As deportations continue to increase under President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, the likelihood of witnessing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents active in public spaces is also on the rise. Social media is awash in videos documenting ICE activity. In some cases, video shows neighbors pushing agents out of the neighborhood by crowding around the vehicles, blocking agents from making arrests or detaining people. (Detainments are temporary holds by law enforcement when they believe they have reasonable suspicion, where an arrest requires probable cause before taking them into custody.)
But not everyone knows what to do if they spot federal agents trying to detain someone in their community. Street Roots spoke with Isa Peña, the Director of Strategy at Innovation Law Lab and Natalie Lerner, Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition spokesperson to better understand what community members can do when they spot ICE in Oregon. PIRC periodically offers bystander training sessions, but Lerner said at minimum, anyone can film the activity and call the PIRC hotline to report it.
Peña said it’s important to spread facts, not fear.
“Be sure you’re aware of what is actually happening,” Peña said. “Be prepared, be alert. Our communities feel the impact and we have a responsibility to protect our community — and people knowing what to do here is helpful.”
In Portland, there have been multiple recent examples of ICE detaining people in public areas, and PIRC has seen an increase in calls from people reporting ICE activity. That could be because ICE is increasing enforcement locally, or because community members are learning how to respond when they see ICE agents targeting people. Or, both could be true.
Regardless, knowing what to do is important. And everyone has the right to do it. Under the First Amendment, anyone can film agents — as long as they do not interfere with the arrest and are transparent that they are filming, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. The ACLU won a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2020, reaffirming the right to record federal agents everywhere — including at U.S. border ports of entry — despite the government’s argument that borders should be exempted from the First Amendment.
That hasn’t stopped federal agents from arresting people who film their activities.
In July, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said violence against federal agents included “anything that threatens them and their safety,” including “videotaping them when they’re out on operations.”
In June, immigration officers detained and arrested a legal observer in Denver, in what Tim Macdonald, ACLU of Colorado legal director, called a “brazen abuse of power.” In July, ICE detained a 71-year-old legal observer in a San Diego immigration court, claiming the woman pushed an ICE agent. They held her for more than eight hours. And local and federal immigration officials detained more than 10 people in Pennsylvania in early August for what legal observers described as simply filming and criticizing police tactics.
Under federal law, people can sue the federal government if an agent harms them while acting in an official capacity. That has already happened at least once, in July, when a photographer in Los Angeles claimed ICE agents tackled, arrested and detained him. The case is still open.
Lerner said exercising First Amendment rights in the face of Trump’s aggressive approach is critical to protecting immigrants.
“Folks who are documenting ICE activity on the ground are the primary source of information on what ICE is doing in our community,” Lerner said.
Report ICE Activity: Call PIRC (Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition) at 1-888-622-1510. Find an immigration attorney to prepare in advance: Contact ECO at 1-888-274-7292. Find a bystander training or “Know Your Rights” training: pircoregon.org/get-involved.
Here’s what to do
1. Film, call the hotline
If you see ICE trying to detain someone, the first thing to do is call the PIRC hotline as quickly as possible at 1-888-622-1510. While PIRC says “Portland” in its name, it is a statewide rapid response network that can send local responders to the site — anyone in Oregon can call the same number. PIRC has relationships with Equity Corps of Oregon attorneys who do legal deportation defense — a critical piece of the response for detainees.
At the same time, try to start filming the activity right away. If two
people are present, one person can call PIRC while the other films.
2. Get information
One person should try to get the name and, if possible, the birth date of the person being detained. This information is helpful in two ways. First, attorneys need to know the name and birth date to activate a legal response to secure a person’s release. Additionally, it is helpful for people trying to locate a missing loved one.
3. Get friends or family to call PIRC directly
If a friend or family member is nearby during the incident, see if they can call PIRC directly to share as much information as possible. That includes where the detained person was born, their birth date and reliable contact information for a family member.
With enough information, PIRC or family members can search the ICE
detainee locator system to see if someone has been detained, which helps guide the response.
What to film
Advocates said it is good to know what information you should share if you find yourself at the scene of an arrest. There are various acronyms to help you remember what information you’re looking for, including CLEAR, ALERTA, or SALUTE — all of them mnemonic devices for this specific information.
Again, it is imperative that the information being shared is rooted in fact, not fear.
SALUTE: (Size, Activity, Location, Uniform, Time, Equipment)
Size: Number of officers
Activity: What are they doing? How are they treating the person? Did they show a warrant? Are they using excessive force?
Location: What is, more or less, the whereabouts of the activity? Be as specific as possible.
Uniform: What are the agents wearing? Plain clothes? Federal or local police labels?
Time: What date and time is it happening?
Equipment: Do they have handcuffs? Are they armed? What kind of vehicle are they driving? License plate number?
An observer should try to capture as much context of the arrest as possible. If there is a break in dialogue between ICE officers and the person they are detaining, a person filming can narrate into the video recording what exactly happened before they started filming.
For example, Lerner said: “Before I started filming, I saw three men, and they were walking around like they were racially profiling the people coming out of the Safeway. Then they went up to this guy, and I have no idea why they went up to him, but they went up to him, and I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they started speaking aggressively,
and that’s when I started filming.”
Lerner said documenting a pattern of ICE practices helps organizers know how to respond. It also helps PIRC know what to look for in the future, and helps PIRC then inform community members on what they should be looking for. Additionally, it helps lawyers know what patterns they should be tracking for their clients.
“As much information as people can get is helpful,” Lerner said.
Peña said anyone interested in doing more to defend immigrants rights can connect with rapid response organizations in their region to be a part of broader organizing and strategizing efforts. Oregon for All, a coalition that includes Immigration Law Lab, PIRC and dozens of other organizations, has resources available at oregonforall.us
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This article appears in September 17, 2025.
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