and assaulting police officers.” The White House pointed to newsarticles since June about arrests and violence in Portland.
Generally fewer than 100 people — and “consistently not more than two-dozen” – have gathered nightly outside the ICE facility, with limited need for police intervention, Craig Dobson, the city’s assistant chief of operations, wrote in a Sept. 29 court document.
The nightly protests since mid July “have been largely sedate,” Dobson wrote, and “bear no resemblance to the sustained, large protests of 2020.”
Since the protests began in June, there have been about 60 arrests; the police department reported 36 and the U.S. Attorney’s Office said it had charged 28 defendants.
The Oregonian reported Oct. 4 that in 2025, most nights the protesters have numbered in the few dozens “largely been confined to a two-block radius of the building’s front driveway.” On Oct. 3, there were around eight to 15 people mostly sitting in lawn chairs and walking around, police said, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
The newspaper reported that Trump’s announcement about wanting to send the National Guard spurred bigger crowds and more unlawful behavior.
Our ruling
Trump said, “Portland is burning to the ground.”
Since protests outside of the ICE facility began in June, city and federal officials have arrested about 60 defendants, including at least a few for arson. That does not show an entire city “burning to the ground.” These criminal actions are confined to a block or two out of the city’s 145 square miles.
Normal life has continued throughout much of the city in recent months as residents have participated in events such as a marathon, the farmer’s market, a film festival and a naked bike ride.
We rate this statement False.
PolitiFact Staff Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this fact-check.
TEWKSBURY — Officials from the Energy Facilities Siting Board will be at the Tewksbury Memorial High School auditorium Thursday for a public hearing for a large lithium-ion battery storage project on Hillman Street that has seen some protest.
The hybrid meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. as officials seek direct public input for the energy storage project, which was filed with the board by Hillman Energy Center LLC on April 1.
The project design features 125 megawatts of battery storage, a new electrical substation and other related infrastructure on 4.3 acres of industrial land, along with a 1,200-foot transmission interconnection across three parcels of nearby land owned by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and National Grid.
The project website for Hillman Energy Company, a subsidiary of the Virginia-based East Point Energy, claims the 125 MW of storage is enough to power nearly 125,000 homes for four hours, and that the project will generate more than $1 million in local property taxes each year. The company also looks forward to “partnering with the town on a community benefits agreement to further demonstrate our commitment to being a quality long-term community member.”
The battery cells will be held in enclosures with interior climate control, and the project will be surrounded by security fencing, with a sound fence on the south and east side to limit noise pollution from the site. The location, the company says on its website, was chosen for its proximity to existing electrical infrastructure, the fact that it is a previously developed industrial zone and because it is expected to have “minimum environmental impacts” there.
The battery project has not been without pushback, with a series of small weekend protests having been held throughout the year by residents of the nearby Emerald Court neighborhood, who have expressed concerns over traffic, safety at the site and the potential impacts to the surrounding area if any of the batteries caught fire. The residents of that neighborhood have held some small protests on weekends near Town Hall after the project became known to the public earlier this year.
“They’ve been known to explode and go on fire, and when they do you can’t put the fire out,” said one Emerald Court resident, Mary Ann Buczak, during a protest on April 26.
Though consideration for the project is not under the purview of the Select Board, project proponents attended board meetings earlier this year to talk publicly about the details, and to try to ease safety concerns. In the Select Board’s March 9 meeting where the project was formally presented to the town for the first time, East Point Energy Project Developer Tyler Rynne touted how highly regulated the battery storage industry is, and said first responders in Tewksbury and other nearby towns would be trained to handle the facility before it is online.
“This project will have a custom emergency response plan that [Energy Safety Response Group] is helping us develop in coordination with the Tewksbury Fire Department,” said Rynne to the Select Board in March.
The hybrid public hearing for the project is Thursday, but the deadline for written public comment is on Oct. 24.
The Minneapolis City Council voted last month to approve a $125,000 settlement for a man who claims a police officer severely injured him during a protest following the murder of George Floyd over five years ago.
