Portland Anarchists Allegedly Flood Office of ICE Union Attorney

A group of anarchists in Portland, Oregon, allegedly flooded the law office of an attorney who represents the National ICE Council. The council is the union that represents U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

“Last weekend, vandals pushed a garden hose through the mail slot at Sean Riddell’s law office in Northeast Portland, soaking the main floor and basement,” Willamette Week reported on Tuesday. The water remained undiscovered until about 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, the local newspaper reported.

The article included photos detailing the damage created by the standing water allegedly flooded into the office by a group of anarchists who have been calling for the abolition of ICE. The damage reportedly included buckling wood floors, collapsed ceiling tiles, and ruined carpet.

Riddle told the newspaper the damage to his office is in the thousands of dollars. He said he expects most of the cost to be covered by insurance.

Riddle attacked what he believed to be a cowardly attack based on anonymity. “When I make a political statement, or when I make a political statement on behalf of a client,” Riddell told the local newspaper. “I sign my name.”

The group of “self-identified anarchists” claimed responsibility for the damage in an anonymous email to the Willamette Weekly. “We decided to congratulate him on his new building by unraveling his garden hose, pushing it through his mail slot, and turning on the water,” the group of anarchists allegedly wrote. They said they targeted this particular office because Riddle allegedly bought it with funds he earned while representing the ICE union. Riddle moved into the building last November, the newspaper reported.

“For every child that is separated from their parents and locked in a cage, there are people making money off it,” the email continues. “For every mother that is kidnapped off the street by La Migra and sent to a modern day concentration camp for deportation, there are people furthering their careers off it. There’s a vast infrastructure in place that allows for the everyday functioning of ICE and the people responsible have names and addresses.”

The email, signed “some anarchists” concludes, saying: “For a world without borders and prisons. For the free movement of all people. Smash ICE.”