PORTLAND, Ore. — What began as a peaceful vigil honoring survivors of Indigenous boarding schools ended in chaos Tuesday night, as federal agents clashed with protesters outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in South Portland. The Orange Shirt Day Vigil and Solidarity Walk, organized by “Decolonize. Heal. Resist.”, drew roughly 50 participants to Elizabeth Caruthers Park before marching to the ICE building, where at least three protesters, including a minor, were detained, and two organizers were maced directly in the face.
A Night of Remembrance Turns Tense
The event, held on September 30, coincided with the National Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding School Survivors — also known as Orange Shirt Day — and Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The vigil aimed to honor Indigenous children who never returned from residential schools while linking that legacy to ongoing injustices faced by Indigenous, immigrant, and marginalized communities.
Organizer Angela Foster (xulxiyut), a member of the Klamath Tribes and adopted into Warm Springs, said the gathering was about connecting historical trauma to modern struggles. “Our ancestors are giving us that strength to be here,” she said. “It’s still happening today — genocide, internment, and erasure. We have to keep fighting for sovereignty and freedom.”
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After the speeches, attendees — including elders, activists, and families with children — walked together to the nearby ICE facility. There, organizers erected a tipi covered in orange handprints, symbolizing missing and murdered Indigenous people and children lost to boarding schools.
Federal Response and Use of Force
Around 9:45 p.m., demonstrators poured red-tinted water along the sidewalk outside the ICE facility, chanting, “The blood of children is on U.S. hands.” By 10:15 p.m., tensions escalated as federal agents exited the building, deploying pepper balls and flash grenades to disperse the crowd.
Witnesses and reporters from Underscore Native News and ICT said that agents also maced Angela Foster and her daughter, Ash Carlson (tunustenmi), at close range while they were filming on the sidewalk. Both women, who protest outside the ICE facility several times a week, were treated on-site by volunteer medics.
Federal officers reportedly detained three protesters, including one minor who was dragged into the facility, as seen by witnesses. A white van also emerged from the ICE garage, picking up a 17-year-old participant before taking them inside.
Carlson, visibly shaken, said Indigenous people are often targeted. “They like to grab the Indigenous people,” she said through tears. “Anyone in regalia — they go after them.”
Counterprotesters and Escalation
The demonstration also drew several counterprotesters, including a man with a white power “SS” lightning bolt tattoo on his head, who snatched a flag from a protester and threw it on the ground. As tensions rose, protesters surrounded him and urged him to leave. Federal agents standing on the roof of the ICE facility then fired pepper bullets into the crowd, scattering demonstrators.
Throughout the night, agents could be seen shining bright flashlights on protesters from the roof and launching stun grenades to break up gatherings. Despite the heavy police presence, demonstrators remained vocal, blasting music, dancing, and chanting.
Interwoven Struggles
For organizers like Tracy Molina, who grew up in Siletz with ancestry from central Mexico, the night was about drawing global connections between struggles. “These are not unrelated issues,” she said. “What ICE does to children, what was done to children in boarding schools, what’s being done to children in Gaza — it’s all colonization.”
Molina, who has been protesting ICE since the first Trump administration, said Indigenous-led protests at the facility began in January 2025, forming a continuous presence of prayer, resistance, and remembrance.
Foster reflected on the generational trauma that fuels her activism. “I was the first in my family not to attend boarding school,” she said. “We’re here because our ancestors sacrificed everything so we could be here — to practice our traditions, to be connected to the land, and to protect future generations.”
A Community United in Protest
As the night wore on, the scene outside the ICE facility grew tense but emotional. Parents comforted children, drummers played, and smoke from sage and cedar filled the air. Five-year-old Little Bear, son of participant Bonita Leonard (Warm Springs), added his orange handprints to the tipi canvas before joining the march.
“I bring my child so he understands that when something isn’t right, you take a stand and use your voice for the voiceless,” Leonard said. “For the kids in here, for Palestine, for anyone who can’t speak for themselves.”
Across the street, a makeshift memorial of flowers, candles, stuffed animals, and tobacco ties stood quietly — a symbol of the movement’s spiritual roots.
Calls for Accountability
As of Wednesday morning, federal officials had not commented on the detainments or use of force. Civil rights advocates and Indigenous organizers are calling for an independent review of the agents’ actions, noting that the demonstrators were largely peaceful until federal intervention.
The Orange Shirt Day Vigil was intended as a remembrance event — a night of storytelling, solidarity, and prayer. But for those who were maced, detained, or silenced, it became another reminder of the violence Indigenous and marginalized communities continue to face in Portland and beyond.
As one participant put it, “We carry our ancestors’ voices. Even when they try to silence us, we will keep speaking — for the ones who never came home.”