According to the lawsuit, Mason Hermann, who was 20 at the time, was hit in the head with a non-lethal round during a protest outside the Third Precinct building on May 27, 2020. He was later found to have suffered a laceration to his scalp, an intracranial hemorrhage, a skull fracture and a concussion. His injuries have led to issues with cognitive abilities and otherwise negatively impacted his life.
Hermann’s lawyers say he had been peacefully exercising his First Amendment rights and that “no one was rioting or throwing projectiles at the MPD officers” while Hermann participated in the protest.
Without warning, the lawsuit claims, Minneapolis police officers began firing at the crowd with “40-millimeter projectiles, tear gas and other ‘less lethal’ munitions.” It was then that one of the non-lethal rounds hit Hermann in the head.
The lawsuit alleges the officer intentionally shot Hermann “in retaliation for and to chill Hermann’s further speech.”
Mayor Jacob Frey approved the settlement for the lawsuit last week.
Riley Moser is a digital producer who covers breaking news and feature stories for CBS Minnesota. Riley started her career at CBS Minnesota in June 2022 and earned an honorable mention for sports writing from the Iowa College Media Association the same year.
The Trump administration plans to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said Saturday.Related video above: “Full force, if necessary:” Why President Trump is sending troops to Portland, OregonPritzker said the guard received word from the Pentagon in the morning that the troops would be called up. He did not specify when or where they would be deployed, but President Donald Trump has long threatened to send troops to Chicago.“This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Pritzker said in a statement. “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for additional details. The White House and the Pentagon did not respond to questions about Pritzker’s statement.The escalation of federal law enforcement in Illinois follows similar deployments in other parts of the country. Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and as part of his law enforcement takeover in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile Tennessee National Guard troops are expected to help Memphis police.California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued to stop the deployment in Los Angeles and won a temporary block in federal court. The Trump administration has appealed that ruling that the use of the guard was illegal, and a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has indicated that it believes the government is likely to prevail.Pritzker called Trump’s move in Illinois a “manufactured performance” that would pull the state’s National Guard troops away from their families and regular jobs.“For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control,” said the governor, who also noted that state, county and local law enforcement have been coordinating to ensure the safety of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Broadview facility on the outskirts of Chicago.Federal officials reported the arrests of 13 people protesting Friday near the facility, which has been frequently targeted during the administration’s surge of immigration enforcement this fall.Trump also said last month that he was sending federal troops to Portland, Oregon, calling the city war-ravaged. But local officials have suggested that many of his claims and social media posts appear to rely on images from 2020, when demonstrations and unrest gripped the city following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.City and state officials sued to stop the deployment the next day. U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut heard arguments Friday, and a ruling is expected over the weekend.Trump has federalized 200 National Guard troops in Oregon, but so far it does not appear that they have moved into Portland. They have been seen training on the coast in anticipation of a deployment. Associated Press reporter Rebecca Boone contributed.
The Trump administration plans to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said Saturday.
Related video above: “Full force, if necessary:” Why President Trump is sending troops to Portland, Oregon
Pritzker said the guard received word from the Pentagon in the morning that the troops would be called up. He did not specify when or where they would be deployed, but President Donald Trump has long threatened to send troops to Chicago.
“This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Pritzker said in a statement. “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for additional details. The White House and the Pentagon did not respond to questions about Pritzker’s statement.
The escalation of federal law enforcement in Illinois follows similar deployments in other parts of the country. Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and as part of his law enforcement takeover in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile Tennessee National Guard troops are expected to help Memphis police.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued to stop the deployment in Los Angeles and won a temporary block in federal court. The Trump administration has appealed that ruling that the use of the guard was illegal, and a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has indicated that it believes the government is likely to prevail.
Pritzker called Trump’s move in Illinois a “manufactured performance” that would pull the state’s National Guard troops away from their families and regular jobs.
“For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control,” said the governor, who also noted that state, county and local law enforcement have been coordinating to ensure the safety of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Broadview facility on the outskirts of Chicago.
Trump also said last month that he was sending federal troops to Portland, Oregon, calling the city war-ravaged. But local officials have suggested that many of his claims and social media posts appear to rely on images from 2020, when demonstrations and unrest gripped the city following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
City and state officials sued to stop the deployment the next day. U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut heard arguments Friday, and a ruling is expected over the weekend.
