A Eugene man who rails against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on TikTok says he woke up to federal agents at his door, after posting videos that urged viewers to confront ICE and even “burn something down.” The account, which he and local reports say has about 20,800 followers, later shared screenshots of a federal search warrant and claimed agents hauled away phones, computers and a manifesto. The raid lands in the middle of weeks of tense anti‑ICE protests in Eugene that have already drawn heavy federal attention.
According to The Oregonian, the TikTok creator identified himself as 36‑year‑old Gabriel Charles Reed and said FBI agents served the warrant at his Eugene home. Reed posted that agents seized his phone, two computers, multiple hard drives, legal paperwork, notepads and a copy of a manifesto, the outlet reported.
"I don't own a gun, never made any plans with anyone to do anything," Reed wrote, The Oregonian reports. Yet in earlier TikTok clips, he had called on people who do own guns to confront ICE agents or “burn something down,” and on Jan. 7 he told followers to use guns if ICE agents showed up and “were not supposed to.”
Protests and the federal response
In the background of Reed’s case are noisy street battles outside the Eugene federal building. Local coverage has described detentions, tear gas and injuries during late‑January protests against ICE. As detailed by OPB, demonstrators said federal officers deployed chemical agents and detained multiple people. The FBI’s Portland field office has posted an FBI “Seeking Information” notice tied to the Jan. 30 unrest and is offering a reward for tips.
Legal questions ahead
Whether Reed’s TikTok posts cross the legal line into criminal incitement is now the big constitutional question. Under First Amendment case law, not all fiery or reckless speech is a crime. The Legal Information Institute explains that under the Brandenburg test, speech can be punished only if it is directed to producing imminent lawless action and is likely to actually produce that action.
Reed told The Oregonian he lost his taxi job in November and is still unemployed. A spokesperson for the FBI’s Portland office declined to comment to the paper. For now, the raid underscores an increasingly fraught collision between social‑media activism and federal law‑enforcement scrutiny in Eugene, and leaves open whether prosecutors will try to turn a stream of online posts into criminal charges.
