The First Amendment of the United States Constitution grants freedom of speech. This means that no matter what an individual says, the government cannot prosecute them. On Sept. 10, conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated by a lone gunman. Kirk, who would publicly debate others, often sparking controversy, had no violent conflicts in his political career. This is a current example of freedom of speech being suppressed by others with opposing opinions.
11 days after Kirk’s assassination, President Trump signed an executive order to make Antifa, short for anti-fascist, a left-wing ideology mixed with anarchist ideals, a terrorist organization. President Trump does not have the authority to do such labeling, and the approach of designating an ideology as a terrorist group becomes a complicated situation.
The oldest Antifa group, Rose City Antifa, is located in Portland, Oregon. According to the group’s website, “police frequently work with far-right aggressors to brutalize people opposing state oppression and violence. We cannot count on state actors to push forward the cause of justice, equity, and community safety. It’s up to us to keep us safe.” Most recently, the group has handed out private information like home addresses of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Some police departments in Oregon have yet to enforce federal immigration policies, leading to the federal government stepping in. The Trump administration gave the Oregon government 12 hours for the state government to use its legal agencies to enforce the policies. Trump deployed the National Guard to Portland on Sept. 30.
Scott Bradford, U.S. District Attorney for Oregon, is heavily influenced by the protests. “I spent the night in the ICE building on Friday night,” Bradford said. “I’ve gone to the ICE building five times in the last week. My office handles the prosecutions coming out of the ICE building.”
Bradford claims that the action outside the ICE building in Portland has been going on longer than most think.
“It affects my job every single day, because we have to deal with the nonsense,” Bradford said. “We are on Day 115 of nonsense at the ICE building.”
Before the federal government deployed troops, vandalism occurred, and a group of people started the movement Occupy PDX, which camped out on federal private property, blocking off a main street as well as a nearby railroad.
In Texas, a gunman fired into the Dallas ICE facility, killing two. On the bullet casings were many common Antifa slogans and words, similar to those found after Kirk’s death. The fear of copies of this type of action has led to federal intervention, where more protests could lead to violence against the ICE facilities and detainees.
Protests are legal under the First Amendment, but some protests lead to law violations. Outside the ICE building, there is a thick blue line. Anyone preventing ICE agents or other federal workers from entering or exiting over the blue line is subject to federal prosecution. If someone attempts to cross the line or attempts to cause a disturbance on the other side, they will also be prosecuted federally.
Students Demand Action (SDA) representative Elise Row, a senior, expressed her discontent with the federal government’s intervention in Portland.
“I think that people should be able to protest however much they want,” Row said. “When any kind of law enforcement is involved, they should be there to protect people’s free speech, as well as just protecting the businesses and the rights of others outside of the protest, without infringing on people’s ability to speak their minds.”
Row believes that not only do we have a right to protest, but also that Trump’s presidency is overstepping.
“Has it dipped into authoritarianism? I believe so,” Row said. “I don’t feel that it’s gotten to the point yet where we need to overthrow the entire government. I do think that it would be reasonable for people to take action against [Trump’s] presidency.”
Regardless of Antifa’s relevance and alleged terrorism, Row believes that designating any ideology that wants change is a threat to democracy.
“The more that we demonize protest organizations, like Black Lives Matter or [SDA], it changes our ability to speak out,” Row said. “The organizations are doing no harm. If people take their protests too far, that’s an individual issue. That’s not an issue that should be blamed on the broader organization.”
Trump described Portland as “war-ravaged” and “under siege from attack by Antifa” on Truth Social.
Portland is one of the most politically polarized cities in the country. In recent polls, there are more independent voters within Portland city borders than Republican voters. Recently, many progressive laws have been passed, such as the decriminalization of drugs. According to the FBI Crime Data Explorer, in 2023, Portland was 204.43% above the national average for crime rate, possibly contributing to Trump’s view of Portland as being “war-ravaged.”
Governor Tina Kotek reported that Portland didn’t need the National Guard, and she and 99 other Oregon political officials signed a letter condemning Trump for the proposal. In Trump’s memo to the Oregon government, the National Guard was deployed to protect ICE and other federal agencies and stop anyone who tries to delay them from carrying out their orders. Rather than quenching the protests outside the Portland ICE facility, the deployment of the National Guard has only added fuel to the fire. In the last three months, over 25 people have been arrested outside of the ICE facility, and protests continue outside.
As of Oct. 21, the militarization of Portland is still developing.
This story was originally published on wlhsNOW on October 21, 2025.