Trump has federalized 200 National Guard troops in Oregon, but so far it does not appear that they have moved into Portland. They have been seen training on the coast in anticipation of a deployment.
An encampment protesting President Donald Trump outside of Union Station was removed early Friday morning. However, the group that spearheaded the site says it will continue to protest Trump while it fights the revoking of its permit.
An encampment protesting President Donald Trump outside of Union Station was removed Friday morning. However, the group that spearheaded the site says it will continue to protest Trump while it fights the revoking of its permit.
The encampment, put together by FLARE USA, had been up since May 19, organizer Randy Kindle told WTOP.
The organization’s mission states it fights the “rise of fascism in the United States” through the “nonviolent occupation” of Columbus Circle, with the goal leading to the “impeachment and removal” of Trump.
However, on Friday, Kindle received an early morning call from one of the organization’s members stating that they were being “decamped.” By the time he arrived, the organization’s possessions were removed, with members of the U.S. Park Police, National Park Service and U.S. Marshalls surrounding the area.
“They were standing around with lots of guns and taking our stuff from us and putting them in flatbed trucks and not telling us anything about why they were doing it,” Kindle said.
Members of FLARE at the encampment received a letter from the Department of the Interior, National Park Service and Park Police. Obtained by WTOP, the letter claimed the group’s permit was revoked because its demonstration “presents a clear and present danger to the good order” and violates multiple conditions.
One of the conditions said the group “personally assaulted” a U.S. Park Police officer.
Kindle denies the assault claim and said no formal notice was issued before the encampment’s removal. FLARE intends to appeal the permit revocation.
“There’s been no reports of violence here,” Kindle said. “We have not had one protester arrested at any of our events. No one has ever been arrested here. No one’s ever been arrested from our organization.”
In a statement, a Department of Interior spokesperson said the encampment “violated the terms of their permit. The permit was revoked, and the event was removed.” There was no reference to the letter in the statement.
FLARE members and other demonstration groups rallied together Friday afternoon to protest the decision at the scene of where the campsite once stood. Over 80 people arrived holding anti-Trump signs while playing music.
Demonstrators hold signs protesting President Donald Trump outside of D.C.’s Union Station on Oct. 3, 2025.
(WTOP/José Umaña)
WTOP/José Umaña
Three demonstrators hold signs and dress in costume during a protest outside of D.C.’s Union Station on Oct. 3, 2025.
(WTOP/José Umaña)
WTOP/José Umaña
Nadine Seiler wears a “Protect Free Speech” T-shirt outside of D.C.’s Union Station on Oct. 3, 2025.
(WTOP/José Umaña)
WTOP/José Umaña
Over 80 people gathered on Columbus Circle outside Union Station to demonstrate support for an encampment calling on the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
(WTOP/José Umaña)
WTOP/José Umaña
Nadine Seiler traveled from Waldorf, Maryland, to learn that her speaker and other belongings inside the encampment were taken with no information on how to retrieve them. She said the experience made her feel like her rights were being trampled on, and wished Americans would be fighting for their rights alongside groups like FLARE.
“We are right now like a frog in boiling water, we don’t realize that we are dying,” Seiler said. “Democracy is dying, and people don’t seem to be taking it seriously enough.”
Walker Cook had grown accustomed to seeing FLARE’s tent as he walked to work in the mornings. The decision to take it down attacks one’s free speech, he said, motivating him to join the protest alongside the other demonstrators.
“I’m here protesting for the right to protest for our freedom of speech, because if we don’t use it, we could lose,” Cook said.
The removal of the encampment “galvanized” FLARE members to call for Trump’s impeachment more, especially once Congress returns to work following the shutdown, Kindle said.
He added that FLARE will continue coming back to Columbus Circle and demonstrating in a non-violent action, until being asked to leave in a legal fashion.
“It was unfortunate, but now we know that we’re getting under the skin, and that’s exactly what we want,” he said.
WTOP reached out to U.S. Park Police for comment.
