Portland Police Failed to Respond to 911 Calls from ICE Agents During Siege

Portland police refused to respond to two 911 calls from ICE agents trapped in their offices during the “occupy ICE” protest earlier this month.

This led to the head of the union representing agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to send a cease and desist letter to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler asking him to ensure that the police department enforce the law equally and protect innocent people.

The Daily Caller reports that the letter says, “Your current policy forbidding Portland law enforcement agencies from assisting employees of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency who request law enforcement assistance while at or away from work is a violation of the United States Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.”

The demonstrators, many belonging to Antifa, set up a tent city outside of ICE offices in Portland in June and constantly threatened and harassed ICE employees to the point that the government was forced to shut the office down.

“Every person in law enforcement knows there are few things as dangerous or as unpredictable than an angry mob,”said Chris Crane, president of the national union. “No one could have responded quickly enough to protect our employees who were trapped inside this building. All of this because the Mayor of Portland has a beef with the president of the United States.”

The letter continues, “We understand that you have a difference of opinion with the current President of the United States, and some of his policies, but we fail to see why targeting the employees of ICE and leaving them vulnerable to violence, harassment and even death furthers a legitimate government interest,”

“Your policy has created a zone of terror and lawlessness.”

This is how the law is enforced in banana republics, so congrats to Portland for emulating Nicaragua, Honduras, and other benighted outposts of third-world ignorance and unequal justice.

You have to admit Wheeler and the Portland police have a novel means of demonstrating their displeasure with federal immigration law. I mean, couldn’t they write their congressman, or something? Refusing to cooperate with immigration authorities is one thing. Leaving innocent people’s fates in the hands of a bunch of Antifa cutthroats is quite another.

Since no one in the media likes ICE very much, the failure to respond to 911 calls by the Portland police is a non-event — it never happened. This, despite the fact that the implications for police inaction are staggering. For police to decide whom to protect or whom not to protect based on politics is another sign that the bonds that hold civil society together are snapping and we are nearing a tipping point from which there may be no going back.