“Today, federal forces deployed heavy waves of chemical munitions, impacting a peaceful daytime protest where the vast majority of those present violated no laws, made no threat, and posed no danger to federal forces,” Wilson said in a Saturday statement, The Hill reported.
“To those who continue to work for ICE: Resign. To those who control this facility: Leave. Through your use of violence and the trampling of the Constitution, you have lost all legitimacy and replaced it with shame. To those who continue to make these sickening decisions, go home, look in a mirror, and ask yourselves why you have gassed children,” he added.
Protestors outside of an ICE facility in Portland faced tear gas, pepper balls and rubber bullets on Saturday, according to The Oregonian. The outlet also reported that flash-bang grenades were used by federal agents.
“Our nation will never accept a federal presence where agents wield deadly force against the very people they are sworn to serve. I share the impatience with those who demand we use every legal tool at our disposal to push back against this inexcusable, unconscionable, and unacceptable violence against our community,” Wilson said in his statement.
Wilson’s comments follow weeks of tension in the US over the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, especially after two fatal shootings by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis last month.
The fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good heightened already-widespread anger towards the Trump administration over its actions on immigration, which has been present throughout President Trump’s second term.