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Police on Saturday were questioning six people arrested on suspicion of terror offenses after an attack on a synagogue in northwest England that left two men dead and Britain’s Jewish community shocked and grieving.
Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, was shot dead by police on Thursday outside the Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue in Manchester after he rammed a car into pedestrians, attacked them with a knife and tried to force his way into the building.
Three men and three women, aged between 18 and their 60s, were arrested in the greater Manchester area on suspicion of the “commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism,” as police work to determine whether the attacker acted alone.
Congregation members Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, died in the attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. Police say Daulby was accidentally shot by an armed officer as he and other congregants barricaded the synagogue to block Al-Shamie from entering. Three other men are hospitalized with serious injuries.
Detectives say Al-Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian origin who lived in Manchester, may have been influenced by “extreme Islamist ideology.” He wore what appeared to be an explosives belt, which was found to be fake.
Police said Al-Shamie was out on bail over an alleged rape at the time of the attack but had not been charged.
Forensic teams work at the scene of a stabbing incident that took place on Thursday, at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, in Manchester, England, Friday, Oct. 3, 2025.
Ian Hodgson / AP
The attack has devastated Britain’s Jewish community and intensified debate about the line between criticism of Israel and antisemitism.
Recorded antisemitic incidents in the U.K. have risen sharply since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and Israel’s ensuing war against Hamas in Gaza, according to Community Security Trust, a charity that provides advice and protection for British Jews.
Some politicians and religious leaders claimed pro-Palestinian demonstrations, which have been held regularly since the war in Gaza began, had played a role in spreading hatred of Jews. The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful but some say chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” incite anti-Jewish hatred.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters have frequently accused critics of Israel for its conduct of the war of antisemitism. Critics see it as an attempt to stifle even legitimate criticism.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, the head of Orthodox Judaism in Britain, said the attack was the result of “an unrelenting wave of Jew hatred” on the streets and online.
A woman brings flowers as she attends a vigil for the victims of the attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue.
Ian Hodgson / AP
Some also say the U.K.’s recognition of a Palestinian state last month has emboldened antisemitism — a claim the government rejects. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy was interrupted by boos and shouts of “Shame on you” on Friday as he addressed a vigil for victims of the attack in Manchester.
Police in London urged organizers to call off a protest planned for Saturday to oppose the banning of the group Palestine Action, which has been labeled a terrorist organization by the government.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said protest organizers should “recognize and respect the grief of British Jews this week” and postpone the demonstration.
The group Defend Our Juries said it would not cancel the protest, where hundreds of people are expected to risk arrest by holding signs supporting the banned group.
Member Jonathon Porritt said protesters would “demonstrate huge respect and real grief for those affected by the absolute atrocity at Heaton Park.”
“But I don’t think that means that we should be asked to give up on our right to stand up for those who are being devastated by an ongoing, real-time genocide in Gaza,” he told the BBC.
It was Yom Kippur when Jihad al-Shamie, a Syrian-born British citizen, attacked a synagogue in Manchester. According to the Guardian, al-Shamie was out on bail for an alleged rape and is believed to have a previous criminal history. Two Jews, Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, were killed before police shot al-Shamie dead. Three other people are in serious condition. Al-Shamie’s method, car-ramming and a knife, is frequently used by Palestinian terrorists against Israelis. As the left-Islamist mobs say, “Globalize the intifada.”
A Colorado woman and two other activists opposed to President Donald Trump’s immigration raids in Los Angeles have been indicted on charges of illegally “doxing” a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, federal prosecutors said.
Ashleigh Brown, a 38-year-old woman from Aurora, is among the three accused of following the unidentified ICE agent home, livestreaming their pursuit and posting the agent’s address online, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
Once they arrived at the agent’s home, prosecutors allege the women shouted “ICE lives on your street and you should know,” according to the indictment.
The defendants are each charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of publicly disclosing the personal information of a federal agent, the statement said.
Brown, who is being held in federal custody without bail, also faces charges of assault on a federal officer in a separate case stemming from a protest in Los Angeles in August, according to court records.
The Aurora woman was part of a small group of protesters who gathered outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building on Aug. 2 to protest immigration enforcement and raids in Los Angeles, according to court documents.
