🔗 Share this article South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem Inspects Oregon ICE Office With MAGA Influencers The South Dakota governor, who holds the position of the homeland security secretary, visited the ICE facility in Portland on this week. While there, she saw firsthand a limited protest outside, which stands in stark contrast to the fiery "siege" claimed by the former president. Accompanied by Right-Wing Media Figures The secretary was accompanied by a set of MAGA-aligned personalities who were driven from the Portland airport to the ICE office in her security detail. DHS has recently produced escalating social media content featuring federal agents performing immigration raids and firing chemical irritants at protesters. Demonstration Details Local law enforcement established a perimeter outside the building in the city’s south waterfront neighborhood before the Noem's arrival. A small group individuals, including one in the outfit of a chicken and another as a baby shark, were maintained behind barriers. A song was audible from a protest encampment nearby, with a refrain about Trump and controversial documents. Someone yelled to a government videographer recording from the roof, asking whether the DHS had been referred to as the "propaganda department". Press Coverage Journalists from nonpartisan news outlets were also restricted to the barrier outside, while the conservative personalities in Noem’s entourage—three right-wing influencers—shared digital content of the Noem participating in federal officers in a prayer session inside, giving a pep talk, and telling a member of the state guard to "Get ready". Recent Rulings Governor Noem has previously echoed the former president's assertions that the handful of protesters—who have gathered in their limited groups outside the ICE facility since recent months, including one in an frog outfit—are "terrorists" who have placed the facility "under siege", making the deployment of DHS agents critical. But, on a recent weekend, a federal judge in Portland prevented his effort to nationalize the state's guard, ruling that the president’s claims that the mostly calm city was "in flames" were "without evidence". A day later, the judge, Karin Immergut—who was appointed to the judiciary by Trump—expanded her order to prohibit guard members from any jurisdiction from being deployed in Portland. This occurred after the former president responded to her first order by attempting to deploy members of the another state's militia to Portland. Increased Confrontations Since the former president highlighted the limited yet ongoing protest outside the office and made unsubstantiated allegations that Oregon is "in a state of war", a increasing amount of his followers, including conservative personalities, have turned up to challenge the individuals. Some of these encounters have caused altercations and brawls, resulting in arrests by the officers. A conservative personality was among those arrested after he attempted to push through a demonstration site on a sidewalk near the ICE facility and was engaged in a fight over an American flag. He had previously removed the flag from a demonstrator who was setting it on fire. The charges against the influencer were eventually dismissed after an outcry in partisan press induced the head of the rights office of the DOJ, Harmeet Dhillon, to threaten an investigation of the law enforcement agency over claimed partisan treatment. Female protesters the influencer was involved in an altercation with still are under legal scrutiny. Government Statements On Sunday, the state's governor, Tina Kotek, alleged government personnel in the office of trying to provoke the demonstrators by using unnecessary levels of tear gas in a local community and inviting partisan figures to record the gathering from the top of the building. "They are deliberately inciting," Kotek said. A trio of those conservative influencers were referred to in a police report last month as "opposing demonstrators" who "repeatedly come back and provoke the protesters until they are attacked or subjected to spray" and decline "ongoing instructions from law enforcement to stay away from" the demonstrators. Social Media Updates Benny Johnson, a previous media worker who changed careers as a partisan figure after being dismissed from BuzzFeed for ethical violations, posted a clip of Governor Noem looking down from the upper level of the ICE facility at the handful of individuals below, including a protest organizer who wears a bird outfit to taunt Donald Trump. Johnson labeled the footage of her inspecting the peaceful setting below: "Secretary Noem confronts Antifa militants and a costumed protester". In spite of the disconnect between the assertions from both officials that this ICE field office is "encircled" from "domestic terrorists" and clear visual evidence of a limited group of individuals in non-threatening attire, the influencers with the secretary continued to label the group as harmful activists. Meeting with Police Chief On site, Governor Noem also engaged with the law enforcement head, Chief Day, who has been depicted as "woke" in partisan press for authorizing his officers to apprehend Sortor. In a online post on the discussion, Benny Johnson asserted that the chief had "supported violent ANTIFA militants confronting journalists and officers outside ICE facility". The secretary's convoy then exited the site past a few of demonstrators on the exterior, including one wearing a animal wearing a headgear.