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The South Dakota governor, who holds the position of the DHS secretary, inspected the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) location in Portland on a recent weekday. During her visit, she saw firsthand a small demonstration outside, which stands in stark contrast to the fiery "encirclement" claimed by Donald Trump.

Joined by Conservative Influencers

Governor Noem was escorted by a trio of conservative influencers who were whisked from the Portland airport to the facility in her motorcade. The Department of Homeland Security has recently produced more aggressive digital updates depicting federal officers conducting immigration raids and deploying chemical irritants at crowds.

Demonstration Details

Portland police secured the area outside the facility in the Portland's waterfront district before the secretary’s arrival. Several demonstrators, among them one wearing a costume of a fowl and another as a baby shark, were kept at a distance.

A song played loudly from a demonstration site nearby, with lyrics about Donald Trump and allegations. One protester yelled to a government videographer filming from the roof, questioning whether the homeland security had been referred to as the "propaganda department".

Media Access

Reporters from mainstream publications were also restricted to the security perimeter outside, while the conservative personalities in Noem’s entourage—the conservative trio—shared online posts of the Noem participating in federal personnel in a prayer session inside, delivering a encouraging words, and telling a soldier of the militia to "Prepare".

Recent Rulings

Noem has previously echoed the president’s claims that the handful of protesters—who have rallied in their dozens outside the site since the summer, including one in an inflatable frog costume—are "terrorists" who have placed the facility "besieged", making the sending of federal troops critical.

Yet, on last weekend, a federal judge in Portland halted Trump’s effort to federalize local militia, determining that the Trump's allegations that the mostly calm city was "burning to the ground" were "without evidence".

A day later, the judge, Karin Immergut—who was selected to the bench by the former president—expanded her order to prohibit National Guard troops from other states from being deployed in Portland. The judge ruled after he reacted to her previous decision by attempting to use members of the another state's militia to Portland.

Rising Conflicts

Since Trump highlighted the modest but continuous protest outside the office and made inaccurate statements that Portland is "in a state of war", a growing number of his adherents, including MAGA influencers, have turned up to challenge the demonstrators.

A number of these confrontations have resulted in fights and physical fights, prompting detentions by the Portland police. Nick Sortor was one of those detained after he attempted to push through a protest encampment on a sidewalk near the ICE facility and was part of an altercation over an national banner. Sortor had before seized the banner from a demonstrator who was burning it.

The charges against him were later dropped after an backlash in conservative media prompted the leader of the civil rights division of the Department of Justice, the division head, to threaten an investigation of the Portland Police Bureau over supposed partisan treatment.

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

Government Statements

On Sunday, Governor Tina Kotek, she, accused government personnel in the ICE facility of trying to provoke the protesters by using unnecessary levels of chemical irritants in a residential neighborhood and including partisan figures to document the protesters from the roof of the building. "Their actions are meant to provoke," Kotek said.

Three of those conservative influencers were mentioned in a law enforcement document last month as "counter-protesters" who "repeatedly come back and harass the protesters until they are confronted or pepper sprayed" and refuse "repeated advice from police to keep clear of" the protesters.

Influencer Activities

One influencer, a ex-reporter who reinvented himself as a partisan figure after being dismissed from BuzzFeed for ethical violations, posted footage of the secretary looking down from the top of the site at the limited number of demonstrators below, including Jack Dickinson who wears a chicken costume to ridicule the former president. The influencer captioned the clip of her viewing the placid scene below: "Governor Noem faces off against radicals and a chicken-clad individual".

Regardless of the disconnect between the claims from both officials that this site is "besieged" from "homegrown extremists" and obvious footage of a small number of individuals in peaceful clothing, the figures with Noem continued to describe the group as harmful activists.

Discussion with Law Enforcement

While in Portland, Governor Noem also met with the law enforcement head, Chief Day, who has been depicted as "liberal" in conservative media for allowing his personnel to arrest Sortor. In a social media update on the discussion, Benny Johnson claimed that the official had "aligned with violent ANTIFA militants assaulting journalists and officers outside ICE facility".

Noem’s motorcade then left the facility past a small group of demonstrators on the nearby road, including one wearing a animal wearing a sombrero.