During that protest, Brown hit one of the Federal Protective Service officers trying to detain a man who jumped on the hood of a government car leaving the Roybal building, the criminal complaint alleges.
The Federal Protective Service is a U.S. Department of Homeland Security agency responsible for protecting federally owned and leased buildings.
Brown’s federal assault case is still ongoing.
Prosecutors said the second suspect accused of doxing an ICE agent, a 25-year-old woman from Panorama City in Los Angeles, is free on $5,000 bail. Authorities are still searching for the third defendant, a 37-year-old woman from Riverside, California.
“Our brave federal agents put their lives on the line every day to keep our nation safe,” Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. “The conduct of these defendants are deeply offensive to law enforcement officers and their families. If you threaten, dox, or harm in any manner one of our agents or employees, you will face prosecution and prison time.”
Doxing is a typically malicious practice that involves gathering private or identifying information and releasing it online without the person’s permission, usually in an attempt to harass, threaten, shame or exact revenge.
Attorneys for the women could not immediately be reached on Monday. An email was sent to the Federal Public Defender’s Office asking if its attorneys are representing the defendants.
According to the indictment, the three women last month followed an ICE agent from the federal building in downtown Los Angeles to the agent’s residence in Baldwin Park, east of LA. They livestreamed the entire event, court documents say.
In July, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem threatened to prosecute people for publishing federal agents’ personal information in response to fliers in Portland, Oregon, that called for people to collect intel on ICE.
Critics of the Trump administration’s raids have expressed outrage over federal agents wearing masks and refusing to identify themselves in public while arresting immigrants in California.
Last week, California became the first state to ban most law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from covering their faces while conducting official business.
PORTLAND, Ore. – A peaceful march in downtown Portland on Sunday drew no arrests or injuries, according to the Portland Police Bureau, which facilitated the event with assistance from Dialogue Officers and traffic enforcement teams.
Officers on motorcycles and bicycles helped manage traffic while Dialogue Officers communicated with participants and answered questions throughout the march.
While the downtown march remained uneventful, a separate gathering near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in South Portland escalated during the evening. At one point, a vehicle attempting to drive through the crowd was surrounded. Dialogue Officers intervened and helped the driver exit the area safely.
Throughout the night, police observed several altercations between individuals with opposing views. Around 9:30 p.m., officers arrested a 17-year-old male from Milwaukie, Oregon, for fourth-degree assault near South Bond Avenue and South Abernathy Street. The juvenile was released to a guardian, and the case will be referred to the Juvenile Justice Court.
At approximately 10 p.m., the Rapid Response Team made a second arrest. Nathan McFarland, 38, of Portland, was taken into custody and booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on a charge of third-degree assault.
PPB said no force was used by officers during either incident.
Police also took a report of a property crime during the gathering and are continuing to investigate.
The bureau reiterated that it does not engage in immigration enforcement.
As federal agents hurled tear gas and pepper spray through the night sky at protesters outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding facility in Broadview, the Rev. Quincy Worthington threw his arms out and used his body to shield those around him. Breathing through his own gas mask, the north suburban Presbyterian minister, who was wearing a clerical collar, hugged whoever he could and dragged them away from the fray.
His forearms burning from the pepper spray bullets, Worthington secured medical help, located water and, for the most part, listened to those protesting the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the area.
“People just need to know that somebody’s there for them,” he said.
With escalating federal immigration enforcement operations across Chicago and its suburbs, and President Donald Trump’s threats of sending the National Guard to quell crime, tension and fear have gripped those opposed to his administration and its “Operation Midway Blitz,” which officials say has resulted in more than 550 immigration arrests in the Chicago area this month.
Trump’s actions have prompted everyday citizens to confront immigration agents during arrests, activists to hold weekly news conferences and dozens of demonstrations and rallies to spring up on street corners and plazas, with the protest outside the ICE Broadview facility a flashpoint in a weekly standoff against federal agents, who fired baton rounds and tear gas at protesters for the third Friday in a row last week.
Faith leaders are on the front lines with demonstrators. They are not only attending rallies and protests, they’re providing resources and offering safe spaces for people to gather, worship and counsel one another — that support felt nowhere more so than in the Latino community, which has borne the brunt of Trump’s enforcement operations.
