KIRO Newsradio reporter says Portland ICE protests ‘not exactly what you see in the media’
Oct 1, 2025, 12:50 PM
Protesters rallied outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in Portland earlier this week, denouncing the Trump administration’s decision to deploy National Guard troops to the city.
KIRO Newsradio reporter Luke Duecy was at the scene, observing standoffs and tensions between both sides, but noted the violence was much less threatening than it was being portrayed.
“Has there been violence there? Yes, absolutely. Federal agents and officers firing rubber bullets and pepper spray at times, protesters throwing rocks and other objects, and spray-painted threats on the side of the ICE facility. I saw one message that read, Molotovs melt ice. I mean, obviously, encouraging people to throw Molotov cocktails at federal officers. That’s scary stuff, and that’s very serious. However, I didn’t see any Portland that was being ravaged like maybe the Trump administration is portraying,” Luke said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio Wednesday.
Luke said he only saw a handful of protesters in Portland and nothing comparable to the violence in Seattle during the May Day protests.
“Yesterday morning, there were only one, and then two, who would trade off yelling at Homeland Security officers and ICE agents,” he shared. “Later in the morning, you’d see older folks, I think retirees, that age, who would show up with their homemade signs very peaceful on the sidewalk, looking for cars to honk with them in solidarity. It’s during the nights and weekends when the other agitators, like here in Seattle, who wear all black and masks, they move in and they start to become a little more aggressive.”
Luke added that both sides were antagonizing each other, but the situation isn’t black and white, and that many videos floating around on social media are misleading.
“It’s not exactly what you see, though, I would stress, in the media,” he emphasized.
Watch the full discussion in the video above.
Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.
