A man from Gresham faced federal court today following charges of assaulting a federal law enforcement officer amid weekend uproar near Portland's ICE office, turning peaceful demonstrations into a charged battleground where law and dissent clashed, as per the U.S. Justice Department. Ginovanni Joseph Brumbelow, 21, is accused of using a wooden stake to attack an officer during an event that escalated from protest to declared riot.
Initially, a crowd thronged in peaceful objection, but discontent spurred by immigration policies boiled over, and hundreds converged upon the ICE facility in South Portland, with some resorting to fireworks, and throwing rocks and bottles. The situation swelled as if anger itself were a beast; it was then that local enforcement deemed the protest a riot. Eventually, federal agents, including those from Border Protection's tactical unit, responded to secure the building against intrusion, and in these moments, the alleged assault took place.
The tumult last Saturday saw multiple skirmishes, and according to court papers, just as evening took its turn toward night, a BORTAC agent, while apprehending a rioter, was suddenly struck from behind, a sharp pain heralding violence, and the origins of that pain, surveillance footage would confirm, was the pointed stake wielded by Brumbelow, according to the DOJ.
Following his initial appearance in court, Brumbelow was released with conditions; his arraignment is set for mid-July, 2025. The stakes are embodied now in the justice he awaits; assaulting a federal officer could fetch him up to eight years behind bars, the long echo of his weekend actions reverberating through the hushed halls of federal prosecution. The Federal Protective Service (FPS) and FBI are still unraveling the tightened threads of this weekend's chaos while the District of Oregon U.S. Attorney's Office carries the mantle of prosecution forward.
