Conservative influencer and journalist Nick Sortor was arrested by the Portland Police after getting involved in a street fight with anti-ICE protesters. He was later released without bond. The video of the altercation that the local police called a fight, for which Nick Sortor was arrested, went viral triggering MAGA outrage as Trump sent military to Portland. Nick Sortor, 27, of Washington, DC, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, along with two people from Oregon, the Portland Police Bureau said early Friday in a news release.In Sortor’s view, local police “made a big freaking mistake,” he wrote of the arrest Friday morning on his X account. “You PROVED what we’ve all been saying for years: you’re CORRUPT and CONTROLLED by vioIent Antifa thugs who terrorize the streets.”While police did not detail the altercation that led to Sortor’s arrests, his case immediately created a stir against Portland police in conservative social media: “They will arrest an independent journalist but not violent antifa members who assault cops and journalists,” posted the account founded by influencer Chaya Raichik.
What is happening in Portland ?
The Trump administration has made Portland a key target in its broader crime crackdown in large Democratic-led cities. Trump said Portland is war-ravaged, taken over by terrorists and Antifa. The state and the city government filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration calling his move to deploy military unlawful. “There is no insurrection,” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said. “There is no threat to national security, and there is no need for military troops in our major city.”Portland has seen multiple protests against the Trump administration since June. On June 14, a protest organized in connection with the national “No Kings” movement turned violent as some demonstrators arrived at the ICE facility.This isn’t the first time Trump has sent federal law enforcement to Portland to deal with protesters. More than 700 officers were deployed in 2020 to protect federal facilities in downtown Portland as some protests turned violent following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