‘Missionaries of hope’
The Rev. Carmelo Mendez walked shoulder to shoulder with congregants Wednesday night in a procession for migrants through the city. For nearly 3 miles, Mendez — pastor of St. Oscar Romero Catholic Church — and about 50 mostly Latino parishioners strode along narrow sidewalks and through quiet street corners as they made their way from St. Michael the Archangel Church in Back of the Yards to St. Rita of Cascia in Chicago Lawn.
Each step, Mendez said as he walked, moved them closer toward their goal: hope.
“(Our) main role is just to accompany them,” he said. “Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do to change their status. But we give them support. … As a pastor, as a shepherd, that’s (the message I’d) really like to convey.”
Around him, congregants sang hymns, their voices playing over the hum of cars driving by and the crunch of gravel beneath sneakers. Some parishioners clutched rosary beads, reciting prayers in low tones to themselves.
Jaqueline Estrada, from left, her mother, Angelica Perez, and father, David Estrada, kneel while praying for migrants at Mary Mother of Mercy Parish in the West Lawn neighborhood as part of an observance of National Migration Week by the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sept. 24, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
People walk in a procession for migrants from St. Oscar Romero in the New City neighborhood to St. Rita of Cascia in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood as part of an observance of National Migration Week by the Archdiocese of Chicago on Sept. 24, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
People pray at St. Rita of Cascia in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood after walking in a procession for migrants from St. Oscar Romero in the New City neighborhood during an observance of National Migration Week by the Archdiocese of Chicago on Sept. 24, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
People walk in a procession for migrants from St. Oscar Romero in the New City neighborhood to St. Rita of Cascia in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood as part of an observance of National Migration Week by the Archdiocese of Chicago on Sept. 24, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
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Jaqueline Estrada, from left, her mother, Angelica Perez, and father, David Estrada, kneel while praying for migrants at Mary Mother of Mercy Parish in the West Lawn neighborhood as part of an observance of National Migration Week by the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sept. 24, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Jose Trejo walked arm in arm with his mother and father. Together, they teetered between optimism and unease.
“As you might see, the majority of the people here are Hispanic. … So I feel like a lot of us are walking with hope to continue moving forward but also with a little bit of fear,” the 28-year-old Back of the Yards resident said. But making the trek with his family — and carrying on a religious tradition despite the anxieties — is empowering, he said.
Over the past few weeks, Jacqueline Ramirez has leaned on her faith. Ramirez, who just started her freshman year at DePaul University, took part in the procession with her mom. She has always considered herself close to God, the 18-year-old said, but especially at this time, she’s relied on “having that belief that nothing bad is going to happen and just praying for my people.”
Ramirez said she was thankful for the chance to be with her community in a different way. For Mendez, he said it was humbling and an honor to be there.
After all, he’s an immigrant himself.
The Wednesday procession was part of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s observance of National Migrant Week — which the U.S. Catholic Church has celebrated for 45 years — that culminates Sunday with a 5:15 p.m. Mass in nine languages at Holy Name Cathedral downtown.
The archdiocese’s immigration ministry and parishes have been offering services like Mass, rosary prayer and holy hour, and free resources like legal immigration consultations, as well as labor rights, mental health and “Know Your Rights” workshops.
The weeklong celebration events have shared the theme of the Vatican’s upcoming World Day of Migrants and Refugees, “Migrants, missionaries of hope,” which Chicago’s own Pope Leo XIV says reflects “their courage and tenacity” that “bear heroic testimony” to their faith.
“Our migrant brothers and sisters are not strangers; they are family in Christ,” said Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, in a Monday news release highlighting National Migrant Week. “They enrich our Church and serve as a reminder that the gospel knows no borders and that God’s love is for all people.”
Bishop Tim O’Malley of the archdiocese, based in Lake County and pastor at Most Blessed Trinity Parish in Waukegan, said he still writes letters in support of community members seeking residency or citizenship, and the parish continues offering a food pantry for groceries and hot meals at their soup kitchen every week, as well as counseling to spiritually “walk with them.”
