A masked ICE officer stabbed multiple holes into the rear tire of a car stopped at a traffic light in Hillsboro, Oregon, then drove off without a word, according to video the American Civil Liberties Union says it obtained and released this week. The two people inside were legal observers who had been watching and filming ICE activity in a nearby parking lot, the ACLU says, and on Thursday the organization filed a formal complaint over the incident with the Department of Homeland Security.
The ACLU says the Oct. 7 encounter unfolded in the Portland suburb after the observers had been recording agents at work, according to a press release from the ACLU. The organization says ICE agents tailed and boxed in the observers’ vehicle with other vehicles before the tire was slashed. Footage released alongside the complaint shows ICE vehicles pulling alongside the observers’ stopped car as a masked officer hops out and uses a knife to puncture the tire, according to USA Today, which reported the complaint was filed Oct. 29. The Modesto Bee also carried the USA Today account of the incident.
The ACLU did not release the names of the two people involved. The observers told the organization the episode was not an isolated one and that it had been terrifying, and they said they had been watching and recording public ICE activity to document the agency’s actions and expose what they describe as abusive behavior.
A Pattern the ACLU Says Stretches Nationwide
The organization’s complaint asks DHS and ICE to investigate the Hillsboro incident, preserve all related evidence, and discipline the agents responsible. It also calls for a broader federal investigation into what the ACLU describes as a nationwide pattern of retaliation against people who observe and record ICE enforcement in public. Per the ACLU, following ICE officers at a distance and alerting a neighborhood to their presence are constitutionally protected activities, and the organization says ICE officers have taken numerous actions meant to scare people away from recording enforcement work altogether.
The organization says it and its state affiliates have brought several cases over the past 18 months on behalf of observers who say they were surveilled, intimidated or harassed while filming federal agents, including matters in Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis. The Modesto Bee’s report on the USA Today story also noted the ACLU has pursued cases against DHS over its tactics in courts stretching from Memphis, Tennessee, to Los Angeles. USA Today reported it had reached out to DHS and ICE for comment on the incident and the complaint.
Scarlet Kim, an ACLU senior staff attorney, said the right to record publicly visible law enforcement activity is fundamental to democracy. “Without documenting the government’s actions on our streets, people cannot hold the government accountable when it violates their rights,” Kim said, adding that videos made by observers have been critical in exposing alleged ICE abuses.
Enforcement Activity Had Spiked Around Portland
The tire-slashing complaint comes after a surge in immigration enforcement activity around Portland in early October. Advocates with the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition said at least nine people were confirmed detained on Oct. 6 across Gresham, Troutdale and parts of eastern Portland, according to OPB. The station reported the sharp rise in broad-daylight arrests across the metro area sparked fears among advocates that another large-scale federal operation could be underway. OPB also noted that Oregon’s monthly immigration arrest totals had climbed from a low of 30 in March to 186 in June and 174 in July.
Similar Confrontations Reported Elsewhere
The Hillsboro case is one of several recent disputes between ICE agents and people recording their activity. In Woodland, California, an ICE vehicle struck 37-year-old resident Antonio Moreida on Oct. 20 while he was recording enforcement activity, according to CNN. DHS initially said Moreida had jumped onto the hood of the vehicle, but Woodland police said that account was inconsistent with the video evidence they reviewed, and the department opened a criminal investigation into the collision and the actions of those involved.
In Ohio, the ACLU of Ohio filed a federal lawsuit against seven ICE officers on behalf of Springfield resident Sean Moorman, alleging retaliation after he recorded and observed ICE activity in public, according to the ACLU of Ohio. That lawsuit alleges officers swerved a vehicle toward Moorman as if to ram his car, pursued and surrounded him with SUVs, followed him through town, and photographed his home and vehicles. The ACLU of Ohio also sought an emergency injunction and temporary restraining order to halt the alleged conduct.
What the ACLU Says the Law Allows
The ACLU maintains that the First Amendment protects the right to film ICE and other law enforcement officers in public, as long as the person recording does not interfere with an operation or break another valid law. The organization says that filming law enforcement in public is not, on its own, obstruction of justice, though conduct that actually interferes with an operation could be treated differently. Those positions represent the ACLU’s own description of applicable protections rather than a court ruling tied specifically to the Hillsboro incident.
