Conservative journalist Nick Sorter was arrested by Portland police officers Thursday , even as local authorities apparently refused to arrest anti-ICE rioters around a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in the city.
ICE facilities in Dallas and Chicago were targeted by rioters or attacked in September, part of a trend of increasingly violent resistance to the agency’s efforts to take illegal immigrants into custody. Sorter was arrested by Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers on a disorderly conduct charge, according to multiple posts on X, including from Fox News reporter Bill Melugin.
“Last night at the Portland ICE building, we witnessed anti-ICE protesters burning an American flag. @nicksortor then grabbed it from them, put the flames out, and took away what was left of the flag,” Melugin posted. “Nick was arrested later in the night by Portland PD after videos appear to show him surrounded by anti-ICE protesters. It’s unclear what exactly happened, we are working on getting in touch with him once he is released from custody.”
NEW: Last night at the Portland ICE building, we witnessed anti-ICE protesters burning an American flag. @nicksortor then grabbed it from them, put the flames out, and took away what was left of the flag. Nick was arrested later in the night by Portland PD after videos appear to… pic.twitter.com/tQVjEEkLRw
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 3, 2025
“We had seen Nick get surrounded and verbally threatened by protesters the previous night. He posted on X that he felt Portland PD would arrest him if he tried to defend himself,” Melugin continued. Melugin later reported that Sorter had been released by Portland police.
In the post made early Thursday morning, Sorter called Portland a “third-world hellhole” while saying Antifa was “in full control” in the city.
“Portland is a [fucking] third world hellhole. If I defend myself, *I* will be the one who gets arrested. Not the assailant. Antifa is in full control out here. President Trump NEEDS to step in,” Sorter said.
Sorter’s arrest came two days after Post-Millennial reporter Katie Daviscourt was assaulted by an Antifa rioter that PPB officers refused to arrest, despite Daviscourt pointing the alleged assailant out and tracking her for over a half hour.
The top ICE official in Portland, Cammila Wamsley, described the lack of protection from local authorities in a Thursday interview with Melugin.
NEW: ICE’s Portland Director tells me it’s like there’s a “bubble” around the ICE building where Portland PD won’t respond to violence due to politics from Mayor & city council. She says it’s frustrating for Feds to watch people get attacked on the street & not have jurisdiction. pic.twitter.com/Xouwfsy4D5
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 2, 2025
“So the Portland Police Bureau is is really under guidance from the mayor and the city council and other people that they’re not there. First off, they’re not really supposed to respond to this building,” Wamsley told Melugin. “There have been folks that have been assaulted right down here on the street, even across the street. And it takes Portland police a while to respond or sometimes they don’t respond at all, which is unfortunate because, you know, people here deserve to be protected by the police, just as they would six blocks from here.”
“But that is not the stance that PPB has based on what the mayor and the and the city council has has provided the guidance to them,” Wamsley continued. “So, no, if there’s any immigration enforcement happening in this building at all, which there is a lot of the time, they will not respond.”
Melugin reported on one altercation between an anti-ICE rioter and a counter-protester there to support ICE.
“We just witnessed a significant fistfight in front of the ICE building between a pro ICE guy and anti ICE protester. Anti-ICE guy got rocked bad, and minutes later appeared unconscious with huge swelling to face after he collapsed. ZERO PORTLAND PD HERE,” Melugin posted. “Feds took injured man in for medical attention and appeared to take the pro ICE man into custody into the building. This happened on the sidewalk in front of the federal building, and there were no Portland police officers here to intervene or break the fight up. Now a man appears to be significantly injured.”
An additional video posted on social media appeared to show the anti-ICE rioter started the incident.
President Donald Trump declared Antifa a domestic terrorist organization in a September post on Truth Social. The organization was involved in the violent riots in the wake of the May 2020 death of George Floyd and in January 2021 riots in Portland, Oregon.
Members of the group also attacked and beat journalist Andy Ngo in Portland in June 2019.
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Republished with permission from Daily Caller News Foundation
