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Portland’s ‘highly questionable’ police actions draws DOJ scrutiny: ‘Whims of criminals and woke cops’

October 4, 2025 | | Print Article

The “whims of criminals and woke cops” called down the scrutiny of federal investigators as the Justice Department opened an investigation into a blue city’s “highly questionable police practices.”

In addition to Democrat politicians turning protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) into campaign events, leftist elected officials maintained that the chaos witnessed in their streets did not require federal intervention. Now, after incidents involving reporters Katie Daviscourt and Nick Sortor covering ICE protests and the “scourge of Antifa,” the police response became the focus of a federal investigation.

Friday on X, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon shared a short video in addition to her letter transmitted to city officials in Portland as she sought answers on the Portland Police Bureau’s “response to incidents surrounding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland and, specifically, the City of Portland’s use of its policing powers in a manner that may be based on viewpoint discrimination.”

“Acting at the direction of our @AGPamBondi, we @CivilRights have launched an investigation into Portland, OR’s highly questionable police practices. Stay tuned. We will not leave the people of Portland at the whims of criminals and woke cops. Govern yourselves accordingly!” she captioned the letter that specifically called out the selective arrests pertaining to those who’d allegedly assaulted Daviscourt and those who may have been involved in an altercation with Sortor.

At the same time, Dhillon challenged the city’s use of policing powers that potentially limited ICE’s use of its own Portland facility through zoning enforcement action as she sought the bodycam footage and reports related to the cases of Daviscourt and Sortor in addition to communications about the ICE facility.

The assistant AG explained, “Portland is already under a federal consent decree for its failed police practices. It has been for over a decade now … I personally have litigated in Portland about journalist Andy Ngo being viciously attacked there while the police again did nothing about it.”

“It is about time that Portland residents and people in Oregon felt safe from the scourge of Antifa and the violence there, and frankly from the scourge of lax and unacceptable police practices,” she added.

Further enforcing how seriously President Donald Trump’s administration was taking the restoration of law and order in the United States, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the matter of Sortor’s arrest and the response during Friday’s White House press briefing.

“Just last night, we saw an extremely troubling incident where conservative journalist Nick Sortor was captured on video being taken into custody by the Portland Police after he was ambushed by Antifa and was defending himself from these assaults,” she detailed. “But instead of arresting these violent mob members night after night after night, who are ravaging this community, the police arrested a journalist who was there trying to document the chaos, and everyone in this room should be extremely concerned about that.”

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Leavitt went on to explain that the president had called for a review to determine cuts of federal aid to Portland, “We will not fund states that allow anarchy,” before noting the surge of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and ICE resources.

Supporting the notion that Portland was permitting the chaos to unfold, the X account amuse had alleged, “The Portland Police are now colluding with Antifa to prosecute federal officers protecting the ICE facility. Each time federal officers engage with Antifa Portland Police liaisons collect statements and videos from Antifa to facilitate state criminal charges against DHS agents. The officers do NOT intervene when they witness Antifa committing assaults, vandalism, or trespass — famously refusing to arrest journalist @KatieDaviscourt’s attacker and more recently arresting X independent journalist Nick Sortor for disorderly conduct …)

Worth noting, in September, the president had designated Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization and prompted investigations into those who may be conducting illegal operations or providing material support to Antifa.

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Kevin Haggerty
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