New Letter Urges Oregon Governor, Attorney General, District Attorneys, and the Mayor and Police Chief of Portland to Launch Criminal Investigations into Unlawful Assaults, Detentions, and Political Retaliation by Federal Agents Against Oregon Residents

PORTLAND, OR — Free Speech For People, a national nonpartisan legal advocacy organization, today submitted a letter urging Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, Attorney General Dan Rayfield, the Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez, Mayor Keith Wilson and Police Chief Bob Day to open criminal investigations into the unlawful actions of federal agents operating in Portland, Oregon and throughout the state.

The submission details a consistent pattern of criminal activity by federal agents across Oregon since June 2025, including unlawful detentions, violent assaults, kidnappings, and racially motivated targeting of communities of color, as part of the Trump Administration’s immigration operations. Since late September 2025, Trump has also targeted peaceful protestors in Portland, claiming that their First Amendment-protected activity justifies both the military-style deployment of federal agents and the actual deployment of the military. Federal agents have assaulted, detained, and intimidated residents who exercise their right to protest.

Free Speech For People’s letter alleges that these acts were part of a coordinated criminal conspiracy directed by President Donald Trump and senior administration officials, intended not to enforce federal law but to punish and terrorize immigrants and political opponents.

“Federal agents in Portland have been documented assaulting and detaining peaceful protestors,” said Courtney Hostetler, Legal Director for Free Speech For People. “These agents are charged only with protecting a single building from property damage. There is no legitimate reason for them to be interacting with most of the protestors, and certainly no legitimate reason for them to be beating them.”

While the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts were purportedly aimed at apprehending gang-affiliated noncitizens, publicly available evidence indicates many residents being detained and deported have no criminal record. Similarly, although Trump and his subordinates describe Portland as a “war zone,” it’s not. Trump is carrying out a military-style operation to intimidate Portland’s residents into silence.

Federal agents engaged in a series of violent and unlawful actions, including:

• Detaining individuals, including minors, without cause;
• Using excessive force against residents and citizens in the course of immigration arrests;
• In multiple cases, arresting and detaining the wrong individual for months;
• Using chemical agents with such frequency a school was forced to close;
• Assaulting and detaining multiple protestors for exercising their First Amendment rights;
• Pointing firearms at ambulance drivers and denying an injured protestor medical care.

The letter outlines numerous violations of Oregon criminal law, including assault, harassment, menacing, unlawful use of a weapon, recklessly endangering another person, disorderly conduct, coercion, kidnapping, criminal mistreatment, as well as potential hate crimes and civil rights violations. It highlights that Supremacy Clause immunity does not protect federal agents who act outside lawful authority or engage in conduct they know to be unlawful. The letter also highlights that Trump himself cannot claim immunity for these unlawful actions since they do not qualify as official acts.

“Committing crimes is not part of a federal agent’s job duties,” said Ben Clements, Chairman and Senior Legal Advisor at Free Speech For People. “When the president or his subordinates order federal agents to commit crimes in Oregon to terrorize their political enemies, state and local prosecutors have a responsibility to protect Oregon residents and enforce state criminal law.”

Free Speech For People emphasizes that while federal prosecutors have been compromised by the administration’s own misconduct, state and local authorities retain independent jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes committed within their borders.

“There is a vast disconnect between federal officials’ narrative and the reality on the ground in Portland,” said Ben Horton, Counsel at Free Speech For People. “Oregon cannot rely on an administration that is actively encouraging its agents to break the law to hold its agents accountable. It must act to protect its residents.”

Read the letter to state and local prosecutors in Oregon here.