He has been at the parish since 2018, he said. “I have not seen so much concern over immigration issues until now,” he added, from U.S. citizens and undocumented migrants alike.
On Sept. 20, a morning after federal agents violently clashed with protesters in Broadview, hundreds marched from downtown North Chicago to the entrance of the Naval Station Great Lakes base, which the Trump administration asked for support on immigration operations.
Representatives from seven congregations of multiple faiths — including the rabbi of a Reform Jewish synagogue, a Catholic priest from Chicago, and reverends of a suburban Unitarian Church and a Presbyterian Church — offered prayers outside the station.
Rabbi Ike Serotta of Makom Solel Lakeside in Highland Park said a vast majority of Americans came to the United States seeking refuge in some form, and he sees those being arrested as refugees, like members of his family once were.
“My ancestors were refugees,” Serotta said. “Unfortunately, some did not come soon enough and were killed in the Holocaust. The people I encounter are seeking asylum. They are going through the legal process.”
Rabbi Ike Serotta, of Makom Solel Lakeside in Highland Park, blows a shofar during a peaceful protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and federal actions against immigrants at Great Lakes Naval Station on Sept. 20, 2025. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)
Being present
At a peaceful rally in suburban Melrose Park earlier this month, Roberto Moreno, pastor of the First United Methodist Church in nearby Franklin Park — where an ICE agent fatally shot an undocumented father, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, after a traffic stop Sept. 12 — carried a sign with a big red heart and the words “No human being is illegal.” A child had drawn cherubs holding ribbons asking for “Más amor” — more love.
“There has been a rush of fear over the whole community,” Moreno told the Tribune in Spanish. There are fewer congregants in attendance, he said, as residents “feel a lot of dread about simply going outside.”
Moreno came to the United States in 2007 from a small town near Comayagua in Honduras, fleeing cartel violence after one of his brothers was murdered. Like many immigrants, he said, he crossed the southern border. It then took him years to go through the long process of obtaining documents.
“I’ve faced the same challenges: the language, the culture — all those challenges fellow migrants experience and live,” he said. “Eso lo conozco en carne propia. I know that in my own flesh.”
After a vigil following Villegas-Gonzalez’s death, Moreno heard a knock on the church’s door, followed by footsteps. He poked his head out from his office to welcome the visitor. It was one of the schoolteachers who taught Villegas-Gonzalez’s son.
She started crying, he recalled.
“Thanks for coming out,” Moreno said the elderly teacher told him. “I came here to this church because I was at the vigil, and I left feeling so affected because I breathed in love, I breathed in hope, I breathed in the grace of God. Now the teachers at school want to offer our help to your church, to support you in everything you’re doing.”
Roberto Moreno, pastor at Franklin Park United Methodist Church, marches during a walk protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement organized by P.A.S.O West Suburban Action Project and other community organizations, Sept. 16, 2025, in Melrose Park. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)
The suburban United Methodist Church is part of the area’s rapid response team, which deploys when there are sightings of federal immigration operations to be present and support the people being affected. Some congregants in the church are also helping families by taking their children to and from school.
“The only way for us to be the church of Christ, in these times, is letting the world know that we are here,” Moreno said. “I firmly believe that the church and faith leaders today, more than ever, have to be present where there is a need.”
Earlier this month, on a Monday morning, calls for “faith over fear” echoed across Daley Plaza as some 50 people gathered to protest heightened immigration operations in a rally led by leaders from the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, or IMAN, New Life Centers and Live Free Illinois. Other Chicago clergy and religious figures spoke to the crowd that day, including the Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina Church in Auburn Gresham.
Tariq El-Amin, a resident imam at the Masjid Al Taqwa mosque on Chicago’s Southeast Side, spoke at the Sept. 8 rally downtown.
“We’re not going to be overwhelmed by what we see, what we think to be overwhelming odds,” El-Amin said. “We’ll remind ourselves that we’re not alone.”
Their presence is powerful, says Jessica Darrow.
