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The South Dakota governor, acting as the DHS secretary, visited the federal immigration enforcement facility in Portland, Oregon on a recent weekday. While there, she witnessed a limited gathering outside, which stands in stark contrast to the fiery "siege" described by Donald Trump.

Joined by MAGA Personalities

Governor Noem was escorted by a set of right-wing figures who were whisked from the Portland airport to the site in her official convoy. Her department has shared increasingly belligerent digital updates depicting federal personnel performing raids and firing tear gas at demonstrators.

Gathering Outside

Portland police secured the area outside the facility in the southern Portland area before the Noem's appearance. A handful demonstrators, including one wearing a costume of a bird and another as a sea creature, were kept at a distance.

Music blared from a protest encampment nearby, with a refrain mentioning Donald Trump and allegations. A demonstrator shouted to a official camera operator documenting from the top of the building, questioning whether the Department of Homeland Security had been referred to as the "propaganda department".

Press Coverage

Members of the press from nonpartisan publications were also kept at the police line outside, while the partisan influencers in Noem’s entourage—three right-wing influencers—shared online posts of the governor leading federal officers in a prayer session inside, giving a encouraging words, and telling a soldier of the Oregon National Guard to "Be ready".

Recent Rulings

Noem has previously echoed the former president's assertions that the small band of demonstrators—who have rallied in their small numbers outside the ICE facility since the summer, including one in an amphibian suit—are "extremists" who have placed the office "besieged", making the sending of federal troops critical.

Yet, on last weekend, a federal judge in Portland halted Trump’s effort to federalize Oregon’s National Guard, ruling that the president’s claims that the mostly calm city was "being destroyed" were "untethered to the facts".

A day later, the same judge, Karin Immergut—who was selected to the court by the former president—broadened the ruling to prohibit National Guard troops from elsewhere from being deployed in Oregon. She acted after he responded to her initial ruling by attempting to send members of the another state's militia to Oregon.

Rising Conflicts

Since Donald Trump focused on the small but persistent gathering outside the ICE facility and made false claims that Oregon is "war ravaged", a increasing amount of his followers, including MAGA influencers, have turned up to challenge the demonstrators.

Some of these confrontations have caused altercations and fistfights, resulting in detentions by the Portland police. Nick Sortor was taken into custody after he sought to enter a gathering on a pavement near the office and was involved in a scuffle over an national banner. The influencer had earlier seized the banner from a individual who was burning it.

Criminal counts against him were later dropped after an backlash in partisan press induced the head of the rights office of the Justice Department, the division head, to warn of a probe of the Portland Police Bureau over alleged political bias.

The two women he was detained over a conflict with still face charges.

Government Statements

Over the weekend, Oregon’s governor, the governor, accused government personnel in the ICE facility of trying to irritate the demonstrators by using disproportionate amounts of tear gas in a residential neighborhood and including right-wing personalities to record the gathering from the upper level of the facility. "They are deliberately inciting," the governor stated.

Three of those conservative influencers were described in a police report last month as "counter-protesters" who "constantly return and harass the individuals until they are attacked or subjected to spray" and decline "ongoing instructions from law enforcement to avoid" the demonstrators.

Online Content

Benny Johnson, a former journalist who changed careers as a right-wing commentator after being dismissed from BuzzFeed for ethical violations, published footage of Noem looking down from the roof of the office at the handful of individuals below, including Jack Dickinson who sports a bird outfit to taunt Donald Trump. He labeled the footage of her inspecting the peaceful setting below: "Governor Noem faces off against radicals and a chicken-clad individual".

In spite of the contrast between the claims from the former president and the secretary that this site is "under siege" from "domestic terrorists" and obvious footage of a small number of demonstrators in harmless costumes, the influencers with her continued to refer to the group as harmful activists.

Discussion with Law Enforcement

While in Portland, the secretary also met with the city's top cop, Bob Day, who has been portrayed as "liberal" in conservative media for permitting his law enforcement to arrest the influencer. In a digital announcement on the discussion, the influencer claimed that the chief had "aligned with violent ANTIFA militants attacking journalists and officers outside ICE facility".

The secretary's convoy then exited the office past a small group of protesters on the exterior, including one dressed as a bear wearing a hat.