The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Friday it is investigating an incident earlier this month in which, according to a civil rights complaint, a federal immigration agent stopped his car, got out and slashed a tire on a car carrying two Hillsboro residents who had been filming agents.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the administrative complaint with Homeland Security Thursday on behalf of the two observers, who are U.S. citizens. It says U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tailed the pair and tried to box them in with their vehicles. Then a masked agent slashed a tire on their car. The incident happened Oct. 7, shortly after the community observers’ filmed agents in a Hillsboro Safeway parking lot.
The incident, which was captured on video, took place amid an escalation of immigration enforcement across Oregon in early October soon after a federal official confirmed to The Oregonian/OregonLive that sanctuary jurisdictions across the country would see a new immigration push. Immigration enforcement in Oregon began to rise in the spring and continued to steadily increase through the summer before intensifying in October.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of community members in Oregon and across the country have been documenting ICE’s activities in their communities under the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
The ACLU said the Hillsboro incident is also the latest example of a pervasive pattern of retaliation against observers across the country. The organization said federal agents have intimidated and harassed people documenting their activities in public, including by threatening them, tailing them, pulling them over without reasonable suspicion, surveilling their homes and even assaulting and arresting them.
Ken Sexauer, a staff attorney with the ACLU’s speech, privacy and technology project, said the Hillsboro incident is “deeply concerning,” and “unfortunately follows a widespread pattern of retaliation that is occurring all around the country.”
“It’s very important for our clients for there to be accountability for this really outrageous incident. They’re specifically requesting that the identities of the agents involved be released to the public,” he said during an interview. “They’re also seeking changes to ICE training and oversight to ensure that this kind of incident doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
Similar cases have been seen in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Memphis, Sexauer said.
The First Amendment protects people’s right to observe, gather information about and record law enforcement operations in public, and that is widely recognized across courts in the U.S., he said.
“It’s unlawful for law enforcement to retaliate against members of the public for exercising that right,” he said.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told the newsroom Friday that the “incident is currently under investigation.”
“ICE law enforcement officers are trained to use the minimum amount of force necessary to resolve dangerous situations to prioritize the safety of the public and our officers,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an email. “The men and women of ICE are entrusted with upholding the rule of law and are held to the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and ethical conduct.”
The spokesperson said the agency didn’t have further comment at this time.
The complaint identifies the observers only by their initials, A.P. and M. P. It says the two were driving around their neighborhood early on Oct. 7. At about 6:45 a.m. they saw a car they know to be an ICE vehicle on the corner of Tualatin Valley Highway and Cornelius Pass Road. The car was a blue Ford Fusion with tinted windows, which has been widely identified as an ICE vehicle in the community.
The pair followed the Ford Fusion from a safe distance for about 10 minutes before the ICE vehicle drove into a Safeway parking lot in the Tanasbourne Village, the complaint said. The observers saw the Ford Fusion drive up to two other cars in the parking lot.
The Hillsboro observers parked a few spots away and stayed in their car. They saw at least five ICE agents in the parking lot, all but one wearing masks, according to the complaint.
The observers saw an ICE agent exit the Safeway and then tried to warn a bystander in the store’s parking lot. They lowered their window and began yelling “This is ICE! This is ICE!” They also blew whistles and honked their car horn, the complaint said. They photographed two other ICE vehicles, a blue Nissan Altima and a black Ford F-150.
The complaint says an ICE agent tried to block the observers’ vehicle with a shopping cart. The observers drove around the parking lot and left as agents began running toward them.
All three ICE vehicles followed them out of the lot, drove aggressively, and tried to box them in. Fearing for their safety, the observers kept driving. The agents then turned on their flashing lights and sirens and continued to follow them, the complaint said.
When the observers stopped at a traffic light, a masked ICE agent got out of the Ford Fusion and pulled out a black knife. The complaint says he stabbed the car’s right rear tire before returning to the Fusion. Then he got out again and stabbed the tire again until there was a “loud pop”
The agent got back in the Fusion and all three ICE vehicles turned off their lights and sirens and drove away.
The complaint asks the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the incident, to preserve all relevant evidence and to discipline the agents involved. It also asks the agency to investigate the nationwide pattern of ICE agents retaliating against people who are documenting their activities.
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