Oregon parents and teachers form ICE watch groups to monitor near schools

Parents and teachers in Oregon have formed neighborhood groups to monitor Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity. It’s a system that organizers say helps alert illegal immigrants when federal agents are nearby.

Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) reported in October on members of the ICE watch groups, explaining that participants position themselves at various spots throughout the neighborhood, often around schools, to look out for ICE officers.

If agents are detected, group members use text chains and whistles to alert local members of the activity. The effort comes as President Donald Trump continues to ramp up immigration enforcement operations across the country.

“We’re making ourselves present and visible so that our families see we stand with our community, and we stand as a message that our students deserve to learn in confidence and not in fear,” teacher Andy Bunting told OPB in October.

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Portland is among several Democratic-led cities seeing widespread community pushback against the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Similar ICE alert groups have cropped up in states like California.

Several Portland-centered Instagram accounts help to organize these anti-ICE groups. Among them is @pdxicewatch, which boasts nearly 23,000 followers. The account’s bio says it is “watching ICE activity,” and it frequently posts the locations of ICE operations in the area and has a tip line.

The online group also helps maintain a publicly available database of vehicles suspected to be in use by ICE officers, listing their models, where they were seen and license plates.

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One informational post uploaded in November specifically discusses intervening during ICE operations near schools.

“Focus on areas that seem quiet around the school, ICE likes to kidnap people in alleyways and dead-end streets,” one slide states.

“Sometimes staff will reach out, but the admin in the front office will not. There can be a disconnect between brown and black teachers/social workers and an all-white admin staff,” another slide says.

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ICE justified its operations near schools to OPB, writing, “ICE is safeguarding schools and places of worship by preventing criminal aliens and gang members from exploiting them as safe havens, a practice previously restricted under the Biden Administration. DHS now allows its law enforcement agencies to act with supervisory approval, ensuring such actions remain rare and discretionary.”

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and other city leaders have condemned immigration agents, accusing them of using chemical pepper balls during an arrest.

“ICE activity in North Portland, including the recent unnecessary and potentially unconstitutional use of chemical munitions, directly contradicts Portland’s values,” the leaders wrote in a statement posted Tuesday.

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“As Portland’s civic leaders, we condemn ICE’s unjustified, disruptive, and escalatory conduct, which undermines public trust in government.”

Earlier this year, protests outside Portland’s ICE facility became nearly nightly occurrences as activists demonstrated against deportations.