An Uber pickup outside Portland's Union Station turned into a tense traffic stop this week, when the driver says federal agents suddenly surrounded her car in the Pearl District and hauled away her passengers in handcuffs.
The driver, Hannah Armstrong, told reporters she had just collected two riders at Union Station on Tuesday when her vehicle was boxed in near NW Glisan Street and 11th Avenue. She said officers pulled the two men from the back seat and handcuffed them while she stayed behind the wheel, unsure what was happening.
Driver's account and dash-cam footage
Armstrong had front and rear dashboard cameras rolling during the stop, and the clips show people in tactical vests closing in on the car. The video, described by The Oregonian/OregonLive, shows the unmarked vehicles moving into position around 5:10 p.m. in the Pearl District, three cars hemming in the Uber as people approach and try to open the back doors. One person appears to handcuff a passenger as the stop plays out.
Armstrong said she had picked up the two men, whom she estimated to be in their mid-30s to mid-40s, at Union Station. She told the outlet her car was then followed through downtown before the unmarked vehicles converged and forced her to a stop.
What the driver says happened next
Armstrong told the paper that agents “came over and just tried to open the doors immediately without identifying themselves,” and that no one showed her a warrant after the car was surrounded. She said she later reported the incident to Uber and was given a link to upload her video, but she was unable to complete the upload, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive.
City policy and coordination questions
Portland has a long-standing sanctuary policy that generally prohibits city employees from assisting with federal immigration enforcement. City officials also note that staff at Union Station do not have access to passenger records, which limits how much they can participate in or even anticipate federal operations that begin at major transit hubs.
The city outlines its rules and guidance on how local staff must handle federal immigration actions on Portland.gov, including restrictions on sharing information and coordinating with federal immigration agencies.
Where this fits in a national pattern
The Portland stop comes as part of a broader national wave of encounters between federal immigration officers and ride-hail drivers or their passengers, and it lands during a period of heightened scrutiny after several recent shootings involving federal agents.
In other cities, including Minneapolis, residents have described being questioned or stopped in the middle of larger immigration operations. Coverage from MPR News has detailed how drivers and bystanders have been swept into these encounters, while national reporting and ongoing AP coverage of recent shootings involving federal agents have intensified calls for transparency and independent review.
What’s next
Authorities have not publicly identified the two men taken from Armstrong’s car or explained why they were targeted, and the Uber driver’s footage remains one of the few public records of what happened near Union Station that evening.
With long-running tension in Portland over federal enforcement tactics, local residents and officials are pressing for more information about this latest stop, and for clearer lines of accountability as investigations move forward.
