Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made a high-profile visit to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland on Tuesday amid a legal battle over sending federal troops to the Oregon city.
Noem made a brief appearance on the roof of the facility, which has been the site of nightly demonstrations over the administration’s immigration crackdown for several months.
During her visit to the facility, she met with local law enforcement officials, including Portland Police Chief Bob Day, Oregon State Police Superintendent Casey Codding and Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell, according to the Portland Police Bureau.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem observes the scene of ongoing protests at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility on October 7, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. Secretary Noem arrived in Portland on Tuesday to meet with law enforcement amidst a dispute between the Trump administration and Oregon officials about deploying the National Guard to the state.
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Day thanked Noem for the time, saying during a press briefing Tuesday evening, “I believe that communication is the first step to resolving our differences.”
He said Noem is “obviously and understandably” concerned for the safety of her staff, the building and “the ability for it to function.”
“We really tried to look for ways and solutions that might allow us to reduce some of the conflict and the dissidents down there in a way that’s primarily for the safety of all,” he said.
Day said he would like to potentially see more of a police presence at the location.
“We’ve been trying to coordinate that with the federal response, because we have differing policies and differing expectations around procedures, so we have to work more closely with them,” he said.
President Donald Trump last month directed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to provide “all necessary troops” to Portland amid protests at the facility, claiming the city is a “war zone.”
Over the weekend, a U.S. district judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard to Portland, finding that conditions in the city were “not significantly violent or disruptive” to justify a federal takeover of the National Guard, and that the president’s claims about the city were “simply untethered to the facts.”
A protestor shouts in a megaphone toward a Portland Police officer near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in downtown Portland, Oregon, on October 6, 2025.
Mathieu Lewis-rolland/AFP via Getty Images
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said she reached out to Noem upon learning about a possible visit and met with the secretary at the airport upon her arrival Tuesday.
“I was clear that I have confidence in local law enforcement to meet the moment,” Kotek said in a statement.
“I requested that Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents obey Oregon laws when they engage in federal operations. I reiterated that I continue to be focused on doing whatever I can to protect Oregonians from military intervention or harmful federal law enforcement tactics. Oregon is united against military policing in our communities,” Kotek said.
ABC News has reached out to the governor’s office for a comment and didn’t immediately hear back.
Day said he and Noem did not discuss National Guard troop deployments.
“That, you know, is part of an ongoing litigation matter. So that’s not something that was discussed,” he said during Tuesday’s briefing.
Day has pushed back against deploying the National Guard to Portland, saying in an interview with ABC News on Monday that his department can manage the crime, including assault and vandalism.
The demonstrations centered on the ICE facility take up a single block of the 145-square-mile city, Day said. Officers have made 37 arrests since the protests began in early June, the Portland Police Bureau said Tuesday.
Day said during Tuesday’s briefing that there has been a “significant decrease in that violent activity” in recent months, but that over the last 10 days, the “energy level has gone up.”
“We did speak holistically about the need for a change in the environment and change and behavior down there, and I’m in agreement with that,” Day said of his conversation with Noem.
Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell said in a statement to ABC News after the meeting Tuesday that the department welcomes partnerships with federal agencies “when those efforts complement our local public safety priorities, respect Oregon law, and are predicated on accountability and transparency.”
Meanwhile, Noem said during an appearance on Fox News that she met with Portland Mayor Keith Wilson on Tuesday and warned she might send more federal officers to the city if certain security measures are not met.
“What I told him is that if he did not follow through on some of these security measures for our officers, we are going to cover him up with more federal resources, and that we were going to send four times the amount of federal officers here so that the people of Portland could have some safety,” she said.