For the past month, Darrow, a professor at the University of Chicago who lives in Logan Square, has traveled to Broadview to protest. Darrow, 54, considers herself a longtime activist, between advocating in the pro-immigrant space to campus organizing. But nothing could have prepared her for “what it would be like to come face to face with these ICE agents,” she said.
She’s been grateful, though, to have faith leaders beside her.
“To see clergy with their collars, to see rabbis coming dressed in identifiable clothing just so that the people around them can have courage and feel their support and love … I’ve just found that to be incredibly moving,” she said. “And brave.”
Ana Nikolic has been a consistent presence outside Broadview, not to protest, but to support families with loved ones detained inside the facility.
An independent chaplain for a decade now, Nikolic’s mission, she said, is just to help people. These days, that has entailed knocking on the doors of the detention facility seeking insight for families of detainees, she said.
But it has also involved advocating for peace as protests persist outside the building. Heightened tensions, Nikolic says, have made it more difficult to work with federal agents and get loved ones the information they need.
“We’re pretty much the bridge (connecting) them,” she said.
Worthington, the Presbyterian minister who has tried to shield protesters, said what he has seen in Broadview has been both devastating and heartbreaking. But he’s tried to stand his ground as a calming presence through the disquiet.
A few years ago, Worthington was part of a group of ministers that traveled to Texas and Mexico to see how U.S. immigration policies were being implemented in real-time. Since then, and since he’s taken on a ministry in the north suburbs’ large immigrant community, he’s developed an intimate understanding of “what (their) everyday life looks like and the struggles they go through.”
Through the latest immigration crackdown, he’s spent a lot of time praying, he said, and looking for guidance.
“What is the right response?” he said. “Where do I need to be?”
Chicago Tribune’s Cam’ron Hardy and Lake County News-Sun freelancer Steve Sadin contributed.
Leaders of the Federal Bureau of Investigation fired more than a dozen agents who kneeled amid Black Lives Matter protests in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 2020. Many of the agents had already been demoted or put on administrative leave.
One source told CBS News that the termination letter to the agents cited their alleged “lack of judgement” in their actions. The agents had been photographed kneeling after encountering protestors during the demonstrations that followed George Floyd’s death in May 2020. The kneeling had angered some in the FBI, but was also understood as a possible de-escalation tactic, the Associated Press reported.
The number of FBI employees terminated was not immediately clear, but two people told the Associated Press it was roughly 20.
The FBI Agents Association, which represents a majority of FBI agents, said that it “strongly condemns” the firings and urged Congress to investigate. The association accused FBI Director Kash Patel of violating the law and ignoring the agents’ “constitutional and legal rights instead of following the requisite process.”
“Leaders uphold the law – they don’t repeatedly break it,” the association said. “They respect due process, rather than hide from it. Patel’s dangerous new pattern of actions are weakening the Bureau because they eliminate valuable expertise and damage trust between leadership and the workforce, and make it harder to recruit and retain skilled agents—ultimately putting our nation at greater risk.”
An FBI spokesperson did not comment on the firings.
The firings come amid a broader personnel purge at the bureau as Patel works to reshape the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency.
Five agents and top-level executives were known to have been summarily fired last month in a wave of ousters that current and former officials say has contributed to declining morale.
One of those, Steve Jensen, helped oversee investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Another, Brian Driscoll, served as acting FBI director in the early days of the Trump administration and resisted Justice Department demands to supply the names of agents who investigated Jan. 6.
A third, Chris Meyer, was incorrectly rumored on social media to have participated in the investigation into President Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. A fourth, Walter Giardina, participated in high-profile investigations like the one into Trump adviser Peter Navarro.
A lawsuit filed by Jensen, Driscoll and another fired FBI supervisor, Spencer Evans, alleged that Patel communicated that he understood that it was “likely illegal” to fire agents based on cases they worked but was powerless to stop it because the White House and the Justice Department were determined to remove all agents who investigated Trump.
Patel denied at a congressional hearing last week taking orders from the White House on whom to fire and said anyone who has been fired failed to meet the FBI’s standards.
Protesters at a right-wing Netherlands demonstration clashed with police on Saturday, weeks before the European country’s general election on Oct. 29. Hundreds of people attended the protest, which called for stricter asylum rules.
